"The World is a Diamond with Many Different Faces"

(sung)

(Chorus) The world is a diamond with many different faces. Some shine yellow, red, blue, or white. The colors that you see depend upon the places where you stand but all are right."

(verse 1) I am a Jew. There is one God. That is my point of view. In the Talmud, the rabbi told me is to love my neighbour as much as me.

(verse 2) I am a Christian. There are three Gods in one. It has been so since before the world began. In the Gospel, the priest told me is to love my neighbour as much as me.

(verse 3) I am a Buddhist. There is no God. The eight fold path is right for me. The instruction, the Budda told me is to love my neighbour as much as me.

(verse 4) I am a Hindu. There are many Gods. For reincarnation, you need good Karmas. In the Gita, the guru told me is to love my neighbour as much as me.

This song has a very powerful meaning for me. I wrote it many years ago, while I was still a Roman Catholic Seminarian planning to become a priest. During this particular period I had a number of powerful spiritual experiences. The most powerful religious experience of my life occurred while I was contemplating some words from scripture. Christ said, "Before Abraham and the Prophets I AM." It came to me in a flash that I AM. This phrase catapulted me into an experience the only word for which was ‘indescribable.’ the closest that I can come to expressing the experience was that all boundaries had dissolved. I was external, time had no meaning. I was a part of all beings and they a part of me. It was only much later that I found all religions have words for that experience.

In Humanistic Psychology it is called peak experience; in Christianity mystical union, in Zen Buddhism Satori. Since I was one with all, Christ was in me, I was in Christ. We were both one with God. I knew enough in that Roman Catholic seminary that this was heresy. I knew I would have to leave. Before I left, a vision of what my ideal type of church would be came to me. I imagined a darkened room in a chapel that had been converted from a store. This chapel was an island of peace in the midst of life; in the midst of a busy downtown. In the centre of this darkened room was a crystal of many colors. People would be from all different world religions. they would see different colors of the crystal from where they were sitting and in emotional tones express their deepest religious feelings. From that idea; vision; dream came the song that I just sang; The World is a Diamond with many different faces.

Each of the world’s religions presents a different face of reality. I would like to look at the religions of the world, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Throughout history there have been thousands of religions in this world. Half the world’s peoples fall into three religious groups.

Hinduism that believes in many Gods

Buddhism that believes in no God and

The religions based on a book

Islam, Judaism and Christianity that believe in one God.

(For the rest of the sermon, I display a pyramid shaped "diamond" with one facet being red, one facet blue and one yellow side. I turn the diamond to illustrate what I am saying.)

I chose colors to represent these three ideas about divinity. I chose yellow to represent the many Gods of Hinduism to honor the yellow or saffron robes worn by the followers of Hinduism. The North American experience with Hinduism is mainly through the Hare Krishna. This is a cult where devotees shave their heads and wear saffron robes. I was surprised when I visited a Hare Krishna temple to find middle-aged Hindus from India there because Hare Krishna is a sect of Hinduism. The three primary Gods are Hare, Krishna, and Rama. .

The color I chose to represent the Buddha was blue, a cool color to represent meditation. I recently spoke with a Dhamma Buddhist and he was emphatic that there is no god. Other Buddhists refer to Buddha’s saying, when he was asked if there was a God, that belief in God does not lead to enlightenment. Therefore many Buddhists believe that Buddhism is silent on whether there is a God or not.

I chose red to represent the fiery religions where God is One. Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The red also symbolizes the color of love. These three religions say God is Love.

I realize that I am being very simplistic here. But as you turn the crystal and see different facets I believe this can represent the religions of the world.

Islam and Judaism would be a solid red. They are emphatic that God is one. With Christianity you turn ever so slightly to add a little yellow to the red (making orange I guess) because there are three Gods in one. Zorastrianism would be exactly in the middle of red and yellow sections (bright orange) because they believe in two Gods: one Good , one Evil. There are religions like animism that would be between the blue and yellow. These would be religions that believe in spirits animating the trees and rocks etc. but don’t really believe in gods; and of course the favorite of most people in Western culture; somewhere between None and One God. I believe it was Pascal who said he didn’t really believe in God, but kept praying, just in case.

Modern day Unitarian Universalism has been called the religion that believes in one God at most. Thus there is a spectrum - a rainbow of world religions.

What has been the result of these many different religions? -- Strife and Prejudice.

Catholics and Protestants fight in Ireland

Sikhs murdered Mrs. Gandhi

Jews fight Moslems in the Middle East

Sunni Moslems fight Shiite Moslems between Iran and Iraq.

There is a supreme wrong in these battles between religions. I firmly believe that each of these religions has a common basis; just as this little pyramid has a base. To begin to talk about this base I would like to first take a look at the history of our own religious movement, Unitarian Universalism.

Both Unitarianism and Universalism were born amidst the extremes of strife and prejudice. Georges de Benneville, born in 1703 in London, is often called the father of Universalism. He was sentenced to be guillotined in Paris for the heresy of saying that God loved all people so much that all people would eventually be saved. He actually mounted the steps of the guillotine and had his head down about to be chopped off, when someone on horseback rode up with a pardon for him. The father of Universalism had a narrow escape.

The father of Unitarianism was not as lucky. Michael Servetus who wrote a book on the errors of the trinity in 1531 was caught by the Catholics and condemned to death by the Inquisition. He escaped to Geneva where he was caught by Calvin and burned at the stake by the Protestants, after just having escaped the Catholics.

Sebastian Castellio, whom I consider the spiritual father of Unitarianism, had this to say about Servetus’ death:

This cry for tolerance has been one of the central tenets of Unitarianism ever since. Universalism with its beliefs in Universal Salvation, the salvation of all people, has a natural tolerance built into it. These two religions of tolerance found it very natural to merge in 1961. But now, as we listen carefully, we hear other voices of tolerance out there in the world of religion.

One things is common in all of the worlds’ religions. They all have a mystical dimension (as was mentioned in the reading.)

Hinduism has Vedanta, Buddhism has Zen, Islam has Sufism, Judaism has Kabbala and Hasidism. All of these focus on the "Beyond that is within." They reach down into the heart of their own religion and find that at the heart of their own religious tradition is a love that is basic to all. We all must love one another . . . because mysticism feels that ultimately we are all one. When we love another we are loving ourselves. When we love another we are loving God, because the Divine is within and through all beings.

What does this say for the future of religion? I believe Kenneth Patton, a Unitarian Universalist minister, summed it up very well in his book a Religion for One World. Kenneth had a dream of uniting the world’s religions. He was a prophet in our denomination. In the readings at the back of our blue hymnal, there are more readings by Patton than from any other single source. There are only two people who wrote more hymns than Patton in our hymn book. Ken built a church in Boston; on one wall was a symbol of the galaxy, the infinitely large; on the opposite wall was a symbol of the atom, the infinitely small. On the floor was the globe. If you stood at the centre of the globe and looked in the direction of Africa, you would see all the religious articles of Africa on the wall. If you looked toward India, you saw the religious articles of India. If you looked toward North American, you saw the artifacts of the Indians and Christianity. In the front of the church was a library of all the sacred books of the world’s religions. The symbol in front was a circle within a circle. There is a U-U saying, "You drew a circle to leave me outside it. I drew a circle to bring you inside." They held services for all the world’s religions. A RELIGION FOR ONE WORLD! Yet this attempt failed.

I went to visit the church. The religious objects had been sold. The place was in disrepair. The building itself would soon be sold. Why did this dream fail?

I believe there is a coming world religion. We must no longer live in hate and fear and prejudice. In this coming world religion UU will not play the central role. No one will play the central role. This is where Patton failed.

He built a UU church for the world’s religions. That won’t work. It has been tried before. The Bahai built a church in Chicago with eight doors for all the worlds religions. Sikhs (the ones who killed Mrs. Gandhi) built temples with four doors, one facing each direction, to entice the world’s religions. The Sufi are planning their temple, the Universel, for world religions.

A cooperation between the world’s religions will not occur until all have an equal say, an equal share in it. We cannot find peace until we all work at it.

What role does the UU church have? I believe we have the role of catalyst.

We, by being open, can bring religions together. What the result will be we do not know, and cannot imagine.

It is actually a frightening proposition, an overwhelming one, but an exciting one.

We are all like ducks sitting on an ocean, an immense ocean. Our puny little duck brains cannot fathom the depths and vastness of this divine ocean we are sitting in. All the ducks in the world, all the religions, all the people, are sitting in this ocean.

In closing I would like to read you the story of the duck, by Donald Babcock.