Religious conflicts should not exist

Man is a spiritual being even though it may not always seem so.

Even the most lax in religious matters will feel slighted if there is any indication that their religion is under attack.

Wars have been fought and conflicts sometimes reach ugly proportions simply because of ideological differences.

Religious beliefs are so deeply engrained in cultures that conflicts arise whenever differences in opinion come about.

Even if the differences are minor, followers of all religions can become fervent when threatened. And this is the biggest irony.

People would do anything, including cruel actions, to stem a threat from the opposing camp yet the very core of their religion is love and peace.

There have been cases where people have been beheaded for professing their faith.

Consider, for instance, what Boko Haram represents: Terror. Abducting school girls and making them young wives and sex slaves is certainly not a sane agenda for any god.

Thousands of Nigerians have needlessly lost their lives due to a lost religious cause.

Why would people passionately claim to defend their god? The Nigerian conflict has its roots in colonial times when the north and the south were made one.

Differences have played themselves out between the north (Muslim) and the south (predominantly Christian) due to the north’s insistence on installing sharia law.

The Pakistan-India ‘war’ between the Hindus and Muslims takes a similar pattern to the Nigerian one.

Territorial wars also exist but religious differences largely underpin these wars. Such is the case between Palestine and Israel.

My question, therefore, is this: Have any of these people engaging in these ruthless wars ever considered that they are disfiguring and dishonouring their god when they take the life of another?

Each religion teaches about the sanctity of life so anyone purporting to serve God by taking a life is regretfully serving another power.

Have they considered the fact that God does not need defending? He is the creator of the universe, hence capable of slicing off the head of a blasphemous person. Human beings were created to worship God, not protect God.

Those who promote religious disharmony need to factor in the following:

a) They are interfering with God’s plan for humanity, which is a good life and a future. Those who killed our innocent children in Garissa robbed them of a future and they should know that they stand condemned.

b) The peace of God that passeth all understanding is our portion. Fear, threats and war are not out lot.

c) God is not in need of their feeble mortal ability to execute judgement on His behalf. Taunting and slaughtering a person simply because his religious view does not match yours is insolence of the highest order.

d) God is not in the business of tormenting and murdering what He has created.

It is like a mother killing her own child. He formed the world and its inhabitants for a purpose. He created man in His image and man is the only creature given dominion over all other creatures.

True, scripture records that religious intolerance is sometimes God-ordained, especially when God wants his people to maintain religious purity. However, what we see with man today in the name of God is simply terrorism, a wicked act that should receive the full force of condemnation.