Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
Karen ArmstrongRead
There is a danger in monotheism, and it's called idolatry. And we know the prophets of Israel were very, very concerned about idolatry, the worship of a human expression of the divine.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Monotheism can lead to idolatry, where human representations of the divine take precedence over the true understanding of God.
In this quote, Karen Armstrong highlights the potential peril within monotheistic beliefs, particularly the tendency to idolize human representations of the divine. The prophets of Israel cautioned against this practice, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a direct, unmediated relationship with the divine rather than confusing authentic spirituality with flawed human interpretations and images.
Themes
MonotheismIdolatryDivineWorshipSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the risks of simplifying faith, I might quote this to caution against idol worship.
More from Karen Armstrong
All quotes →Yet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our limited needs, fears and desires. We can assume that he loves what we love and hates what we hate, endorsing our prejudices instead of compelling us to transcend them.
Karen ArmstrongRead
When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.
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Far from being the father of jihad, [Prophet] Mohammad was a peacemaker, who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closest companions because he was determined to effect a reconciliation with Mecca
Karen ArmstrongRead
Yes, all fundamentalists feel that in a secular society, God has been relegated to the margin, to the periphery and they are all in different ways seeking to drag him out of that peripheral position, back to center stage.
Karen ArmstrongRead
Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept.
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