Hinduism not only inspired me to embrace the interfaith tradition but helped me better understand my own spiritual journey as an Interfaith Minister. I am a Native American, Hindu, Christian, Taoist and Buddhist.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam originated in the Middle East and are called Western Abrahamic religions as their sacred texts claim descent from Abraham. Over 54% of the earth’s population belongs to the younger Western religions: Judaism originated around 1,400 B.C., Christianity 1^st century A.D. and Islam the 6 century A.D.

Older religions include Indigenous religions that originated around 15,000 B.C., Hinduism around 2,500 B.C., Taoism around 600 B.C. and Buddhism around 400 B.C.

The three largest world religions today are Christianity with 2.2 billion adherents, Islam with 1.5 billion and Hinduism with 900 million. Judaism has only 14 million adherents.

The Hindus say all the religions are but different languages through which God speaks to the human heart. That the truth is one and only wise men and prophets call it by different names.

Since each person’s cultural heritage, history and personality influences their path to God Hindus affirm their own perception of God without the need to deny the truths in other traditions.

Hinduism inspired me to embrace the interfaith tradition and helped me better understand my spiritual journey.

I honor and respect all religious and nonreligious traditions but identify most with the Native American, Hindu, Christian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions.

I am a Native American because I see time as cyclical and everything in the universe as a circle¾ the earth, the stars, the wind, the seasons even a birds nest.

Western Religions see time as a straight line that began with God’s creation and will end in a final timeless state of being.

Like the Native Americans I see God in all creation and that there is no real distinction between the spiritual and material world. Humans are just as spiritual as the birds, deer, trees, lakes and streams. I see everything as alive and sacred. Because spirit is everywhere a balance must be sought with everything. Since all life has a spirit (wakan) humans can learn from other beings. A failure to respect the spiritual equilibrium of all life has caused us to forget that our spiritual goal is to love not just people but all of creation.

Western religions see God as separate from the world and humans superior to other living beings. However, because of the special status of humans they are responsible for caring for God’s creation.

Like all religions I believe in one God, the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka), who is the transcendent creator.

I am a Hindu because I believe God is infinite, compassionate and just and therefore allows our souls to reincarnate. This means our soul will live many times on this earth before we choose to reunite with God.

The earth is the soul's school for learning unconditional love, letting go and desiring union with God. Like the Hindus I believe in karma. This means our soul is responsible for our actions and that we ultimately get back what we give. In the Christian tradition it’s called “reaping what we sow.”

Hindus believe the universe has no beginning and no end. Earth is a middle world where we learn to deal with good and evil, it is like a bridge, to be passed over but not to become attached to. The universe is made up of many galaxies each having an earth where souls can work their way to God. There are finer worlds above and lesser worlds below where souls can work out their karma.

When the cosmos collapses all beings who are not God realized will return to a state of becoming before the cycle begins again. Like a huge accordion, the universe swells out and then draws back in. This happens over billions and billions of years. (Science is confirming this.)
Like the Hindus I see the eternal spiritual world as real and the constantly changing material world as an illusion (maya). The world looks solid but it is made up of one substance, God. God, however, has many masks that include the gods Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.

God is basically kind as there is no permanent damnation.
I am a Christian because I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Mother Teresa said, “Everyone is Jesus in disguise.” Although we are all God’s children I believe Jesus was the earth’s purest channel of God’s love.

Jesus said, “Judge not, love your neighbor as yourself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He also said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you and forgive others so God can forgive you.” Jesus repeatedly asked us to share of ourselves, our clothes and our food.

Jesus gave us a vision of what a person might be¾ powerful yet humble, to have faith and lack pride. His life and teachings remind us of our divinity.

The Christian church preaches about original sin. They say humans are powerless to save themselves from sinfulness. Only people who accept Jesus will enter into eternal life.

I believe in original blessing. Because Jesus lived and preached about unconditional love everyone will eventually be “saved” and live in eternal blessedness.

I believe Jesus’ words “heaven” and “hell” describe not physical but spiritual states. Because all living beings not just humans have a special relationship with God we are all responsible for caring for God’s creation.

All religions believe in an afterlife but only Western Religions see it as the principle goal to be sought.

I am a Taoist because I believe cultivating “stillness” of mind is a way to live in harmony with the universe. To get stillness of mind we must dwell close to the land and meditate to clear our bodies and minds. When we return to our original purity and peace The Way (Tao) flows in and out of us without resistance, strain or effort. The Tao’s power is like water it will flow to our empty spaces and adapt to the surroundings. Water, like The Tao, can melt rocks and carry away the proud hills.

Like Taoists I believe we must be gentle and kind when dealing with others, to be true in speech, just in ruling, be competent and not blame. Taoists say we must love the world as our own self for humans follow the earth and the earth follows heaven. The universe is sacred, we cannot improve it, if we change it we loose it.

I am a Buddhist because I believe the teachings of Buddha can bring individual and world peace.

Buddha said it is our worldly attachments that cause suffering and the eight fold path can set us free.

The Eightfold Path consists of right knowledge, aspiration, speech, behavior, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and absorption.

Like Buddha I believe meditation or the growth of an inwardness path increasing independence from our bodies, passions and the material world.

The daily practice of Buddha’s eightfold path will bring peace of mind, freedom and release from the wheel of birth and death ( Nirvana).

I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister with the Alliance of Divine Love in the mid 80s. My church, the place where I meditate and pray, is along a bubbling brook among some old oak trees. I’ve studied with spiritual teachers in the Christian, Native American, Hatha and Siddha Yoga traditions.

There are three choices for religions today exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism.

My interfaith path inclusivism honors, respects and embraces all religions.

Pluralism affirms our perception of God without the need to deny the truths in other traditions. It is best suited to most people of faith.

Exclusivism is where the people believe their religion alone is true and that they have been commissioned by God to carry their religion worldwide. Exclusivism is the most common in Christianity and Islam. There is a growing number of extremists also known as fundamentalists who are willing to use extreme measures including violence against the people of other faiths.

Exclusivism is a form of religious intolerance and a tool for war, division and oppression.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the greatest Interfaith Minister of our time. He said in his Oslo 1966 Nobel Prize winning lecture, “A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together. This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which to have to live together¾ black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu¾ a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.” His statement is even more relevant today.

Representatives of the world’s religions gathered in Chicago for a Parliament of World’s Religions in 1993 to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the first Chicago Parliament of World Religions.

“A Global Ethic” declaration was drafted to address core values and contemporary concerns such as the welfare of all humanity and to care for planet Earth.

These include: