Following the recent suicide bombings in London, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that 75% of the American public believes that religion has  ”a fair amount or a lot to do with causing wars and other conflicts in the world”.  It is a devastating finding, though I am not sure any of us are surprised to hear it.

Among other things, it means that we have a serious public relations problem. But, of course, it means far more than that. It is not only a public relations problem. It is tragically true that religion has and continues to play a role in too many wars and conflicts.

Osama bin Laden and other extremist Muslims have declared jihad, holy war, against certain Western targets. Since 9/11/2001 Americans and Westerners have experienced a level of fear and terror we are not accustomed to ... most of it caused by religion. Yet, Islamic extremists are hardly alone as perpetrators of religiously inspired violence.

I think of Northern Ireland, an entrenched, internecine conflict between Catholics and Protestants.

 … of the Middle East: that centuries-old, painfully complex conflict over the lands and holy sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
… of the Crusades, a series of wars and persecutions undertaken against “Mohammedans, pagans, and heretics” by men who called themselves soldiers of the church.
… of the Catholic Church’s Inquisition, especially in Spain, that tortured and executed thousands in the name of maintaining the “true faith”.
… of Nazi Germany’s systematic extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, persons with disabilities, homosexuals and others, all undertaken in the name of the Christian God.

… of the Witch Trials in Europe and of the Salem Witch trials and the infamous example of a member of Old South, a judge, who condemned so-called witches to death.

… of slavery in America and apartheid in South Africa, all justified by the Christian scriptures.

… of the entire so-called Christian Patriot Movement (composed of white supremacists and neo-Nazis). The Movement has a lively existence on the World Wide Web, connecting hate-mongers with each other and with racist music and how-to-manuals. Their hate ideology is based on a reinterpretation of the early books of the Bible to assert that Aryan people, not Jews, are the chosen people of God. Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was a product of the Christian Patriot Movement.

Of course, we are all acutely aware of the treacherous passions of Islamic militants … of their presence on the World Wide Web and their ability to inspire young men to achieve indiscriminate violence in the name of Allah, the Muslim God.

Indeed, violence, inspired by religion, has left a blood-stained pall across God’s beloved world.

How can this be? How is it that these religions, which for so many are the essence of love and goodness, can be so easily manipulated for violent purposes?

First, at the risk of sounding defensive, it is not always religion’s fault. Many of these extremists are interested in power, land, wealth, or simply the supremacy of their own tribe or race or nation … and they cunningly and cynically employ religion as a central strategy toward their goal.

On the other hand, religion does lend itself to precisely this sort of abuse and misuse. In the hands of sinister people, even good things can be used for ill.

The Buddha – founder of one of the great religions of the world – warned that understanding his teaching, is like trying to catch a poisonous snake in the wild. If you don’t know what you are doing, the snake may bite your hand, your leg, or some other part of your body, or even innocent bystanders. Handling a poisonous snake takes skill and practice; it must be approached with intelligence and experience, with deftness and agility.

So it is with all of the great religious teachings. The teachings of even the most inspired spiritual leaders can be mishandled and used for harm. Adolph Hitler used the teachings of Christianity to justify an obscene and treacherous ideology. In his hands, the teachings of Jesus were turned into weapons of mass destruction. Osama Bin Laden uses the teachings of the prophet Mohammed in ways that mainstream Muslim leaders decry as antithetical to the basic teachings of Islam. Indeed, a recent fatwah, issued by American Muslim leaders, makes this very clear.

So, how does this happen that religion can be so easily manipulated for ill? It happens in Islam and Judaism in much the same way as it happens in Christianity. Our sacred texts – the Hebrew scriptures, the Christian scriptures and the Islamic scriptures – are not instruction manuals. It is not as if you can pick up the Bible, and by carefully following steps one through 15, you then emerge as a fully assembled and operational disciple. Our sacred texts are complex, they are nuanced, they are couched in variety of genres, and, not least, they are ancient. They are very old. They emerged from different eras and contexts. They must be handled with care and with intelligence … with a sense of context.

Let’s look at the text we heard this morning. These few verses from John’s Gospel have been a source of persecution and bloodshed throughout the centuries. In the passage, Jesus is quoted as saying, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This text appears to make an exclusive claim for Jesus. Like the teachings of Buddha, it is a poisonous snake … it must be handled well and carefully, and for the good. But in the wrong hands, it can also bite.

Wesley Ariarajah, a Methodist minister and seminary professor, argues that when we approach such texts, we need to understand “the different levels in which language is used, and the different standpoints from which claims are made.”

Ariarajah begins by point out that this passage does not appear in any of the synoptic gospels: in Matthew, Mark or Luke. Additionally, scholars generally agree that John took more liberties with the telling of the Jesus story than the other three evangelists.

Then he offers this analogy:

“When my daughter tells me that I am the best daddy in the world, and there can be no other father like me, she is speaking the truth. For this comes out of her experience. She is honest about it. She knows no other person in the role of her father. The affirmation is part and parcel of her being. There are no doubts about it in her mind.

“But in the next house there is another little girl who also thinks that her daddy is the best father in the whole world. And she too is right. In fact, at the level of the way the two children relate to their fathers, no one from the outside can compare the two fathers and say which one of them is better. It is impossible to compare the truth content of the statements of the two girls. For here we are dealing not with absolute truths, but with the language of faith and love.”

I love this analogy of the little girl and her father. As a Christian, I can claim that Jesus is the best Savior in the world. He is the only Savior I know. But when I make this claim, it does not mean that I must say to my neighbor, who loves Allah, that my God is better than his God. It is impossible to compare the two. In the words of Ariarajah, we are dealing not with absolute truths, but with the language of faith and love, a language of relationship. We are simply offering different ways to the same God.

This Christian text also allows me to understand the claims of Islam, that Allah alone is God. For Muslims, Allah is the only God they have ever known … for them, Allah, is the best God in the whole world.

You and I have both met Christians who use verses like this saying from John as weapons. When they quote such things at us, they are not speaking a language of faith and love, or a language of relationship. I no more want Christianity to be judged by these people, than I want it to be judged by the actions of an Adolph Hitler or a Timothy McVeigh.

The vast majority of practicing Muslims feel the same way about the extremist elements in Islam … that they are not representative of the vast majority of Muslims.

Not long ago my husband and I took the trip of a life-time: we traveled to the Galapagos Islands … also affectionately called, “the laboratory of evolution.” Charles Darwin derived his theories of natural selection from his research on those islands. I can’t tell you how painful it was, therefore, when one of the scientists asked my husband and I why we were there. I was stunned by his question until he explained that he believed all Christians were proponents of Creationism and opposed to the theory of evolution. He thought we had come to quote scripture at him.

I desperately want the general public to have an informed and intelligent understanding of the varieties and complexities of Christianity. So, too, do Muslims want us to be informed about Islam … and all its complexity and variety.

If religion is a language of faith and love, a language of relationship – and I believe it surely is – that means we have got to enter into relationship with those who call God by different names: like Allah or Krishna, or Jehovah or Adonai. In this most religiously pluralistic nation on earth, we have the opportunity and responsibility to overcome stereotypes and break down barriers by learning, reading, asking questions, by simply taking the time to talk with Jews and Muslims and Buddhists about their faith and beliefs.

Are we willing to look for opportunities to engage in conversation with people of different faiths? Have you ever read an introductory book on Islam? Have you talked with a Jewish person about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

I began by citing the finding of a recent survey. The survey disclosed that a majority of the American public believes that religion is a cause of wars and other conflicts in the world.

In light of that survey, I want to issue a challenge: what would it take for that same American public to report that they believe religion is a cause of healing and reconciliation, of peace initiatives and of bridge building? How can we – how can you – rise to that challenge?
 

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