“It is high time that in the global order our major religious institutions assert themselves as one solitary unit and, alongside our governments and commercial enterprises, work to eradicate hunger, poverty, injustice, gender and racial inequality, greed, war and other evil.”
That, in a nutshell, is the central point of Michael Haghighat’s short but succinct work, Books of God: The Three Abrahamic Religions, Their Common Truths, and Why They Need to Unite.
The book offers brief and clear definitions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for which the author notes there are about 4.4 billion followers, and points out their many commonalities. It is by laying this groundwork that he argues unity is needed to spread God’s message and do God’s work.
“Religions are nuanced, believing in God is not,” Haghighat writes. “The nuances of each religion should not be at the expense of altering God’s central messages and/or excluding other people.”
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION WITH A LIGHT TOUCH
The book is hardly a heavy-handed religious primer – not at all. But the author needs to delve into the three religions in order to set up his premise in the hope of gaining traction for his concept of unity. He says the main source of conflict among the religions throughout history has always been that each insists their way is the right way and the other religions are wrong. Sometimes these arguments have been verbal, others times through the use of force.
He says the lack of a united front “has created a vacuum where we are fast moving toward totally unjust godless societies with yet plenty of fractionalized religious fanaticism.” The author, who acknowledges that he is not a theologian or religious scholar, sheds light on the role he is trying to play in advancing his concepts. He has created The Organization for the Promotion of Unity of Abrahamic Religions (OPUAR). While its charter is being developed, its mission is: to promote unity among the three religions based on the core principles embodied in their common truths, and to someday have it lead to a global organization that becomes a pillar of the global order.
The author says his purpose in writing the book is to bring to light, from a common person’s perspective, the common message of God throughout time. “It is through unity with one another that we achieve unity with the One, the Almighty.”
Haghighat puts forth some high-level concepts and communicates them in a simple, understandable way. His message is clear, and worth readers’ time to consider. “I urge readers of this book to read the Torah, the Gospel and the Quran with an open heart and an open mind to find their common truths. Embracing their common truths will lead us to our truth: Love of God and love of all.”
