ONE GOD, MANY NAMES

One God Many Names

 

“The most heinous and the most cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion …” Gandhi

People have slaughtered each other in wars, inquisitions, and political actions for centuries and still kill each other over belief in some religious, political, or philosophical ideology. The AFSP maintains that beliefs elevated to religious faith can create more problems than they solve and that they can produce the most destructive potential to the future of humankind.

The Fellowship envisions a world where people of all faiths, religions and beliefs can live together in peace and harmony. It envisions a world where all people can enjoy without prejudice the practice of their faith, religion or belief in furtherance of their spiritual quest that brings them closer to their God without fear of rejection or persecution and by reaffirming the motto of “One God Many Names”.

Observing how ‘religious” people and “religious” organisations of all persuasions have behaved over the millennia one might even be inclined to suggest that the truly moral person, the only good person, is the atheist who acts with compassion, tolerance, kindness, with warmth and love towards one’s fellow humans and refuses to kill in the name of some god, or the dictates of some dubious religious authority.

The Dali Lama once remarked that there is only one religion and that is the religion of kindness.

The members of the AFSP have many different beliefs about religion, politics and philosophies, and because of this it is difficult to give a statement of “Our Beliefs” that would embrace the divergent views of its members. One of our beliefs is obvious: that it is possible for people of goodwill to join the Fellowship and practice their religion without prejudice, in peace and harmony.

However if the AFSP is to have a succinct statement of belief, the following might serve the purpose:

“That we should act towards our fellow humans, with compassion, tolerance of differences, kindness towards each other with genuine warmth and love”.

The Fellowship believes in its commitment to be a spiritual leader in the 21st Century by continuing its service to mankind and by constantly reaffirming its motto: "ONE GOD MANY NAMES"

Doctrinal Statement

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction”. Blaise Paschal

Doctrine in a religious sense connotes a corpus of religious dogma as it is promulgated by a church. Dogma is the established beliefs, held by a religion, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. Of course these doctrines or dogma are referring to concepts as being "established" only according to a particular point of view, and thus one of doubtful foundation.

Any particular kind of exclusivist, punitive, organised religion, that is institutionalised religion, that says, “Our way is the only way” teaches us, and indeed commands us to separate ourselves from each other as a means of realising God, is very interesting, since God as defined by their own theology, is the fundamental reality in all the universe. Nothing has done more to separate and divide human beings from another than exclusivist-organised religion.

Religions of all persuasions have established patterns of thinking which lead them to their version of “truth” and to the doctrines they hold most dear. The constraints of their own culture serve as a filtering device, heightening some perceptions and dimming others, to arrive at what they believe is objective truth binding them to their own doctrinal declarations.

It is with reasonable certainty to assert that most of the major religions on earth agree on one point: all believe in a God of some description. (“One God Many Names”). The things they disagree with are the superfluous annexations to those beliefs.

If ever a common religion should somehow be acceptable to all, its accomplishment will not be by believing something new but in getting rid of these redundancies.

With or without religion you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things, but, for good people to do evil things, that takes institutionalised religion!

Religious organisations have created their own dogmas and doctrines as a way of constructing a barrier between humanity and God so that it is they who become the intermediary and may therefore claim to have a special relationship with God that can only be brokered by and through them. “… The greatest evils inflicted on humankind are perpetrated not by pleasure-seekers, self-seeking opportunists, or those who are merely amoral, but by fervent devotees of religion”. Emmanuel Kofi Mensah

Therefore the Doctrinal Statement of the AFSP can be summed up:

“One God Many Names”.

Each individual has the total freedom to follow their religion of choice without interference from others.

We hold as sacrosanct the right of every person to belong to a religion of their choice and to worship freely: we also believe it is also the right of every person to disagree with any particular religion so long as that disagreement does not lead to violence or harm to those who practice it.

Each member congregation also has the right to add to these their own Doctrines and beliefs, according to the beliefs of the congregation members. These may include (but are certainly not limited to) traditional Christian beliefs, variations of the Christian beliefs, Pagan beliefs, or just a general "multi-faith" congregation where all beliefs are catered for.

Pranic Healing

As part of the Fellowship's sacramental observances the Fellowship endorses the practice of the ancient science and art of Pranic Healing to balance, harmonise and transform the body's energy processes through the bio-plasmic body.

The Fellowship understands that many of its Ministers and members also use the laying on of hands in order to help bring about spiritual healing and comfort to those in turmoil.

With this in mind, the Fellowship wholeheartedly endorses the practice of laying on of hands, non-touch energy healing, psychic and spiritual healing in a religious sense, by its Ministers, to bring about the healing and comfort it does provide.