To be sure, Christians in large numbers nevertheless suffered as Islamic armies marched on what had formerly been the Christian Empire in the East, and many were persuaded to convert to Islam by the sword. Ibn Abbas narrates that the Angel Jibril once asked the Prophet: “Tell me what is Islam?” The Prophet replied: “Iman is to believe in Allah, the Day of Judgment, His (Allah’s) Angels, Books and Prophets and to believe in life after death; and to believe in Paradise and the Fire, and the setting up of the Mizan (scales) to weigh the deeds; and to believe in the Divine Decree, the good and the bad of it (all). Jibril then asked him: “If I do all this will I be with Iman? Constitution’s Bill of Rights, which begins by declaring, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This was the first time in history that a nation would constitutionally limit itself from creating laws tending to establish a state religion. Sachin Tendulkar went out of form and then got the tennis elbow that kept him from action for quite some time.

I am observing among many other Christians I hang out with in a range of contexts a move toward a very inclusive view of God. Solutions range from laws allowing the “liquidation” of sects in France, to banning religious leaders from entering several countries, to government commissions finding that the new groups do not, after all, pose a real threat. While affirming the right to religious freedom, the French revolutionaries adopted a more militantly secularist path. The United States, meanwhile, faces battles over refining the finer points of religious freedom, questions such as whether it is constitutional to include “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and whether or how the Ten Commandments may be displayed on government property. In the United States, we’re guaranteed certain rights by the Constitution, but what rights do we have just by being virtue of being human? Each state was to take the religion of its prince, but within those states, there was not necessarily religious tolerance.

On the other hand, the official Church of England, for example, allows other faiths to preach freely and there is no legal penalty for converting from the state religion. The American tradition, on the other hand, tended to accept religious involvement in public debate and allowed clergymen of various faiths to serve in public office. Citizens of other faiths could relocate to a more hospitable environment. Also Jews have mostly been active in “secular” parties, but they have recently been more divided. The first Crusade, though not directed against the Jews, nonetheless resulted in the massacre of many Jews by crusading Christians, thirsty for infidel blood. Religious freedom would be the first liberty guaranteed in the U.S. Ten years later, in 1568 the Diet extended the freedom to all religions, declaring that “It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expulsion for his teaching.” The Edict of Turda is considered by mostly Hungarian historians as the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in the Christian Europe. The question of dealing with the “sects” is liable to play a significant role in the evolution of a unified European identity, as will the question of favoring certain churches over others–such as the Catholic and Lutheran churches in Germany or the Orthodox Church in eastern Europe.

In 1558, the Transylvanian Diet of Turda declared free practice of both the Catholic and Lutheran religions, but prohibited Calvinism. Abrahamic monotheistic religions, which dominate the western world, typically do not approve of practicing parts of multiple religions, but folk religions often overlap with others. Other European societies provide a preferred status for state-approved religions, putting smaller or less approved groups at a disadvantage. Nor can it be denied that thousands of Muslims and even many Eastern Christians were slaughtered by European Christians during The Crusades. Seeing religion as a tool of capitalist oppression, Soviet communists had no compunction in destroying churches, mosques, and temples, turning them into museums of atheism, and even summarily executing clergymen and other believers by the thousands. Torture was not considered punishment, but a permissible tool of church investigators. Punishment, which was carried out by the secular government rather than the church courts, ranged from confiscation of property to prison, banishment, and, of course, public execution. We might miss out on a promotion that was rightfully ours due to integrity in the workplace. Sometimes the ultimacy language is about the “highest” condition or the “deepest,” or “farthest,” or “most inward.” To say that you “cannot go beyond” a condition in a series of conditions might mean only that you cannot imagine a further condition.