“Religion has been the reason for more war than any other cause,” is a claim frequently made by those opposed to any form of religion. But wait a minute – let’s take a look.
Let’s begin with Saint Paul’s words to the Romans: “Never repay evil with evil. As scripture says: Vengeance is mine – I will pay them back, says the Lord. But there is more: If your enemy is hungry, you should give him food, and if he is thirsty, let him drink. Resist evil and conquer it with good.” (12:17,19-20,21)
Yes, leaders, whether political, community or religious, are often accused of hypocrisy and sometimes rightly. So it was in the times of Jesus.
But these are not the only hypocrites of the principles people claim to hold. Jesus uses commandments from the Torah to point this out to the hypocritical Jewish leaders of His time – the Pharisees – “love your neighbour as yourself”.
In Exodus we can read: “You must not molest stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.”
In Islam, the principle of war is given in Surah 2:190: “Fight in the way of God those who fight against you, but do not transgress. God does not love the transgressor.”
‘Those who fight against you’ means actual fighters – civilians are protected. The Prophet and his successors, when they sent out an army, gave clear instructions not to attack civilians – women, old people, religious people engaged in their worship.
So it is not the ‘commandments’ of religion that have been the cause of atrocities and violence in recent weeks, but their transgression in pursuit of power, land, provocation, revenge, hatred and, to put it bluntly, all that is evil.
It’s not religion that’s hypocritical, but people.
Father Tony Wood, St Kieran’s RC Church, Campbeltown.