RELIGION AND COMPASSION

Judaism, Islam and Christianity are all sister religions but if I were to ask a Muslim about Christianity or Judaism and vice versa, what would each actually know about the other, apart from what they see and hear on the various news channels every day? What a very narrow view of a melee of the opinions and viewpoints of others. Is this why these religions struggle against each other? For if we look at our own faith, it will be clear that our judgment is somewhat flawed.

In all religions, paramount in their doctrines, what is given pride of place is compassion. The ability to feel with the other; to “love thy neighbor” is the true test of any religion, yet what do we see every day, people who have supposedly committed themselves to these beliefs, become quarrelsome and stupidly sectarian and use it to only divide us.

Religion is what is supposed to bring us into the presence of God, so it is not possible for one who claims to be a Muslim, Christian or Jew, a committed one of any of these faiths, to do what is hateful to them to their neighbor.  Any interpretation of any of these faiths therefore, which interpretation leads to hatred or division or contempt of the other is illegitimate. Religion is supposed to clear our minds and give us inner peace. Its aim is to suppress the ego and in guiding us asks us to look for compassion in everything that we do. Religion – every religion – preaches love and compassion and is their underlying principle. We would do well to always remember this.

What we see today in Nigeria and many other parts of the world is religion hijacked. Terrorists recite quranic verses to justify (can you believe it?) their atrocities. They do despicable things that are abhorrent to us all and carry out revenge killings and use the Quran, Islam to justify their actions. Christians sit by and judge other people. They use the scripture to argue and put other people down.

But this is not religion; it is just human greed and ego. Why because pick up your Bible, your Torah or your Quran and read it. It will become quite clear to you that what we are doing is ignoring the underlying principles of “love thy neighbor as thyself” and all over the world we are messing up something God-given that is quite wonderful and is the perfect dress rehearsal for living in harmony.

Where do we go from here? Let me suggest that perhaps the mistake that we make is that we confine our compassion to only our own group. We should have compassion for everybody. Welcome the stranger and love your perceived enemy. The Lord divided us into tribes, nations and races, so that we could know one another.

I speak of religion because it is what we use now to cloak our dagger. It is our veil. Religion is not the cause of our present situation, however where there is a regional crises, it is quite easy for religion to get sucked in, just as in football, the beautiful game, the pinnacle of which we are watching now with the World Cup can cause a riot, where people will be injured and can lose their lives, but is this football? We are capable of messing up even this wonderful game, played to bring us together and not possible without two opposing sides, who come together for the love of the game. Religion can also be affected by this violent ethos. We have come to a situation where religious illiteracy has brought us to a place where we prefer to be right rather than compassionate.

What can we do to change things? Where are we going wrong? Where is religion failing? We need global understanding. We need to know one another; we need appreciation of each other. Religion has a wide following. People want to belong; we want to be religious and should be made to be a force for change. We should simply not treat others as we would not want to be treated ourselves. We need to build networks of understanding and move beyond toleration to the appreciation of each other. We need to think about our father, mother, daughter and son, and weep for the Chibok girls and weep for those who terrorize us. This will create a bond amongst us. To do this, it is clear that we must overcome the human that we feel when under threat of our enemies, no matter how imminent we perceive this threat to be and begin to appreciate the other.

STOP THE BOMBING AND BRING BACK OUR GIRLS PLEASE.