I Learned Something Today ......

Theodore Roosevelt on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

What I Believe...

I have been asked many times on here and in life when I state that I do not subscribe to any organized religion, but do believe in God, "So, what do you believe?" I thought I may now take the time and try to combine many of my posts and opinions into one clear post to attempt to explain how I view things.

I believe in God - I believe that God is in everything. Every tree, every animal, every drop of water. God is an essence, God is an energy, God isn't a person, a place, a thing. God IS.

When in comes to organized religion I feel that all religions are basically worshiping or honoring the same essence, the same God, just do it many different ways - the unfortunate part is that man has manipulated many aspects of different religions where the core values of love, peace and acceptance has been lost. Human emotions and ignorance, with arrogance, has plagued many portions of that message.

Let me give an example of how I feel: let's take a Christian view for a moment since many seen to subscribe to that path. Christians believe that God created everything - God created every star in the sky to every bug on the ground. He created everything. In understanding that, we can take a step further and recognize that he created many different kinds of things. There are elm trees, maple trees, lady bugs and water bugs - different species yet the same "things". The same is for people - we have Asian people, Puerto Rican people, people with blue eyes and some with brown. But, the main thing is underneath all that exterior, we are the same. We all bleed red, we all have the same organs, we are all human, we just have differences - God created differences. He created different trees, yet inside there is bark. My point is that since God created so many different people, with different physical features, different thoughts, different cultures, why would we not assume he created different ways in worshiping Him? Why can't we accept or believe that He also created different religions that all look different, have different customs, have different exteriors yet in the core all are honoring Him, the same God, the same essence of energy, of love, of life? We may not all call that energy God, but maybe we aren't supposed to. Why would we all refer to the same God as the same word? We don't all refer to little red objects that grow on a tree with the term APPLE....every language calls that same fruit a different name - yet it still is the same fruit.

Bottom line, I wish people would recognize that just like God created so many aspects of this world that boil down to the same point - yet it seems hard for others to accept that same concept for religious views and beliefs.

I believe that the core essence is, and should be, that we are all on this Earth together to love, to get along, to accept each other and our differences and to live and let live. What is good for me may not be good for another because God just may have another plan, another path, another mission for that person. Christianity may be the choice for one, yet Islam for another - and that just may be how God planned it.

Just like God created different people and cultures, languages and customs, and we have to learn to live with each other despite those differences, maybe he created different religions for the same exact reason.