Achieving Peace Through Religion
Posted by Michael S. Turner, M.S.
Achieving Peace Through Religion
One of Rotary International’s initiatives is promoting peace. Through service projects, peace fellowships and scholarships, Rotarians are taking actions to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.
In advancing peace and conflict resolution, Rotary is encouraging clubs to have a peace committee that explores these issues in their communities. As part of understanding the issues wrapped around the peace process, the Woodland Hills Club recently held a panel discussion—Religion: A Pathway or Obstacle to Peace?
Three experts explored this highly relevant topic. They were: Rabbi Paul Kipnes, MAJE, who views Judaism through the prism of healing is the spiritual leader of Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas; Shaykh Suhail Hasan Mulla, who is an active member of the Southern California Muslim community and is a resident scholar at the Islamic Society of the West Valley; and Dr. Ross Porter, who is a teacher, author, spiritual director, and deacon aspirant for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The word religion is taken from the Latin word religio, which means to demonstrate your appreciation and respect of and friendship with others. “Christianity provides an introduction for living and creating relationships,” said Porter. It is central to the Christian faith that God desires a world in which justice is done. “Striving for justice and working for peace, particularly for the world’s poorest people, are at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus,” commented Porter.
“According to Muhammad, the first teacher of Muslims, our purpose is to unify his people and teach them respect toward others,” said Hassan Mulla. An example of this occurred during World War II when Muslims in Paris gave refuge to many Jews fleeing the Nazis. Muslims provided the Jews with ID cards, food and shelter. “Many of these Jews followed the Muslims to Africa. In the end, the Muslims saved the lives of many Jews and demonstrated the core principle of our religion’s philosophy,” said Hassan Mulla.
“Humans are the same inside,” said Kipnes. “When we say that certain religions are good or bad, we are denigrating the Bible. In the Torah peace is a concept that is central to Judaism. Along with truth and justice, it is one of the three key Jewish values.”
The Jewish people’s desire for peace has been expressed for thousands of years through prayers in the Bible as well as from rabbinic sources. “We should not stand idly as our neighbors bleed,” said Kipnes. “The only way to stop hatred is love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
In the end, we learned that religion does not kill people, but people kill people. And, religion helps to tie and bind people together as brothers and sisters. Peace will be achieved when we can accept the notion that everyone is the same and that differences in beliefs, customs and traditions should be respected and fully embraced.
In the end, we learned that religion does not kill people, but people kill people. And, religion helps to tie and bind people together as brothers and sisters. Peace will be achieved when we can accept the notion that everyone is the same and that differences in beliefs, customs and traditions should be respected and fully embraced.