God, Allah, and Zen

Why does it matter the name that we give thealso practices yoga. So what else you might ask?
Creator of ther universe? The difficult butHow about his Zen meditations? Zen is much easier
unvarnished answer is because every religion thinksto swallow when one really understands that Zen
that ALL other religions are heretical and false. Anddoes not recognize or worship any God. Zen is a
since each religion has it's own name for this Creator,school of Mah?y?na Buddhism notable for its
to even verbalize the name of another religion's Godemphasis on mindful acceptance of the present
is tantamount to anathema. In other words, you willmoment, spontaneous action, and letting go of
be run out of your church, denomination, or religionself-conscious, judgmental thinking. Now that's
on a fast rail.something worth practicing.
Why are so sensitive, biased, prejudiced, judgmental,C.S. Lewis, one of the most well-known Christians
and intolerant? That's a lot of adjectives!realized that much of Christian thought came out of
One of the most well know religious historians isthe Axial Age and previous philosophical concepts
Huston Smith. Huston Cummings Smith was born inwherein he wrote, "I can't say for certain which bits
1919 and is among the preeminent religious scholars incame into Christianity from other religions. An
the United States. His work, The Religions of Manenormous amount did." The stench of exclusivism is a
(later revised and retitled The World's Religions, is afoul ordor indeed.
classic with over two million copies sold, and remainsSo, maybe Christians should ligthen up a bit and love
a common introduction to comparative religion. Noteveryone since God did create everyone and Genesis
too shabby, eh?9 indicates that God, Allah, or Creator of the universe
Well, Huston is recognized as a life-long Christian!is not too happy with how we have been treating
What's not so well known though is that he prays toone another (can you say Crusades and Inquisitions?).
Allah five times a day. Say what? How can that be?Regardless of the name or the rituals, there's just
Is he skitzo, confused, or just a compromiser? HowONE GOD!
about none of those? Let's add to the mix that he