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WOULD THE WORLD BE SAFER
WITHOUT RELIGION?
All rights reserved; Please do not reproduce
without permission
Some folks say that there are only two things in
this world you can count on: death and taxes.
However, I think there is a third. These days you
can pretty much count on big, bold daily newspaper
headlines that inevitably have the words “violence”
or “bloodshed.” And you can also assume these words
will usually be paired with the name of a religion.
There is always a religious war on somewhere in the
world: Christian and Jews, Palestinian and Jews,
Muslim and Hindu, Christian and Muslim. And its not
just religion vs. religion. There is infighting in
the traditions themselves… Sunni and Shiite,
orthodox and liberal, Catholic and Protestant,
evangelicals and moderates. And please don’t think
this is going to be a sermon about “other folks’
religions.” Cause as Christians, we really top the
list of inflicting violence on the world. The
crusades, the inquisition, the holocaust, bombings
in abortion clinics, hate crimes against gay and
lesbian people… It makes me stop and think, would
the world be safer without religion?
Our scripture today tells an interesting piece of
this story. It is the story of the banishing of
Hagar and her son Ishmael from the family of
Abraham. But, more importantly, it basically tells
the story of how three of the bloodiest of the world
religious traditions—Christianity, Judaism and
Islam—all relate back to the same source. It is the
story of how God protects Hagar and her son Ishmael,
after they are banished by Abraham (father of the
Jewish nation). Ishmael then becomes the father of
the Arab nation. Then two thousand or so years
later, a tiny baby is born to a modest Jewish couple
in Bethlehem… and here we are. How sad and ironic
that the three religions, springing from the same
source, sharing many of the same beliefs, attempting
to preach peace the loudest, are the ones that are
the bloodiest. It is not hard to see why so many
folks perceive the church and religion in general as
hypocritical.
So we come back to the original question: Would the
world be safer without religion? On days when the
newspaper headlines are particularly bloody, it is
hard for me not to say yes. But, I don’t want to say
yes. And after spending some time this week really
digging into the question, I have to say my answer
is no.
When we actually look at this violence, really look
behind the motivation for the violence, we see that
it is mostly driven by factors that have nothing to
do with religion. Economics drive a large part of
our world violence. The haves vs. the have nots--the
imbalance in world resources--the arrogance of those
who have and their failure/perceived failure to
share or support those who have not. Violence can
also be driven by class-based disputes. Imagine
being born into a cultural group, the simple title
of which makes you better or worse than another
human being. There are land-based wars… just look at
Israel. And there is race and ethnic based
violence…just look at the Sudan or Rwanda.
And if you reduce these factors (economics, land,
race, class) down to an even more basic level, you
are simply taking about things like human greed,
human fear. So I don’t think the world would
necessarily be safer without religion, as much of
the violence in the world comes not from “religion,”
but from the insecurities of the human heart.
Even with violence that is directly attributable to
religion, I don’t believe that true “religion” is
what causes the bloodshed and the wars. It is the
religion we, as fallible human beings, have created
for our own selfish purposes. Well, it’s easy to go
astray when you are scared. It’s easy to strike out
when you feel abandoned or unsettled or lost. And I
guess we all do these things to a varying degree.
But, unfortunately, we (religious people) turn to
religion when we are scared or hurt as a weapon,
rather than a source of healing.
When you strip down the scriptures and teachings of
the great prophets and holy ones, you get a very
simple message—it is a message of compassion.
Mohammed taught compassion. Abraham and Moses taught
compassion. The Buddha taught compassion. The
Upanishads taught compassion. Lao Tzu taught
compassion. Jesus taught compassion. So what has
happened? How did we go so wrong?
And please again don’t get me wrong, this is not a
sermon about all the religious extremist out there.
It would be very easy for me to point fingers at say
evangelical extremists and say, oh all our problems
in the world are because of them. It would be just
too easy for me to pray fervently for their
forgiveness. That would be too easy, because it
takes the focus off us. And when the other side
doesn’t change as per our requests, then anger
simmers, and voices are raise and cross hairs are
lowered. And we’re back where we started… religious
warfare.
There is an interesting parallel I think to Father’s
Day here. If you want to image God as Father, then
you can easily image humanity as all the children
trying to crowd each other out to get Dad’s
attention. You know what I am talking about. Your
brother does a cartwheel… and you go, DAD! Look! I
can do three! Look Dad my grades are better… look
Dad I am more obedient… look Dad I am following you
unlike your other children… look Dad I am your
chosen one. This is true on a global level, it is
true on a community level, it is true on a family
level. We fight because we fight because we feel
alone, we fight because we are selfish, we fight
because we are scared.
My point today is that in fact, we need religion …
desperately… to protect us from ourselves. It is the
human heart that is violent not religion. Dr. Martin
Luther King said “The greatest danger on the planet
is not in the technology of the new atom bomb, but
in the atom bomb which lies within the hearts and
souls of men.” If only we would return to our roots,
to the essence of what our great religious
traditions teach us: love, compassion, and grace. We
can choose to remain mired in the human condition,
or we can choose to latch onto those teachings and
transcend and soar beyond. And each one of us is
responsible to make that choice. Would the world be
safer without religion? No. Would the world be safer
without the fear, and greed and insecurities of the
human heart? Most definitely yes.
And the people said… Amen.
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