Something Good and Right

Huston Smith has written a book entitled The Soul of Christianity. I have not read it, but I think I know what it means. Beneath the layers of doctrine and dogma, lie something that is good and right. Jesus preached some good things; but then people decided to make him a god and wrote up all that dogma to support that. The thing is; Jesus was not a god, but a wise Jewish rabbi who lived two millenniums ago. The underlying principles of Jesus teachings, “love one another” and the Golden Rule are a big part of the soul of the religion. He also taught that we should have a positive mental attitude, in his “you can move a mountain” sermon. The layers that Christians have piled on top of this soul are not so good. Another problem is that Christians tend too much to believe that “love one another” means only love other Christians. It would move us toward world peace and nonviolence if all members of this religion would accept the diversity that exists in our world.
I imagine that all religions have a soul that is good and right. They too tend to move too much toward strict adherence to doctrine above the more important principles. There is one word I could use to express the solution to the problem; it is THINK! Real education is learning to THINK. We also need to use the God-given common sense that we have.