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SPIRITUALITY | RELIGION | SPIRIT
Eclectics Enjoy a Spiritual Potluck
Some believe interfaith dialogue easily slips into syncretism; I say that’s a good thing
Pastors — say, “God talks to everyone.” Not, “This is the only truth.”
I studied a lot of religions while earning an M.Div. — enough to perceive they’re all rough approximations — napkin sketches, or darts thrown at the wall.
Some claim to be hand-delivered missives from deity itself, but that’s just marketing.
Like a good potluck, each tradition brings something to the table that would be missing otherwise.
None are a complete and balanced meal.
On my plate, I’ve got Zen Buddhism for dispassionate calm, Christian mysticism for compassion and agape love, Hinduism for Brahma, Paganism for the glorious conclave of divinities, and Islamic Sufism for devotion.
There’s Judaism for proverbs and the psalms, Taoism for the reality’s source code, and Transcendentalism’s faith in our personal perception. Animist religions so I remember we’re part of the world, and pantheism so I know it’s divine.
Wicca brings the power of ritual.