Spiritual Quote of the Day (Anthony Saldarini, on Arguments Among Religious Groups)

“What is at stake when religious groups and factions argue with one another? Why do Christians label each other orthodox and heretic? Why does strife over practice and thought break out regularly in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions? Some of the reasons are perennial. Human knowing is always imperfect and mutable, no matter how much we claim to have the simple, absolute, unchanging truth; and imperfect knowledge inevitably spawns disagreement. Permanent tensions in a tradition produce recurrent conflicts. For example, Christians have claimed that Jesus is both God and human for centuries and have argued for that long over how to formulate such a claim and interpret its meaning. In the contemporary West sharp debates continually break out between religious traditions and quickly changing culture. Modern science stresses progress and the inherent uncertainty of provisional scientific results, much to the dismay of religious traditions, which seek to maintain the stability of their revelation and traditions.”—Biblical scholar Anthony J. Saldarini (1941-2001), “The Uses and Abuses of Heresy,” Bible Review, December 1997