THE NAME GAME

I have always told my daughter Radha that God has many Names even before she started going to school. One can call Him Allah, Jehova, Yahweh, Krishna, El Shadai, or simply Father, Friend, or God. I especially emphasized to her that God has many Names, and not many gods. To have many gods defeats the very meaning of God. When she started taking a "religion class" in elementary, we started having a minor theological issue. Apparently her religion teacher does not agree with the idea of God having a lot of names (millions, I told her initially, but in fact the Names are enumerable, as The Supreme has countless qualities, activities, etc.), the teacher insisted that God only has a particular name, and that name is the only name of God. My wife told me to drop the issue and refrain from indoctrinating our daughter with "weird, new age stuff" at least after Radha finishes her "religion subjects". Radha got an almost perfect score in her "religion subject" exam, so her mother was relieved. I'm not, however, due to a few things. Things like religious wars or wars related to religion, that is actually rooted in in this particular disagreement: The Name of God. Some people worship God because of His compassion, and so they call Him Allah; some are attracted to His might so they call Elohim and El Shaddai; God is all-attractive so He is called Krishna. God is not many. There is no such thing as the God of the Christians and the God of the Muslims, or the Jews and the Hindus. If you call out Allah, referring to some tribal god, then that is NOT the name of God, but if one calls out Allah, meaning the all-compassionate God, then that IS God. It's funny some people can have three to five names, nicknames, etc. but God can only have one or two. I myself, an insignificant dot in the universe have the arrogance to call myself in five to six names, and the Lord can have only have one name. I still tell my daughter the many Names of God, although I have to work doubly hard to scrape away the bigotry she got from school (ironically!). It is sad to think that because God has many Names it gave way to many religions, and from those religions sects and denominations, all claiming their's is the exclusive name of the Lord. Haribol