Dutch Bishop Proposes That All Faiths Refer to God as "Allah"

  A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands with very good intentions is promoting a very bad idea.

Bishop Tiny Muskens told Dutch television this week that people of all faiths should refer to God as Allah to promote racial tolerance and foster understanding with Muslims. "Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem," he said.

A magnificent sentiment! God probably does not care what humans call him or what language they use.  Human beings, however, are far less forgiving, loving, and tolerant. We wear cultural shades as we walk along through life, magnifying differences in language, culture, clothing, and religion.

Similarities, shared beliefs and values can connect us to the human family while differences can make us feel as though we stand alone or we are under siege. The labels help us size up the players in the game. But they are like scarves and ties in a wardrobe; accent pieces that add flair but little substance.

Suppose we asked our North American neighbors to stop making reference to their nationality, as that creates tensions and fault lines. We would no longer be Mexicans, citizens of the United States or Canadians - only North Americans. Fine, in theory, but it is not likely to work.

Even though we might call ourselves Americans, governments still are going to jockey for position with trade agreements, border controls, job protection, and climate changes. While new labels may promote harmony, they sidestep the larger issues: national and personal self-interest.

 Might we work instead to get nations and individuals to embrace values that protect the home front while fostering health, peace and prosperity abroad? That strategy requires far more than good will toward men. We may have to give up our big cars; share our drugs with the less fortunate; update the academic curricula to mbrace the world community and monitor our corporations to prevent global fallouts like the kind we've seen in the mortgage markets.

Unfortunately, there are no drive-by windows where we can pick up solutions to the global diversity problem. Relationships will never improve if we focus on getting rid of labels like "God" rather than on creating  community-centric cultures and values.

I have no problem referring to God as "Allah" while in an Islamic culture or community.Nor do I have difficulty asking  Muslims to extend to Christians the courtesies they might expect.  

The Bishop has a warm heart but he is overlooking the fact we are biased human beings.. 

We can't lift up any group by lowering our expectations of them.  That strategy simply confirms for detractors that the "outsiders"   are inferior. 

 

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