A little sleuthing on the internet, see here and here, reveals that the Dr. Arnold Conrad who delivered the invocation at the McCain rally in Davenport on Saturday is the current interim minister at Bethany Baptist church in Moline and holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. This supposedly highly educated man said "there are millions of people around this world praying to their god - whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah …" and was worried that if their prayers were answered they would think their god was "bigger" than the "God of the Bible."
Well, I don't hold any advanced degrees in religion and even I know that there is no god named "Hindu" or "Buddha" and "Allah" is another name for the "God of the Bible." There are many Hindu gods but none of them are named "Hindu". Buddhists do not have a god – Buddha was just an enlightened man. Muslims believe that Jews, Christians and Muslims are people of the book, worshiping the same god. (Jews and Christians may not agree with that, but no Muslim would ever think that "their god" was different than the god of the Christian Bible.)
So, what exactly are they teaching at Trinity Evangelical and on what basis do they award doctorates?
2 comments:
It is unfortunate that there are even learned individuals who continue to spread such divisive comments and beliefs about other people around the world. It is either Rev. Arnold's complete unwillingness to accept the true teaching of his faith as one of peace, love and unity or he is continuing the underlying theme of the GOP of fear mongering. I was raised Christian and I can understand how he and others might be disillusioned by the idea of separateness. But I am happy to say that even he and I are one in this unified universe of Love and acceptance. I don't agree with his obvious disdain for himself or people in general but I still see the wholeness he is created and sustained.
It must be hard for a thinking person to run as a Republican candidate when Republican "core support" is "the Christian Right," people who believe in a nationalistic, petty, and vengeful god, people who believe the foundation of their faith is threatened if the world is more than a few thousand years old, Christians who consider the governor of Alaska an example of moral behavior and a person they want as a leader.
Daniel
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