Religion of Peace?

Consider the following statement by the Philosopher John Gray: “Science increases human power - and magnifies the flaws in human nature.” Although there is a truth to this; it’s a dangerous, sweeping statement; for it could be applied to anything which increases human power, like religion or money. To quote Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In simplest terms; ego develops faster than wisdom when it comes to power.

Is there a religion of peace? Or is all religion evil? I think these questions suffer the same flaws as John Gray’s observation; they are too simplistic and broad. The same Christianity we acknowledge when we are born (baptism), marry (exchange vows) or we die (service in Church) in the west; is the same Christianity which slaughtered thousands of women 400 years ago for witchcraft; the same Christianity which enslaved as well as emancipated the African-Americans. In other words although scriptures don’t change (much); the practices of a religion evolve with time. Mainly because there comes a point when people will object and condemn the detrimental effects of a belief based on the social and temporal context.

We have to call a spade a spade. If a man were to commit murder for a pair of DESIGNER trainers; only he must be blamed and punished for his deplorable behaviour. If a thousand men were to commit murders over the same DESIGNER trainers; not only should the men be punished; the DESIGNER must surely question his product and say, “What it is about these shoes that’s causing unnecessary violence?” They must identify this problem and together with society; work to change it. If they cannot change the shoe—maybe it’s the only design there is—they must reshape people’s understanding of the shoe. There is no shoe design that is inherently evil but there are people, with vices, weak critical thinking skills, who will commit evil acts because of their misled beliefs about the shoe.

I hope the analogy is clear. I think saying a certain religion is peaceful is just as bad as saying it is evil. There is no such pure, simplistic state.These doctrines mirror the people. Who have always been and will always be in continual improvement. Every Christian aims to be like Jesus, Jew like Moses, Buddhist like Buddha and Muslim like Mohammed; they never quite get there.

Just some thoughts.
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