We Shouldn’t Let Religion Drive Us Apart

[SecularMotion]

According to a recent survey by the Religion News Service, only 40 percent of Americans correctly identified Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney as a Mormon. What?

I was puzzling aloud about this to one of our interns, Jarah Wright, who sits next to me at work. She blew me away with the wisdom of her response.

"You have to understand other religions to understand each other, and it's like no one wants to. It's sad," she said.

I am woefully ignorant of the nuances of the world's religions. I'm learning something new every day, but I'm struck by how much we have in common as I've learned about different faiths during the past year.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20110730/RELIGION10/307309991/-1/section/OPINION033001

[geckosfeet]

1. It's not the 'religion' doing the driving. Human beings are behind the wheel.

[ZombieHorde]

3. Religion is the tool.

Just like guns are tools, except religion also provides the motivation.

[customerserviceguy]

4. Agreed

If it weren't for religion, we might not have invented the gun.

[geckosfeet]

5. Not so sure. Some one would have thought up another reason to kill people more efficiently.

Again, religion is the tool to get weak minds to fall in line. But any tool of similar nature would do.

But religion can also be used for good.

[LeftishBrit]

2. +1

[trotsky]

6. Which is tough, because that's what it does best.

That we have to work to overcome it and gain understanding and peace says a lot about religion.