AUTHOR
Leland Thoburn
Leland has been a Scientologist for 45 years. His writings have been published in numerous magazines and literary journals, including Foliate Oak Review, Writers’ Journal, Feathertale Review, Calliope, Vocabula Review and others. Formerly an executive at EarthLink Inc., he works as a business consultant.
TOLERANCE
When Pope Francis talks, 1.3 billion people listen. Thus, it is significant that on his recent trip to Hungary, the Pope called for an embrace of religious diversity.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
The Islamic calendar is called the “Hijri.” Like most calendars that serve a religious community, the Hijri is based on a fundamental sacred event. Whereas the Gregorian calendar denotes year one as the year of Jesus’ birth, the Hijri counts year one as the year the Prophet Muhammad escaped from persecution by migrating from Makkah (Mecca) to Medina.
TOLERANCE
The world offers much to be indifferent about—violence, hatred, bias, discrimination, lies and death. At 68 it would be easy to snuggle up to that indifference by just working my garden, taking out the trash and muttering platitudes at my neighbors.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
To this day, the effects of that shot continue to be felt as nations come to grips with the concept of individual freedom.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
An 1838 manifesto, signed by hundreds of Missouri officials and business leaders, exposed the bitter heart of this campaign: “We believed them deluded fanatics, or weak and designing knaves...”
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
Because of their common ancestry, the three Abrahamic religions share a deeper bond than many acknowledge. Islam’s earliest conflicts were with the idolaters. On this issue, the other monotheistic religions of the day—Judaism and Christianity—were its allies.
TOLERANCE
On the first real day of spring here in central Oregon, I dusted off my bicycle and went for a ride. My neighbors, devout Christians, waved and wished me well. I returned their kindness.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
In addition to practical knowledge, the monasteries were also the last refuge for scholarly knowledge. One of the principal occupations of monks was copying ancient manuscripts. The practice started in the sixth century at the Vivarium monastery in Italy, whose library was endowed by the Roman Senator Cassiodorus. Thereafter, a primary role of that monastery was to copy manuscripts, ensuring the continuation of Western knowledge, while preserving literacy amongst its initiates. The practice spread to other monasteries until most had established “scriptoria”—rooms where ancient literature was transcribed by monks.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
It was the late 1400s in India. Religious fanaticism combined with the caste system to create a culture where the ruling Mughals could and did round up commoners and slaughter them solely to slake their royal hounds’ thirst for blood.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
Fear breaks down a man’s sense of brotherhood. Make a man afraid, and he takes refuge in superstition.
