Luke Judge

Remarks from the Huffington Post Game Changers celebration.

Thank you, Arianna. And thanks also to everyone at The Huffington Post.

It is indeed an honor to be part of the extraordinary group being recognized this evening.

I would like to take to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported our efforts here in New York and around the world.

Thank you for joining the fight against mistrust and misunderstanding.

Thank you for having the courage to uphold the values on which this country was founded – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I especially want to thank Mayor Bloomberg — a Game Changer himself — for everything he has done to support Cordoba House at Park51 here in Manhattan.

But Cordoba House at Park51 is just one part of the larger Cordoba Movement.

The Cordoba Movement is a multi-national, multi-faith organization dedicated to tackling tough issues in a practical way in order to build bridges between Muslims, Jews, Christians, and people of goodwill from all cultures and faith traditions.

I founded the Cordoba Movement to help break the cycle of fear, mistrust, misunderstanding, and violence that threatens the peace and stability of the entire world. This misunderstanding is fueling the irrational fear of Islam that we are seeing in the United States and elsewhere in the West. And this, in turn is fueling the extremism and radicalism we see in some Islamic countries.

My father once told me a story about a time he asked his father, my grandfather, “What’s the most important thing in life to you?” My grandfather responded, “It may be hard to believe but I care about you, and love you, more than I care about myself. That you are healthy and safe is more important to me than my own life.”

Each of us wants more for our children then we want for ourselves. It is up to all of us to work together to help break the cycle of fear, mistrust, misunderstanding, and violence that threatens the peace and stability of the entire world.

Leaving the world a better place than we found it by reversing this downward spiral hatred and ignorance for our children and our grandchildren is truly the “Game Changer” that we all need to strive for.

Thank you again for your recognition of our work and the important efforts of all the game changers honored here tonight.

alternative Belief Systems Books entire world, faith organization, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, mistrust, radicalism

In a bow to the growing diversity of America’s religious landscape, the Claremont School of Theology, a Christian institution with long ties to the Methodist Church, will add clerical training for Muslims and Jews to its curriculum this fall, to become, in a sense, the first truly multi-faith American seminary…. Eventually, Claremont hopes to add clerical programs for Buddhists and Hindus.

[From Claremont seminary reaches beyond Christianity - latimes.com]

This makes sense, in a way. It makes sense if the purpose of a seminary is to equip students in understanding religion. It makes sense if religions are traditions, culturally contingent ways of looking at reality. It makes sense if members of a religious tradition see themselves as just that: members of a tradition. It makes sense if religion represents an association, a voluntary club to belong to, or a way of expressing solidarity with one’s background. It makes sense if religion and truth have no conversation with each other.

Yet it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense if the purpose of a seminary is to equip students to minister truth. It doesn’t make sense if Jesus Christ actually died for our sins. In fact it doesn’t even make sense if the seminary just believes