Why Mecca?

[Steve Consilvio]

While we need "religion" as a way to teach one another and the next generation, I do not think God has any need of it at all.


As to what is "acceptable," you seem to miss my point that someone saying that they are "best" is fraught intellectual dishonesty.


It would also perhaps be useful to explain what you mean by religion. I think of religion as organizational structures. Islam, to its credit, seems less hierarchial, but within each sect it seems to be very hierarchial. Thus, when a cleric says things that are false, he leads many astray, the same as a Christian preacher.


Or perhaps you mean the idea of day constantly interrupted by prayer (or prayer interupted by necessities) but that is a form of worship, not "religion." Any religion could choose to do the same rituals.


Lastly, I just wanted to point out that this idea of praying towards Mecca is the same thing that the Chinese practiced for thousands of years. Everyone slept with their head toward the Forbidden City. Similarly, when the Emperor stood at the center of the city, with his 100,000's of soldiers surrounding him, he was God in the minds of men at that time. It strikes me as very similar to Mecca.


Yet look what Jesus says of these palaces of religious pride and the nature of our existence:

Mark 13


Signs of the End of the Age


As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"


"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."


As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"


Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

We are still going through these birth pains, obviously. Those who claim the end is near (because of the creation of Israel, for example) are greatly mistaken. Religious leaders are constantly leading their flock astray, just as political leaders do.


Granted, Jesus does not say that He wants these buildings to fall, only that they will. Again, I would not be self-satisfied with any label. There are only two people in the world: you and God. It doesn't matter what Islam does. You are not Islam and Islam is not you. The word "Islam" is just an intellectual construct (a label) to help us communicate differences we observe in our surroundings. The same intellectual capacity which also leads us to see difference where there is none, like, there is only one God. The splitting of hairs is unimportant, it is unity without exclusion that has value