Does religion unite or divide us?:
Extract:
"That religion is divisive is a funny sort of argument that assumes that religion has some inherent tendency to engender conflict.
How is such a charge to be reconciled with the millions of people whose religious convictions in fact provide them with the exact opposite? Guidance to live peaceful, ethical lives? Lives dedicated to charity? To turning the other cheek? To pursuing the greatest jihad, self-restraint? To shunning materialism? Not every believer is an evangelist, intent on dividing to conquer in the name of God. If we are to accept the proposition that religion divides, arguably secularism should unite. Likewise, if you argue religion unites, secularism presumably divides. Our world is far more complex.
But if you happen to advocate we all abandon religion in some kind of quest for unity, one must ask whether a world free of religion would achieve a world free from division?
Surely the human race has proved it is capable of dividing itself for a plethora of reasons, religion being one of many possible sources of fracture and discord: class, race, gender, colour, the environment, resource allocation, politics, territory, love, sport, science. Channel Nine or Channel Seven? MasterChef or The Biggest Loser? Sydney or Melbourne, AFL or rugby league? I could go on.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
For more go to: Does religion unite or divide us?:
No comments:
Post a Comment