A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Minister ...
by Guy Spiro

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Sounds like the start of one of those tired old jokes, but instead it was Larry King who kept me up past my bedtime with a panel discussion on “What Happens After We Die?” Participating in the discussion were John MacArthur, evangelical Christian pastor of Grace Community Church in Southern California, best-selling author, and host of the Global Medium Ministry Grace to You; Father Michael Manning, Roman Catholic priest and host of the international program, "The Word in the World." Also on the panel was Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center representing Judaism, and Muslim scholar Dr. Maher Hathout, a retired physician and senior adviser to the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Participating from remote locations were Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, and Marianne Williamson, best-selling author and lecturer on spirituality.

 It’s hard to know where to start in stating my reactions to this discussion. On the one hand, it’s great that all of these people from widely divergent viewpoints could get together and share. Everyone behaved pretty well and there was a minimum of condescension considering that everyone on the panel was convinced that their version is the correct one. But a couple of things really stood out for me.

 The first is that no one really knows what happens after we die, not in a way that can be proven to others. Just as every creation myth is equally credible, so are the various versions of the afterlife. No one can prove these things. Neither can the atheist prove that there is no God. It has always struck me as the height of audacity to assume the correctness of and attempt to impose upon another, any of these stories, that are in reality just attempts to make some kind of sense of the unknowable. When it comes down to it, we know very little beyond the facts that the Is is and apparently we are. This is probably best expressed in the line from the Tao that goes something like, “The Way that can be spoken of is not the Way.”

 Another thing that really stood out was the way all, except the atheist, kept referring to God as He, and agreeing that He has a Plan. I was really surprised to see Williamson, who I think should know better, going along with that. The idea that God has a gender and opinions and plays favorites has caused humanity untold misery. I personally can’t believe that God cares who wins the Superbowl, no matter how many wide receivers cross themselves and point to the sky after scoring touchdowns. This is the mentality that ultimately leads to burning witches and flying airplanes into buildings.

 I applaud the gathering of teachers from various systems and the sharing. It is high time that the various religions and philosophical systems focus on their commonalities rather than their differences. But it is also time for humanity to transcend “religions” and to focus on the spirituality that animates them all. As I keep repeating, any model of the universe can only ever be a model. One or another may work for you in your effort to make sense of and deal with the Is, and that is fine. But to think that any one version is correct while the others are wrong is a dangerous folly.

 No joke.