Imagine There is Love

By -
A few nights ago, I was having a drink with my besties. Inevitably, our conversation led us to the upcoming 916 Red Shirt Rally. He remarked something that I have heard from my dad several years ago: only Buddhism is the only religion that is never in dispute or conflict with any other religion.

But is that true? So I set out to find out if that is true. With the help of Google, two incidents was enough to break this myth. Here's what I found:

2012 Rakhine State Riot between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslim in Burma
Source:  

2013 Burma Anti-Muslim Riot led by majority Buddhists
Source:
Buddhist-Muslim conflict in Sri Lanka
Source:

~~~
Well, I spent three hours of searching and reading and this was all I found. There could probably be more. But the point is that, even the life-loving, no-killing Buddhism is not spared from bloodshed. But of course, to be fair, I also briefly looked up conflicts involving other faiths:

Hindu-Buddhist Conflict
European Wars of Religion
And we know of so many others such as the Crusades, Modern Day Jihad, Islamic States Terrorism and etc. Look up the internet we have no short of conflict between or within religions.

Here my conclusions from all my readings:
  1. Almost all conflicts are politically and economically motivated rather than religious disputes. Looking at the Rohingya Muslim persecution in Burma, it was a political one. Religion gave a certain group of people something in common to band together. By creating a common enemy that is different from themselves helps them to feel united. However, regardless of the justification, it is a mean for certain group of people to meet their selfish ends.
    Quoting Iselin Frydenlund, "These conflicts between Buddhists and Muslims may serve political as well as economic interests. From a political point of view, the violence benefits authoritarian regimes because it may give them an excuse for military intervention, while economically the conflicts may weaken competitors, for example Muslim-run businesses. In addition, religious nationalism and hate speech against religious minorities are used deliberately by political parties to gain votes among members of religious majorities. (Source: http://blogs.prio.org/2015/06/endangered-co-existence-buddhist-muslim-friction-in-asia/ )
  2. All conflicts stem from pride. When a group of people believes themselves far superior than another, conflict begins. We see this in Nazism during Adolf Hitler, we now see this in the 916 Red Shirt Rally. 
  3. All violence and division is a failure to love. Clashes begin when we fail to love and to accept others. It begins when we put our own interests before the interest and well-being of others. The Church is a good example of failure to love. Fowl wrote "All church division is fundamentally a failure of love." It is a failure to meet Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13
  4. The problem is not fundamentally religious teachings, but the fallen nature of human hearts. Summarizing the above conclusion, it is not really conflicts between religion, but rather between humans that are sinful and fallen. It all started since Abel and Cain, the human race has never stopped trying to kill each other.
My point is not to prove my friend or my father wrong, but rather to point out that we ourselves are to blame for the mess of the world. We have no intention to look into ourselves but constantly seeking to blame others for the state the world is in now. John Lennon sang "Imagine there is no religion." I beg to differ, I say "Imagine there is perfect love."

God's Character, My Encounter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

November? No, Remember! Part 4

By -
Image
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 5. Project Kwam Wang - Sabaidee, Laos! I don't think I can ever say this enough: Laos is an unforgettable nation, mainly because of the unforgettable journey that God had taken me through. The initial idea was to paint a school building in Vientiane, but imagine our shock when the team saw a building with 2-walled rooms. Instead of complaining, the team quickly came together to lay bricks and cement. 5 days later, we have classrooms with 4 walls and whole school of happy children. The highlight of the trip came later. To catch our flight in Lua Prabang, we took a 6-hour bus ride into Vang Vien, a magical, spectacular heaven-on-earth. The 2-hour tubing experience to enjoy the peace and scenic view of Vang Vien mountain range, the lovely morning breakfast with a morning sunshine and green mountains. It was a great time of serenity and reflection. Then another 6 hours of bus ride across the mountain into Lua Prabang. Tasted on
Read more

Stand for Judas

By -
You know, there was once my sister told me when I tell her the story of "The Last Supper":"Yer! Why Judas Iscariot so bad one? Betray Jesus ( with a kiss )!" I did not answer her question, I did not know how. I got the answer lately, the thinking somehow struck my mind. Some people might say Judas is bad , taken over by devil. But I think he is quite a brave man actually. If he did not sell Jesus out, Jesus could not carry out His Father's plan. He was actually carrying out his mission that God gave him. And yet, after accomplishing his mission, he hung himself. Think about it, will you kill yourself after accomplishing a mission or successfully completed an important job? Well, even if I throw a knife to you and ask you to cut yourself would need huge courage ( Mrs. Ramani did this experiment before and I had seen it myself, even I would not cut myself ), prove me wrong! Not to say to praise him for selling the Son of Man out, but he deserves our little re
Read more

Heavenly Disconnected

By -
We were all happily chit-chatting (or yelling) at grandma’s house. My second aunt suggested that we go to one of her cousin’s house to visit them but unfortunately the cousin wasn’t at home so we had to cancel it. Then I suggested to visit my youngest aunt’s house with the urge to play some mahjong. My intention was to play only, I did not intend to involve money. We drove there in 3 separate cars with me fetching my sister only. As we reached there we got everything ready, the mahjong table, chairs and of course, the mahjong. I couldn’t wait for my elder cousin to come and join me for a 3-Players Cantonese Mahjong. Just to make it fun, I (while being a Christian) suggested to involve money. This is where the problem starts. I feel pride arise. Holy Spirit was prompting me not to play with money, in fact, the mahjong at all. But I ignored it on purpose but seek selfish desire for pleasure and greed. I won around RM10 with starting fund RM13. But I also get the sense of guilt.
Read more