Imagine all the people living life in peace
Yesterday, I came back home from my 2 and a half week trip with my family and family friends to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. Some of the younger kids were writing day by day journals, but I decided to take a more holistic approach.
It seems like the overall theme of this trip has been religion. It's been a part of life since basically the beginning of human history; the ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Neboteans all had their own beliefs and traditions before the Prophets came and started the religions that people now practice worldwide. It's the one thing that can bring people together but can also tear them apart in terrible ways. In some ruins we've seen, such as in Luxor, there are influences from ancient Egypt and Rome, Christianity (the Christians in the middle east are known as Coptics) and Islam. During different parts of history, different religious groups have been in the same place so, to exert their power, they destroyed some of the old architecture and replaced it with their own. The Coptics even used some of the old ruins as hideouts when they were being persecuted by Muslims. What I want to know is why? Why are people so convinced that their beliefs, their way of life, their religion is the right one, the only right one? Does anyone even have any proof? Some argue yes, but coming from a Muslim perspective (because I should know more about it), we believe that Moses and Jesus were prophets, we just don't think they were "extensions of God" like the Jews/Christians do, respectively. We all essentially have the same beliefs. Why, then, are so many Muslims (and Christians, Jews, etc.) so quick to judge other religions? On New Years Eve, a church was bombed in Alexandria, killing about 20 (thankfully, we weren't there). Even in Egypt where the majority of people are one type of Muslim, some look down on my family because we're a different type of Muslim and apparently aren't "real" Muslims because we're more moderate than them. In theory, Canada is much more tolerant, but of course it isn't perfect.
Of course, it's not everyone in the Middle East who's naturally bellicose about religion. We visited the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem, which is a place considered to be "holiest of holy" to the Jews. As it was built so long ago, it had been buried for centuries and was only excavated in 1967. It just happens to be right beside the place Prophet Mohammed supposedly ascended into Heaven, so a mosque was built right on top of the wall. You would think that this would be a huge problem because everyone wants control of the land, and it is sometimes (there have been bombs, people throwing things, etc.) but that's not what we saw. We saw Jews praying outside the wall and Muslims praying inside with absolutely no conflict. It seems like the ordinary people have no animosity towards people of other religions, it's only the few extremists who are just overly protective of their religion. We wanted to go visit the mosque, but it was prayer time so they would only let us in if we were Muslim. We told them we were, but they made us recite a prayer anyways to "prove" it. I mean, I understand that they wouldn't want non-Muslims inside the mosque during prayer time, it could be a safety issue considering the religious conflict in the area, but isn't acting like that just making the problem worse? The fighting's been going on for so long that no one even knows who really started it. Now, all people can do is get defensive about everything because they don't want to be the ones caught in the crossfire.
Doesn't it seem like the world on a whole would just be better off without religion? Maybe John Lennon had it right, "Imagine... no religion too." Sure, there wouldn't be as many world conflicts, but can you really say that this would be the best thing for the world? The whole concept of religion started because people needed something to believe in; they realized how incredible the mechanics of the earth were and figured there had to be an explanation for it. Obviously, there was no scientific evidence to explain anything until much later, so there had to be some sort of higher power making sure everything always happened the way it should. Thousands of years and equally as many scientific theories later, still no one can agree if God created man or if man created God. We've come so far in terms of scientific development but it never seems to be enough. In the never-ending creation vs. evolution debate, Evolutionists claim that their theory is correct because it's rooted in scientific proof rather than faith. But doesn't it take more faith to believe that so many "accidents" could occur for evolution to take place than to believe in a God that created man? Faith and curiosity are both just part of human nature; to suggest that the world would be better off without religion is like saying that people should just stop being curious about the world around them. Telling everyone to be atheist/have the same religion is just another form of thought control. New technologies and ideas develop because people have different perspectives on the world, not despite of it. It isn't religion that the world would be better off without, it's ignorance. Stop trying to convert everyone around you because 99% of the time, its not going to work. Just let people practice their religion, you can practice yours, and everything will be okay. If everyone tried to understand their fellow man before judging them, our world would truly be a better place.