RELIGION, A THIEF OF PEACE

To say that religion is the principal cause of all conflict implies that there would be few wars if religion did not exist. Is that argument feasible? Could we eliminate war by merely eliminating religion? However you answer, one fact is undeniable: Religion has not united mankind. Consider some of the reasons why this is true.

CONFLICTS IN IT

The human family is divided by religion, with several major religious powers locked in perpetual rivalry. Is there any reason to believe that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims will ever exist together peacefully?

Another sad reality is the fragmentation that exists within each of those principal religious blocks. For instance, according to one estimate, Christendom is broken up into more than 30,000 denominations. Islam is also divided by conflicting beliefs. According to a Middle East news agency, a Muslim scholar recently acknowledged that “disunity among Muslims is the root cause of problems in the Islamic world.” Other influential religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, are likewise fractured into many conflicting sects.

A SOURCE OF POLITICS

Religion seems to influence nearly every aspect of secular life. The news magazine The Economist observes that “religious people are getting more vocal in all sorts of fields, including business. Religion is also cropping up in economics.” This results in dividing people rather than uniting them. But a more damaging influence has to do with the long-standing history of religion meddling in politics.

In a recent report referred to in a preceding article, a group of historians noted that “religion is more likely to be a cause of war when religion and the state authorities become closely allied or intertwined.” And therein lies another undeniable reality: Religion has been, and is to this day, tightly interlocked with political and military entities.

This has witnessed a long-standing is animosity as yet in Indian, in Africa, in Europe, Israel and Palestinian, Rwanda and Burundi, Rwanda and Burundi, and in Nigeria, Rivers State one of the states have not survived it, all the time clashes. The same goes on in the middle of Hindus and Tutus, Christians and Muslims, Communities, versus tribes in all the nations

It has been between Bombay in Indian 1992 - 2,000 heads rolled, the same between Bosnia; Muslim, Krait 92-96, 300,000 souls, in Africa; Hutus and Tutsis, 1992 - 1996,1,000,000, North Nigeria; Muslim 'n' Christians, 1966 till date,  Thousand souls wasted in jihad, even in the East and West, to mention but a few.

A MIX-UP

In many lands, predominant religions have become symbols of patriotic and racial identities. As a result, the lines between nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry, and religious enmity are virtually indistinguishable. This explosive cocktail has the necessary ingredients to tear our world apart.

The perplexing paradox in all of this is that much of religion claims to represent the God of the Bible, the Creator. Does it make any sense that an almighty, all-wise, loving Creator would have anything to do with divisive and bloodguilt religions?