Today is a beautiful day of Easter as well as many other religions of the world. I'm advocate of understanding the world's religions and the essential value systems of these 'Philosophies of God'. While I have my own religious beliefs, I believe that many of the greater philosophers and religious leaders preached very similar ideas of prosocial thinking. Some conceptualized their understanding of life through the religious lens of their time and place while others were more religiously neutral (i.e. Ancient Greek philosophies on democracy). They all had something to say about the nature of life and governance.
Take a look at some of the Word's religions through the Interfaith Calendar.
I'm a believer in open-mindedness with just about everything. Today, I listened to a religious speech and it was an important one in its own rite. It talked about avoiding hate and it talked about open arms with people because this life is temporary. I appreciate that because I think we sort of skip over those truer values in our perception of religious justifications of how we treat people (It goes back to the root value of all of the major religions. This is why reading, socializing and understanding other religious and cultures broadly changes perception of our responsibilities and duties. That draws from our root values associated with the world's major universal religions. i.e. apply across culture, country, and race/ethnicity.)
Take a look at this study on Open Minded Religiosity.
The study doesn't come to significance because of the sample size but it does align with many other significant studies on open-mindedness and hate based behaviors. Basically the study says Authoritarianism-Conservatism-Traditionalism (ACT) styles were negatively associated with Open-Minded Cognition (OMC). Thus, it is wise to encourage open-mindedness as those who are religious and open-minded appear to have less prejudice (and I wonder less likely to act on that prejudice). Sometimes that is a difficult thing to talk about when people feel justified in their own religious beliefs and discount the values of others and their beliefs (Without actually understanding them. That is called ignorance. When they go down the rabbit hole and use power inappropriately it is called extremism.)
I'm a light R and believe in the value of religion in our (hopefully) open democracy with universal values and traits (Yes, I do have my own religious and philosophical beliefs. That is why I try and learn from many different religions and what the essence of their message may be Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and many others. Please don't be offended. Its easy to be offended in today's world. Understand the essence of what I'm saying.). I also believe in the value of other philosophies as a way to understand life, law, and good governance.
(Let me say we are not yet a universal democracy but are adjusting that way. We were designed to be universal in our institutional applications as when we look at our artifacts, oaths, sayings, and beliefs they seek to support freedom of religion and speech as universal conceptions. It doesn't matter which religion we practice or what branch of government we criticize [I criticize that which is broke and praise that which is working in my mind.]. From a systems standpoint it also makes sense to support our shared values and encourage constant adjustments of integrity to reach this universal end. See Universal Values Artifacts and the consequences of not walking the talk in our values Decline in Religion and Patriotism)
While some feel that I have low value in society because of my Muslim sounding name and mixed race children I feel I'm doing exactly what we should be doing as a society. Discouraging extremism, supporting learning, encouraging open-mindedness, trying to find ways to develop new opportunities for our youth, and encouraging our outdated institutions to step up and move up to a more universal approach that will encourage human capital development that leads greater national competitiveness. There are some, perhaps many, that disagree with this approach (You are entitled to your opinion and I would disagree with anyone misusing authority to silence your freedom of speech or suppress your form of worship. Its an oath thing. To me, all religions teach us of our temporal place and greater pro-social responsibilities so if we value them we can learn from them.). I have seen how creepy things get when the misguided disagree with you. We are turning a page in our shared story as a nation and as a people because we have no options but to turn that page if we want democracy to be strong in the face of new challenges (Most people just follow the herd but I think the big players are starting to get the picture that their narrow walking paths may not come to a positive end so they will adjust because it is in their best interests, oaths and duties to adjust. Wait for it....there will be a few rolled eyes. Ignorance is Bliss but truth can be a little more blinding until your sight clears. Let us step out of the cave together and free ourselves from short sighted ideological blindness.).
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