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Unity And Community
World Scripture
UNITY AND COMMUNITY
Individuals and families function within the context of a community, which in
turn functions within a larger society, nation, and world. The individual's
and family's well-being is bound up with the community's well-being, and
likewise its well-being is inseparable from the peace and prosperity of the
society, the nation, and ultimately, the world. Religious precepts undergird
community by teaching the virtues of cooperation, friendship, justice, and
public-mindedness. These create the spirit of unity by which community can
thrive and prosper.
This section deals specifically with the theme of unity. The opening texts
indicate that unity is first of all a gift of grace--a manifestation of the
oneness of Ultimate Reality--reconciling those who would otherwise be enemies.
The passages that follow call for unity among all members of the
community--even to the unity of all humanity--and condemn divisions. The
section concludes with passages which use the metaphors of a building and of
the human body to depict the varieties of tasks and social roles which should
mutually support each other to build a united community.
Israel's reconciliation with God can be achieved only when they are all one
brotherhood.
1. Judaism. Talmud, Menahot 27a
The believers indeed are brothers; so set things right between your two
brothers, and fear God; haply so you will find mercy.
2. Islam. Qur'an 49.10
3. Happy is the unity of the Sangha.
Happy is the discipline of the united ones.
3. Buddhism. Dhammapada 194
4. I do not pray for these [my disciples] only, but also for those who believe
in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me.
4. Christianity. Bible, John 17.20-21
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it
will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are
gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
5. Christianity. Bible, Matthew 18.19-20
If two sit together and the words between them are of Torah, then the Shechinah
is in their midst.
6. Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.2
And when a company meets together in one of the houses of God to pore over the
Book of God and to study it together among themselves, the Shechinah comes down
to them and mercy overshadows them, the angels surround them, and God remembers
them among them that are His.
7. Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 36
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
running down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life for evermore.
8. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Psalm 133
Hold fast, all together, to God's rope, and be not divided among yourselves.
Remember with gratitude God's favor on you, for you were enemies and He joined
your hearts in love, so that by His grace you became brethren. You were on the
brink of the fiery Pit, and He saved you from it. Thus does God make His signs
clear to you, that you may be guided.
Let there arise out of you one community, inviting to all that is good,
enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: those will be
prosperous. Be not be like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall
into disputations after receiving clear signs: for them is a dreadful penalty.
9. Islam. Qur'an 3.103-5
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John 17.20-21: This is Jesus' prayer for the church to be united, as a
testimony to the world of God's presence in him. Cf. 1 John 4.12-13, p. 237;
Pesikta Rab Kahana, p. 286. Matthew 18.19-20: Compare Qur'an 58.7, p. 110,
where the same image is used to describe God's omniscience, a third party to
every secret consultation. Psalm 133: Cf. Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7.18, p.
287.
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It is because one antelope will blow the dust from the other's eye that two
antelopes walk together.
10. African Traditional Religions. Akan Proverb (Ghana)
Meet together, speak together,
let your minds be of one accord,
as the Gods of old, being of one mind,
accepted their share of the sacrifice.
May your counsel be common, your assembly common,
common the mind, and the thoughts of these united.
A common purpose do I lay before you,
and worship with your common oblation.
Let your aims be common,
and your hearts of one accord,
and all of you be of one mind,
so you may live well together.
11. Hinduism. Rig Veda 10.191.2-4
Abruptly he [King Hsiang] asked me, "Through what can the Empire be settled?"
"Through unity," I said.
"Who can unite it?"
"One who is not fond of killing can unite it," I said.
13. Confucianism. Mencius I.A.6
Let us have concord with our own people,
and concord with people who are strangers to us;
The Divine Twins create between us and the strangers
a unity of hearts.
May we unite in our minds, unite in our purposes,
and not fight against the divine spirit within us.
Let not the battle-cry arise amidst many slain,
nor the arrows of the War-god fall with the break of day.
14. Hinduism. Atharva Veda 7.52.1-2
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Qur'an 3.103-05: God is one unity, and humankind should similarly be united;
this reconciliation comes through submission to God. The unity of God, the
unity of spirit and body within the individual, the unity of society, and the
ideal unity of all reality (cf. Qur'an 2.115, p. 109), are encompassed in the
Islamic concept of tawhid. Akan Proverb: Doing good to each other is the basis
of societal unity. Rig Veda 10.191.2-4: Cf. Atharva Veda 3.30, pp. 255f.
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My children, war, fear, and disunity have brought you from your villages to
this sacred council fire. Facing a common danger, and fearing for the lives of
your families, you have yet drifted apart, each tribe thinking and acting only
for itself. Remember how I took you from one small band and nursed you into
many nations. You must reunite now and act as one. No tribe alone can
withstand our savage enemies, who care nothing about the eternal law, who sweep
upon us like the storms of winter