Religions make wars despite belief in peace

By: Ryan Young | Morganton News Herald
Published: September 15, 2008

Connelly Springs, N.C. --

What is perception? Perception is an individual's unique way of viewing the mortal realm. Reality is the tangible world where you see things for what they are. Everyday things are perceived far differently from their reality.
I believe the most skewed perception on the broadest scale is religion. Because of the perception of many religions, there are many wars being fought all over the world.
Many religions do have their own rules for living a holy life, but most all share many of the same morals, values and beliefs. All religions seem to worship messengers of God(s) and not directly the God(s).
People fight over who believes in whom. Jews follow Moses, while Muslims follow Muhammad. They are killing each other while seemingly forgetting that both men preached a message of peace and frowned upon thieves, murderers, and heretics.
Sure, the religions have different outlooks on Heaven, women's rights and holy habits. A Christian believes that polygamy is wrong while a Muslim's heaven has 72 virgins. A Christian prays four times a day and worships on Sundays while Muslims pray several times a day and worship every day.
Both religions, as well as many others, believe in the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Isn't it ironic that people who believe in peace among mankind fight and kill each other simply because the message was delivered by someone else? Tell me how much sense that makes. Would you kill the postman because he's not the same one who delivered your mail yesterday?
Close-mindedness plays a big role in this war. Because of small differences in beliefs such as messengers, marriage and lifestyle, Jews, Muslims and Christians have been fighting for hundreds of years.
Differences in religion have also caused many deaths since the inception of a nation supposedly based on freedom of religion and caused one entire religion to become an outcast in the world and its adherents to remain forever in shadow. Liars and practitioners of the "dark arts" have given Wicca a bad image. Most wiccans don't practice witchcraft and the ones who do have a firm belief in using magic only for good or to survive. Anything used for evil has dramatic repercussions in the afterlife and even during mortal life. Although Wiccans believe in the Earth Mother, they also believe in and live according to the Golden Rule and peace amongst all living creatures. Ironically, Christians who based their entire belief system on a man who preached a message of peace, Jesus, persecuted Wiccans and drove them into the shadows of society, forever exiled from the world.
All this conflict stems from close-mindedness about small differences, but, if we can open our minds and overlook the little things, the world could be a better place. You may not share the same beliefs, but I'm sure we can all agree on peace. You may have heard different messengers, but did you get the message? You shouldn't perceive someone as your enemy just because their message came in a different form. See the reality. We all share a common goal: to weed out the evil of the world and cultivate a garden of peace and love.

Religions make wars despite belief in peace

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