I think you're misinterpreting what she's saying. The concept of "dying to yourself" is spiritual metaphor throughout the New Testament. It is akin to the concepts of self-denial in Buddhism. I do not hear her saying she WANTS these kids to go out and die in the name of Jesus. As I said earlier...I don't know this woman. But I'm guessing if we could talk to her, she'd clear up the misconception.
You mean like this??: "I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life." -- Mahatma Gandhi
No, dying as an act of non violence is not the same as dying for an allegiance to a particular religion.
Attachment to living is ego driven. Back to the quotes: [rquoter] I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him. All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth. Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith. Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one's own religion. The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body. -Mohandas Gandhi [/rquoter]
he's not advocating dying for the cause of non-violence. non-violence isn't the end..it's the means. mlk didn't preach non-violence for the sake of non-violence. gandhi is saying, if defending your cause leads you to death, then so be it. Jesus was a martyr, ultimately. there were countless early Christians who were put to death, many gruesomely. they didn't ask for it. they just didn't deny what they believed. I'd say I'm fairly plugged in to what's being preached, good and bad, in churches around the country and, to a lesser extent, around the world. i'm not hearing Christian leaders telling Christians to go out and literally look for ways to die...actually die/stop breathing/stop heartbeat, etc.
He is referring to the ideas of religion and spirituality, not a particular religion itself. The ideas of non violence are not exclusive to a single religion. The people in the videos want to be martyrs as an allegiance to their religion. It is a form of idolatry. Here is some more Gandhi: "Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or the greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism being such. Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If untouchability could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an excrescence. I could not understand the raison d'etre of a multitude of sects and castes. What was the meaning of saying that the Vedas were the inspired Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also the Bible and the Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to convert me, so were Muslim friends. Abdullah Sheth had kept on inducing me to study Islam, and of course he had always something to say regarding its beauty." (source: his autobiography) "As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side." The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for Muslims but for all of mankind." Later in his life when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he replied: "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew."
I'm reminded of this quote: "...to point at the moon a finger is needed, but woe to those who take the finger for the moon... " How is a religion itself a cause to die for?
You simply asked if it was a cause. Therefore I will only answer that as the question. The most relevent entry to the definition of 'cause': [rquoter] 6. a principle, ideal, goal, or movement to which a person or group is dedicated: the Socialist cause; the human rights cause. [/rquoter] Using that definition religions qualify as a cause pretty unequivocally. As far as the wider question of whether it is a cause worth dying for, that requires a bit of a subjective valuation. Certainly if the tenants of, say, Catholicism are correct, it would seem to be a transaction worth making. Ones disposition in an eternal afterlife would have greater value than the disposition in a finite mortal existance.
