religion as a catalyst for peace

A while back I went on a rampage and attacked Islam, Christianity, and Mormonism for all the silliness found in their texts. What I did not do, and what I should have done, was link them together by the underlying theme – Peace.

All religions want it. They all strive for it. It would seem to me, that with this common thread being a focal point, individually we can all began to accept one another.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about:

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” From The Bible – Isaiah 2;4

“Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors.” The Qur’an - 2:190

“And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men;” Mosiah - 27:3

“May the Lord of day grant us peace. May the Lord of night grant us peace. May the Lord of sight grant us peace. May the Lord of might grant us peace. May the Lord of speech grant us peace. May the Lord of space grant us peace. I bow down to Brahman, source of all power. I will speak the truth and follow the law. Guard me and my teacher against all harm. Guard me and my teacher against all harm.” Hindu Text –Taittiriya Upanishad

“What is hurtful to yourself do not to your fellow man. That is the whole of the Torah and the remainder is but commentary” Torah - Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

This list is quite literally endless, as there are countless religions on this planet, both big and small, and they all go after one thing: Peace.
So, if this is the case, then what should we do?

Create one world religion? That surely would never work. Religion cannot be forced and is too imbedded in specific cultures. Besides that, tying to convince an atheist, like me, to believe in any God is just a work in futility and vice-versa.

I would think, and it would seem, that the only real way to use religion to foster peace is to learn and to teach acceptance. Too often religions get on superiority kicks and begin attacking other religions. Muslims attack Jews, Jews attack Muslim, Atheists attack Christians; Christians attack Catholics; Catholics attack Mormons, and so on and so on forever. What is missed in all this dogmatic squabbling is the similarities they each have with one another; the idea of God and pursuit of peace.
If religious teachers began teaching acceptance and tolerance, what would be the result? The followers would begin practicing acceptance and tolerance and the ideas of superiority would start to diminish. Once that happened, the need to force ones religion on others would start to go away, Atheists would not feel threatened, Gays would be allowed to love, Christians could pray at school side by side with Muslims, and no one would care because no one would feel threatened.

This is how religion can bring peace.

In the past I have had great disdain for religion and in particular Christianity. As of lately I have tried hard to engage some Christian peacefully and share ideas with them and we have been able, on more than one occasion, to find common ground. The reason for this is that we did not feel threatened in our conversation because of their willingness to hear my point of view and accept it as nothing more than different.

If you are reading this, I hope you take something from it. I hope we can remember that no matter how much we believe something, no matter how strongly we fight for something, there are always going to be people who feel just as strongly the opposite. The key is how we deal with one another. Do we fight about our differences or do we accept them as inevitable facts of life and move on?

In the end, my soul is mine, not yours, to protect. If I am wrong and the Christian is correct, I will go to hell. I have accepted that. There is nothing left to argue about.