What if every religion accomplishes what it claims? Buddhism leads you out from the illusory attachments of desire. Judaism ensures that you live a life that honors God's standards of justice and holiness. Islam offers the five pillars so that you live a life of righteousness. Christianity claims that you the whole of human nature needs a reconstruction that can not be accomplished without personal divine intervention.
If each religion effects the change that it claims humanity needs, the question becomes focused around whether each is correct in its assessment of humanities' predicament. If our problem only amounts to petty shortsightedness as the Qu'ran outlines, then perhaps the five pillar plan would be sufficient (1). However, if we are as far gone as the New Testament claims then only Christ will provide the necessary redemption. Perhaps a way of assessing the claims of the religions is not to judge their efficacy, but instead to evaluate their project in the light of the human experience. The question is what do we all really need?
Source: Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur’an, Biblioteca Islamica Inc., 1989. 18, 26-27.
<__trans phrase="Comments"> (1)
now that I know you actually wrote this, i thought i'd comment :-)
i believe that what history shows us is that despite amazing achievements/accomplishments mankind is not inherently good or evil, but broken. mankind needs not only redemption, but salvation - the restoring of wholeness. In nearly all cases religion stops at behavior modification as a means to integrity (not the charcter trait, but the fitting of the whole). it's only when religion can go beyond it's "rules" that it can meet man's ultimate need.
<__trans phrase="Posted by"> jeff hamilton | July 5, 2006 5:21 PM
<__trans phrase="Posted on"> ">July 5, 2006 17:21