Have I been praying to the wrong God?

...on NPR. Great topic, thoughtfully and articulately delivered! Well done!

different perspectives may open new doors..

I appreciate your calm style and the way you inform us without making us feel dumb. We need this kind of information now more than ever. I can hear you leading an ongoing conversation that will bridge the gaps between us.

Best of luck to you.

Mary

They even have a TV station in Egypt.

I am curious to know what type of show you want to do though.

Your voice made me melt... Great intonation. & I liked your topic.

-(;o)~

http://www.publicradioquest.com/node/1138

Good luck. I think that this was a fine entry.

I enjoyed listening to you. I have to e-mail you and send you a paper I wrote for an English class called
"The God of My Heart."
I hope to hear more of you.
Keep up the good work, Teacher.
Yvonne
Listen to my intro and learn who I am and why I am closely tied to public radio.
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Jim Barfuss
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“Life is full of surprises. When I looked toward the future in my youth, I did not see myself standing here.” Seymour B. Moore

I think you have a great radio voice - very smooth with enough conviction to keep one listening. Good luck! As far as your argument was concerned, it made me think of something I had just read in a book about metabolic disorders! LOL While discussing the frontal lobes of the neocortex and the amygdala, Dr. Kenneth Bock took the time out to write, "the eternal human struggle for happiness and meaning revolves around the battle between the two most primal and pivotal of all emotions: love and fear. At the heart of all life lie these two lords of mankind. Love brings happiness. But fear fosters survival. And we need both. Therefore, most people spend their lives balancing love and fear, often trading away the happiness of today in drudgery, sacrifice, and sorrow, out of fear of not having enough of what they need to live and love tomorrow." And so, it struck me as interesting that God, Allah, Dios - the embodiment of what for me is Love, also invokes the strong reaction in many people of fear, which is where I think the reluctance that you mentioned of some to accept people of other faiths, comes from. I think the "fear" is that the acceptance that "God" and "Allah" are one and the same would somehow dimishe the love for one's respective "God", since "Allah" specifically, has been so vilified. This in turn triggers the fear that the eternal happiness that most people aspire for will be jeopardized. Thanks for the thought provoking moment!

Good job! Well-written, well-spoken, well-produced. Thought-provoking. Stars to you!

Yes, Allah is the Arabic word for God and should be translated as "God" and not left in Arabic - *but* I beg to differ - "Allah" does not refer to the same thing as "Yahweh" nor do either of those words refer to the same thing as "Jehovah". They are of similar substance, yes, but they are not the *same* - the homoous/homoious argument, as it were. (And how much blood was spilt by Christians over that iota!)

In Late Antiquity, one heard the argument that Jupiter, Venus and Antinous, for example, were but different facets of the same numenous deity-ness. Speaking only of the Christian subdivision of the monotheism franchise, let us be clear - the deity worshipped by the late and much unlamented Jerry Falwell bore very little relationship to the deity worshipped by most mainstream Lutherans, for example - let alone by any Unitarian Universalists of my acquaintance. Within Islam, the Sunni and the Shia have considerable differences of opinion as to who and what is being worshipped - as well as HOW.

Ah, the myth of monotheism! The human spiritual experience is bristling with innumerable (and unnameable) gods and goddesses battling over the souls of their respective devotees. Such has it always been, and such will it always be.

*n*

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" - Oscar Wilde

Humbly, what is really significant to me is that none of these groups seem to grasp the meaning of the words, "Thou shall NOT kill."

As far as I am concerned, they (these groups) could take a hundred million millennium to figure out the “name thing” and it wouldn’t matter if they had first given up ignoring their commandment to NOT kill.

Maybe, if they would focus on this, then they would be able to discover the subtly that you bring to light in your submission.

You probably are in complete agreement with me on this matter, so please consider changing your focus to that which is really significant, getting all members of these groups to focus on NOT killing anyone, and not focus on what word is used to refer to their deity.

Steve

It falls to the enlightened, and the intelligent and the sane to take responsibility for the deluded or doltish or insane.

Great story, and excellent delivery. You're quite right: There is already plenty of misunderstanding among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It would be helpful for everyone to understand that "Allah" is just a word for "God."

My understanding is that Coptic Christians have not had an easy time of it in Egypt, although the Church has undergone something of a Renaissance in the last half-century.

... to which I say #$@%^ them. If you don't make the first cut, I swear I hope existing shows use you as a commentator.
************************************************
Life is a matinee. BroadwayMatinee.com
Judge my hostiness in the PRTQ

First things first, you do have a hosting voice and a subtle passion and conviction that any public radio person has. Now the subject you brought up is tricky. I agree with your assessment that people view Allah and God differently, in which they are the same person. Be careful of that because people are sensitive to these things. The only way to prove your right is to report and/or go to the field to find answers. I want to know if you make it to the top ten what would be your format?