By Akpeli Othuke Andrew
Over the years and in all lands, many people has experience some forms of violence, strife, acrimony and hatred as a result of their religious believes. There has been cases of religious violence erupting among Christians denominations, Muslims and Jews, Hindus and Muslims and indigenous religious communities.
This had made it difficult for many thinkers to wonder if religion will ever be a force of peace. There had been several calls to get rid of religion in order to make the world a better place to live in. That is what a Dutch philosopher Floris Van de Berg recommended in his book entitled, “How to Get Rid of Religion, and Why?.” He said, “Let’s make this world a better place. Let’s get rid of religion.” Several other scholars has called for the abolition of religion. Nobel Laureate and physicist Steven Weinberg declared, “The world should wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief.” There had also been a rising flood of atheists flooding the media with there unreserved hatred for religions and those who practice them.
This had made me to wonder. Are these respected thinkers right? Does it mean there is no God? But there a silent voice within me which gave me an immediate answer which say, “They may be right due to what has been experienced in the world today judging from the religious motivated crisis and wars, but that is not enough to say that there is no God.”
What need to be addressed is the activities of religious practitioners. Clergymen, Monks, Priests and Chaplains need to wake up to their responsibility to make sure that their followers shun religious justifications of war and aim to overcome racial, national, religious, social, and economical difference. They should ensure that all race live in harmony, and mankind will not be divided by territorial borders, ethnic hatreds, or religious ideologies.
With this, religion will be a force for peace rather than war.
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