Inter-Faith conflict: Destined Fate or Reconcilable Difference?
One thing is for sure, people, wherever they live on earth, regardless of their race, color, gender or ethnic background are born hate-free, with the same aspirations for good health and a good life.
Confidence, trust and tolerance between the followers of the three main religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism is at a low level, despite efforts by wise and sensible people to downgrade the inter-faith cold ( and sometimes hot ) war.
The question is: Can the spiritual leaders of these three religions reach a common ground and a historical accord for co-existence and respect for each other despite the differences in belief, or are the differences beyond reconciliation and the conflict eternal?
Without getting into the specifics of history, when any two of those were close or far, at different intervals of history, one has to look forward and with today's variables and yesterday's.
Secular people in all three religions will tell you that no such differences exist (or should not exist) as religion is an individual matter and a group or tribe or race issue. On the other hand, you will have the conservatives, the radicals and religious fanatics, whose priority is the supremacy of what they believe over other beliefs and feel they are born to fight for and establish that supremacy.
The seculars are hanging to the future and reality on the ground, and they see economics are the blood of life; therefore people's behavior with others should be governed by economic interest. The religious are hanging to history and old mandates, regardless of how people's lives are affected.
Therefore, the answer to the big question is: it depends. If we live in a world where most of the individuals have secular thinking ( even if they are faithful to their belief ); that is to say they believe in the individual freedom and respect personal choices, and believe only God, not people, can tell who is wrong and who is right, and leave that to God. If that is the case, then the inter-faith conflict
99enemity" is reconcilable.
But, if we live in a world where most of the people believe they have a duty from God to ensure that their faith supremacy is ensured and all other faiths are downgraded and fought against. People who try to fool other people by acting like prophets as if they were no nine-months pregnancy creatures, who were at some point in time where fed by hand and diapered. If that is the case, then no doubts the conflict is eternal.
Hamad S Alomar
