UNITY between the major world religions is the key to restoring traditional values and morals to society, according to leading Jewish academic, Rabbi Shimon Cowen.
Visiting Perth briefly in June to launch his book, Politics and Universal Ethics, Rabbi Cowen told The Record that despite their differences, Christians, Muslims, and Jews share much common ground.
“There is a group of ethical principles and values which are at the root of the Abrahamic faiths,” he said.
“When we look at the root from which the major world religions sprang, this takes us back to Abraham, and before Abraham all the way back to Noah, the Biblical survivor.
“We have a tradition, and this tradition has been ratified by other faiths, that there are a series of basic laws or principles which share this fundamental root.” These laws are often referred to as the ‘Seven Noahide Laws’, and include prohibitions of idolatry, murder, theft, sexual immorality, blasphemy, eating flesh from a live animal, and a requirement for establishing courts of justice.
Rabbi Cowen said these laws have been affirmed by all three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
As such, Rabbi Cowen said his view on marriage was in union with the Catholic view that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman entered into for life.
“Human identity is intimately associated with the union of man and woman,” he affirmed.
“There’s absolutely no question that [gay marriage] is completely excluded by the Abrahamic ethic.
“It doesn’t mean that one doesn’t recognise that certain people have certain tendencies and certain struggles, all of which should be viewed with compassion. But when it comes to the crunch, it’s not something that should be indulged in practice.”
The Melbourne-based Rabbi said he believes the majority of Australians support marriage between a man and a woman.
He added that society has made it increasingly difficult for people with same-sex attraction to understand that they do have a choice in the matter. “The human body may have homosexual tendencies, but the soul, the conscience, which we call the mirror of God, is not something that is homosexual,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to [homosexual] individuals about this… and they know their body says this and their soul, their conscience says something else.”
On other life issues, such as abortion and euthanasia, Rabbi Cowen said the world’s major faiths generally held the view that both were morally wrong.
“The human body and the human soul is the possession of God, and it’s not something for us to take away, it’s for God to take,” he declared.
Despite the relentless push for abortion on demand, voluntary euthanasia and same-sex marriage, Rabbi Cowen said it was not too late to defend traditional values and morals from such attacks.
“What we need to do now is to restore a discussion,” he said. “People have a deep spiritual hunger, and the interesting thing is, in those areas where this discussion that we’re having is mostly prohibited, for example in the academic world, there people also have a deep spiritual hunger.
“What is needed now is to take the offensive and to open discussion and to talk about what we’re here for, the purpose of human existence, let’s talk about the soul, let’s talk about God.
“A lot of this discussion has simply been repressed. Once it’s re-opened then I’m sure you’ll find a resurgence. Once a person stands up and courageously raises their voice, that will crack the wall of political correctness.”
Rabbi Cowen said this resurgence has already begun in the countries of Eastern Europe, and reflects the human being’s innate search for God.
“Religion is part of human make-up,” he said. “There are a lot of so-called non-religious people who, by an act of self-transcendence, by thinking in terms bigger than themselves, are in fact en route to what we’d call religion.
“Even if they haven’t yet come to embrace religion, the very fact that they acknowledge a purpose which is higher than themselves… is the sign of a healthy mind and a healthy spirit.”
While those without religion will eventually be drawn to it, those with religion must unite to restore morality in society, Rabbi Cowen said.
“Religious groups came together, and they came together in order to defend common ground, and therefore a coalition is growing, a coalition of voices,” he said.
“There’s a tremendous value in them asserting their shared values.”