respecting others' places of worship

[Guest guest]

I am a Catholic, yet I felt 'attacked' when I saw that scene in

SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET, when the Chinese leaders came into a holy space

and ran their feet through the mandala there. I felt just as much

concern for those Tibetan monks as I did for my own religious

freedom. I am thinking now about a friend, who is from the Lakota

nation (native american nation) who was once fixing the roof of a

Christian Church. As he was up there, there were Christians

worshipping inside. Soon a voice came to him which he believed to be

a spiritual voice and it said, You have to understand that the people

in this building are also worshipping the Great Creator in the way

that they know. You have to accept them and have peace with them.

Since then he has accepted Christians. My descendants are from

Germany, Scotland, Holland and the Cree nation. As an indian person I

feel great sadness over the painful legacy of European colonization

and the current relationship of the U.S. Government to native

peoples. However, I am encouraged by more and more people working at

understanding each other and especially in a spiritual sense. There

is more willingness to walk and pray together and not apart. I think

now that there are more Hindus and Buddhists in America we are

starting to get to know them too. I sometimes wonder if there are

Native American Buddhists and Hindus out there. I know we have Native

Ameican Jews, Muslims and Christians. Just curious.

 

The main point I wanted to make here was that we should respect holy

places, whether they are indoors, outdoors, cathedrals, sweatlodges,

temples, shrines, ashrams, etc. whatever they are, they are spaces

created for sacred purposes. Disrespect to them is disrespect to all

people.

 

Bill