The story linked here -

Vatican defends duty to evangelize and accept converts | Reuters

points to a problem with the way only two religions, Christianity and Islam, conduct themselves.  It is very rare for a Hindu or a Buddhist to knock on anyone’s door and try to sell them on the superiority of their religion.

There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting others to share in the joy, hope and connectedness that your spiritual practice, or your religious affiliation gives you.

However, to constantly assert the superiority of your faith, and to furthermore allege that another will burn in hell if they continue to worship a false God of the religion they were born into, is in my opinion, a violation of the integrity and autonomy of others.  This, in my opinion, is the greatest sin of all.

Try this perspective, as a part of your spiritual practice:

You have no right to teach your own religious or spiritual values unless you can explain the religion of another to them in such a way that they see, as they never had before. it reflects the highest light possible, and that leads to ultimate self realization and salvation.  Of course, if you are able to do this, you would never try to convert anyone to your own religion.

If the foregoing were your approach to everyone else’s religion, and if everyone were to follow such a value, wouldn’t the world be a much more peaceful place?

Basically, what this approach amounts to is seeing the divine in everything and everyone that you encounter.  If you see your position as superior, then you approach the world as if there is more God here or there, as if there are places or people in which there is less of God, less of the divine, than in other places or people.

This would be a weird God, would it not?

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