Religions and Possible Sources for
Conflicts
Different
takes on Religions
All major religious beliefs, except Taoist
and Confucianism come into existence due the revelation of its
founders. Some may consider Confucianism as a moral science or
philosophy, as to whether it is a religion or not will depends on
one’s definition of what are the traits required for it to be
classified as such.
Is Buddhism considered a revealed
religion? This would depend on which
particular sect’s teaching one is referring to. The doctrines of
the Theravada would not be classified as such. On the other hand,
the Mahayanist doctrines would be considered as a revealed belief.
In the Mahayanist form of Buddhism, the historical Buddha may not
feature in its teaching at all. Its sutras comes about as a result
of the revelation of later day ’saints’ and are full of the
teachings of transcendental Buddhas and Bodhisavttas. The visual
interpretations of these Buddhas and Bodhisavttas can be seen in
all Mahayanist temples.
Ultimately, every religion and its offshoots
would consider their tenets as the only one that is true and right,
and that it is also the only one that can provide peace, solace and
direction for all individuals in this life and to lead them onto
the path to final deliverance and salvation thereafter.
Likely source of Conflicts
A large part of the teachings and doctrines of
most religions are transcendental in nature and cannot be proven by
scientific evidences or facts. Such things as the creation of the
world in six days, miracles perform by the founder, the doctrine of
karma, rebirth and reincarnation, etc have to be accepted by the
followers of the respective beliefs in good faith. When they are
disputed and ridiculed, believers can only defend their teachings
and doctrines through subjective logic and reasoning. Emotion can
run high and conflict may arise when such logics and reasoning are
not convincing enough and are ridiculed.
Another inherent feature that can cause
conflicts between religions is the acceptability and sometime
required obligation by the followers of some religious faiths to
carry out proselytizing, evangelism and even holy wars with
ultimate predictable outcome.
‘You shall not kill’ is a universal precept
or commandment to all major religions, but it can be interpreted
differently by different religious faiths. ‘Do not kill’ is the
First Buddhist Precept. To the Buddhist, this precept of not taking
life covers all sentient beings except for those that ‘breaths but
cannot move on its own’.
On the other hand, Middle Eastern religions
believe that animals are creation by God as a source of food for
human consumption. There are also many other exceptions where life
can be taken in the commandment, ‘You shall not kill’. Such instant
as in wars to defend one’s faith or when moral codes are broken and
the offence is considered serious enough to warrant death.
All religious teaching by itself does bring
a lot of good and benefit to its followers. It becomes a problem
when it is in the hand of those with ulterior motives and who chose
to bend or interpret it differently to serve a particular purpose
or to achieve a particular aim.
When religions sanction proselytizing, when
they are persecuted, when the teachings gets misinterpretation and
when they are manipulated or used to serve a certain objective such
as in politic or for war, conflicts are bound to arise and when not
handled correctly can lead to serious consequence.
Can it be
resolved?
Religious conflicts can only be minimized;
be it through the force of secular laws, individual self restraint
and responsibility or by the understanding and acceptances that
there are many teachings available that can lead us on to the path
of enlightenment and salvation. It is like the circumference of a
circle, there are many points on it that can be use to reach its
centre eventually.
Whether religions become a blessing or a
bane to society will depends on how the followers of each religion
are being guided by their leaders and how each individual chose to
practice its faith.