One cannot fail to notice that these days, paradoxically, religion is losing its
grip in some areas and simultaneously tightening it in others.
Some sections of
society – of all faiths – seem to embrace dogmas, displaying medieval rigidity
and intolerance toward others, yet on the moral side, religion is on the
retreat, leaving space to crime, disappearance of truth, lack of justice and
social responsibility, and selfish individualism, even in countries that claim to
be religious.
اضافة اعلان
There are many
other evils which may well be considered as signs of decadent society, and if
moral values are considered to form the life and soul of religion, any
religion, then the progressive strangulation of these values can lead one to
conclude that if the body of religion is being resurrected, its soul is rapidly
ebbing.
As such, the
phenomenon of revival we observe in religion today is tantamount to
resurrecting a body without soul to wonder like a zombie.
The urge to escape the present generates the desire to fill the void of expectations with something new.
In other areas,
long stagnation and the lack of stimulating developments have negative
consequences on the religiously inclined people. Miraculous occurrences which they expect to
materialize do not actually happen, divine intervention in world events, which
would transform the world to their liking, does not happen, the strange
prophecies that can give credence to their faith never materialize, and these
people become the cannon fodder of extremism and destruction.
The urge to escape
the present generates the desire to fill the void of expectations with
something new.
With the
continuous drastic changes in the world, how would it be possible to make
religion from being a cause of problems between cultures to being a major part
of solving those problems?
The world’s great
religions are all based on profound notions of justice, peace and goodwill, but
at the same time, although religion can be a force for peace, it can be also a
force for conflict.
In fact, misuse of
religion can be identified as the source of the overwhelming majority of
conflicts in the world, so without determining why believers opt for conflict,
it may well be impossible to understand the cause of a given conflict. Much
worse, we cannot even begin to appreciate what religion can or cannot do in
order to improve the understanding of its dogmas.
In the three
Abrahamic faiths, there is authorization to use force by one people against
another, but at the same time, they can inspire visionary people to commit
themselves to a future of tolerance, justice and peace. Therefore, it is essential, in this day and
age, to reflect seriously on the subject of religious partisanship in
practices, and work earnestly on transcending the religious diktats that govern
political issues.
Religion ought to
be taken out of the fray of politics in order to become a source and a vehicle
of mediation and conflict resolution. Because it can play a potent role in many
societies, when utilized as an honest mediation and goodwill tool, it can
achieve far better results than conventional diplomacy, which is more often
than not governed by expediency.
The writer is a former private adviser to HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal.
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