For the Love of God: An Approach To Peace, Coexistence & Truth

By Anthony Antonellis

Tony Antonellis' mother always told him he should never discuss religion or politics in public, but he believes we all need to be talking about religion a whole lot more. In a world marked and divided by countless religious sects, in which differences are perceived as more important than similarities, For

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Oct 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798890912602

Anthony Antonellis

Tony was born into an Italian-American and French-American family. Over the course of his career, he worked as a chef, a tractor-trailer driver, and for Polaroid before becoming a social worker. He graduated from Eastern Nazarene College and has always had an interest in religion.

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For The Love of God: An Approach To Peace, Coexistence & Truth

Copyright © 2023 by Anthony Antonellis

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 979-8-89091-259-6

ISBN eBook: 979-8-89091-260-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter One  Intellectual Honesty

Chapter Two  The Evolution of Theories about the Divine or Ultimate Truth

Chapter Three  God Is Great, Greater Than We Know

Chapter Four  Who or What are Prophets?  

Chapter Five  Who appointed the Prophets?  

Chapter Six  What is Scripture?  

Chapter Seven  The Evolution of Religious Traditions  

Chapter Eight  The needed changes in the Roman Catholic Church in order to foster God centeredness between members of the world’s religions  

Chapter Nine  Proper Love towards One’s Nation 

Chapter Ten  My Philosophy of Religion 

Chapter Eleven  Can Religion Assist Good Government? 

Chapter Twelve  Will the real Jesus of Nazareth Please Stand Up

Chapter Thirteen  The Strength of Diversity That Leads to Life 

Chapter Fourteen  One possible method for global Cooperation 

Chapter Fifteen  Where do we go from here?

Dedicated to James T Richards

My friend, and brother-in-law. Jim was always generous with his time, with a paint brush or a hammer, coaching my children’s vocabulary or editing my graduate papers. We miss him.

Introduction

I was motivated to write this book for several reasons, not least of which wa s the current sectarian violence around the world. Several decades ago, when I was an elementary student, I recall my mother telling me that there are two topics which one should never discuss in public ; t he first being religion and the second being politics. She told me this because she knew how passionate people were regarding these sensitive subjects . Scholars and theologians today realize that it is an absolute necessity that dialogue takes place between representatives of all faiths and political ideologies. My mom’s caution, although warranted, is an unavoidable task if humankind wishes to survive and thrive. 

In the ancient world, isolated communities could get by more easily being culturally and religiously isolated from the beliefs and customs of other people. Today such isolation is impossible thanks to the internet, global travel and trade, television, the radio, cell phones, and satellite communication. 

Faith based communities in the modern world need to critically assess their traditional customs and beliefs for their ethical and unethical content in order to transform our planet from sectarian centered beliefs that discriminate against those of different religions or world views to a God or universally centered view that excludes no one. When I say God centeredness, I am not restricting an explanation of the deity to a monotheistic definition, but rather proposing an open-ended provisional understanding that is appropriate to humanity’s finite reality. 

God centeredness is a pluralistic, intellectually honest critique of one’s own faith-based community. Whether one is an atheist, or a theist is less important than how one lives and treats others. It subscribes to a humble, provisional orthodoxy and not a rigid intolerance that is slave to tradition without any critical self-examination and consequently no hope for self-improvement. We will frequently be examining in detail the implications of God centeredness but for now I will add one more point. An atheist can also be God centered. How is this possible? The British scholar Richard Dawkins states in his book the God Delusion that if all religious people lived by the ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that he would have no complaint regarding religion. In order to examine which kinds of theology need to change and what aspects thereof should be retained, we will be examining a number of essential topics. First, we will partially trace the roots of all religions, which is a monumental task alone in order to seek the commonalities among them. Secondly, we will minutely consider the nature or characteristics of God. All humanity can perceive God but none of us can fully comprehend the deity; nonetheless, we need to get a better understanding of what divine ethics really are. A viewer of the cosmos demonstrates that the one common thread in the universe is change and natural development. A rational person can no longer deny evolution. Thirdly, it is important to consider the prophets. Who really chose them? What common traits do they share? Are prophets infallible and incapable of human error, or do they like us in most every way? Next, we need to consider the esteemed religious texts, like The Hebrew bible, The Christian New Testament, the Muslim Quran and the other noble writings of other faiths. It will also be warranted to look at a number of specific beliefs such as beliefs in heaven and hell or some kind of divine judgement. Lastly, we need to consider what is or should be the proper role for religion in our modern society. Do democratic freedoms coincide with a divine plan that respects the dignity of all or not? 

As a Roman Catholic, I must critique first the practices of my own religion, as a moral obligation first to God centeredness in order to foster unbiased love for all humans of all faiths, and second to the well-being of God’s Earth whose well-being determines our well-being. 

 Before he died, my brother-in-law, James T. Richards and I discussed this book. He recommended, Don’t write like so many scholars and theologians for a limited intellectual audience, but rather write a book for everyone. This is what I have attempted to do. I am now in my sixth decade of life, and I have outlived my father, who died at the age of 40, by twenty-five years. The question of my own mortality is before me. I would like to leave this world in a better place than in the way that I found it. For our children’s sake, yours and mine, and their children in faithful service to the one whose love is beyond measure. 

Chapter One

Intellectual Honesty

So far as we know, what is the oldest huma n activity ? More than forty-five thousand years ago, our Neanderthal cousins were contemplating their maker in the caves of the Middle East and Europe. They placed flowers on the graves of their loved ones and had funeral feasts. They cared for disabled members of their communities. They had language, love, compassion and reason. The proof of these facts is in the uncovered anthropological evidence and is the work of numerous scholars from numerous specialties all over the world. In his informative Great Courses Lectures, Professor John R. Hale explores this fascinating subject and our oldest fossil record of religious observance. What were their petitions? What did they pray for? Perhaps giving thanks for a new arrival or mourning the loss of a loved one. We know that they believed in some kind of afterlife or rebirth indicated by the flowers they left at the burial sites symbolizing rebirth, not so different from us today. In one cave in northern Iraq, a handicapped Neanderthal lived to be forty years old when he was accidentally killed by falling rocks in the cave. This individual with his physical disability would not have contributed much to the community of tangible worth and would very likely be unable to care for himself without the clan’s assistance. 

Additionally, Professor Charles Kimball of comparative religion points to the interconnected nature of all religions in his lectures. Our Neanderthal cousins may have been the first on this planet, but religious diversity and its healthy evolution continues to this day just like science or any other human enterprise. Another point Professor Kimball makes is that through our learning about the religious beliefs of other traditions, it adds new depths of insight into our own traditions. In the Jewish Talmud, we find the maxim that the wise learn from everyone. In my research which started in the spring of 1977, reaching a deliberate passion at the dawn of the twenty-first century, I have discovered numerous bits of information. My search for truth has been bolstered by research, nevertheless the search is not resolved and there is a need for more research. It has only strengthened my resolve for more answers. I would like to state some of my conclusions. First, I have found no major world religion that doesn’t have supreme beauty and noble truths to contribute to humanity as a whole. Notwithstanding, I also know of no single religion that does not also have superstition, biased by human error. Similarly, all the world’s religions have some dark skeletons in their closets. This is because we are all fallible or in the New Testament language of Paul, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 3:23. It’s time to act like God centered adults and not emotionally immature children. Since no religion is perfect, but the perfection of God is, we wisely defer to the deity in uncertain matters and employ faith. Worldly concerns need evidence-based beliefs. Contrary to the historic record of my church, science and religion are not only compatible, but they are a match made in heaven. The science behind Charles Darwin is not any threat to legitimate faith in God. It is a threat to faulty religious beliefs which distance us from God and engender us to the false gods of religion. A useful analogy might be drawn from the animal need for food. Many languages have different names for hunger. Various cultures have their own unique menu; rice in Asia, corn in South America and potatoes in Europe. These remedies for human hunger satisfy the need for nourishment. The need for spiritual enlightenment is also a genuine need. History has demonstrated numerous responses to this human need. Rather than human fulfillment, religious beliefs have oftentimes generated violence, condoning hatred of others and looking down at people with beliefs different from our own: The Crusades, violence in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants, the list is too long to record. Human history is replete with greed, lust for power and prejudice. Muslims rightly believe that God does not recognize nations but regards all humanity as part of the same family. This is absolutely true. The god who is no respecter of individuals is also no respecter of groups of people. One God, one family. What about Israel and the Jews? Are they not the chosen people of God? The fact is that all the Jews are and always will be precious in the sight of their creator, but no more or less than Italians, Iranians or the people of North Korea. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan who marched with Reverend Martin Luther King took issue with the idea of an exclusive people categorically different from others. 

Humanity has historically had a fetish for group making. First, it was clans followed by villages. Then city states formed into nations. Today, we have superpowers and divisions created by humans. There will always be diversity in all communities, both within a community and between opposing communities, but God doesn’t see those distinctions. God’s judgement is between the righteous and the unrighteous. A good Muslim