Sunday, February 2, 2014

Claire Zimmerman: Different Faiths Come Together to Pray for Rain

This was an interesting article. Multiple counties around Nevada and Utah have been suffering from a long drought spell, and have reached the point where they are desperate. They called leaders of multiple faiths, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and many more, to all pray together for rain to come. The article quotes a religious leader, by the name of Zed, saying,  "When God sees (all these) leaders sitting together in unity and harmony and praying in diverse traditions and seeking common good for the entire community, God will be naturally moved to provide the devotees relief from drought so that it will not affect their quality of life, livelihood and health."

I think this article is rather beautiful. No matter what faith you are, or if you have no religious faith, the unity that this natural disaster has brought is wonderful and inspiring. (Not the natural disaster itself, just the unity). We live in a world disjointed by religion, unfortunately. It's ironic that a thing of peace is the main cause of war. I believe religion is beautiful, and we should all respect each other's religions unless someone else's beliefs are physically or seriously emotionally harming another person. I think something like what happened in this article is exactly what our world needs to see: that people, no matter what they believe, can come together for a common cause in peace. No violence. No judging. Just praying. This article has inspired me and made me believe that we can get through all this religious turmoil going on in the world to a world of religious tolerance, because in the end, we're all people, and that's what counts.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/02/with-little-rain-california-farmers-brace-for-drought-unemployment-sending/

5 comments:

  1. Although the drought is a very serious problem, it is still really beautiful that all those faiths would come together to pray for the same cause. When it comes down to nature, we all can see that we are merely human, and that materialism/idealism makes no difference. - Nana Johnson 2nd Period

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  2. The reaction of the community in this situation is beautiful. I hope that we can learn from this situation and one day live in peace.

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  3. Byron Otis- What a wonderful thought. I'm so glad that some people are able to put aside the differences of others, even embrace differences in thought and belief.

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  4. This is some amazing progress for us. Like you said, Claire, religion as a concept is very beautiful but human beings have used it as validation for violence for years and years, but the fact that we can sometimes strip it down to something so bare and pure so that we can all come together is incredible.

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