It’s easy to say that religions are about the idea that we should love one another.
Take Christianity. Perhaps its most famous Scriptural verse is John 3:16, which says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to die for our sins.
Yet the same Christians who could quote this verse of Scripture were killing each other just 400 years ago. Protestants were killing Catholics, while Catholics certainly returned the favor with glee.
Today we hear a lot about Islam -- that it’s a religion of love, and yet it is also a religion of terror and war. What gives? What’s going on with religion and its contradictions?
Well, here’s one thing: Religions often believe in an afterlife, and their followers are convinced that there’s only one way to get there.
Thus, in the 1600s, it was better to kill a Catholic rather than allow him to lure innocent children to Hell, which is surely where they would spend eternity if they became Catholics. Catholics felt the same about Protestants.
And so it is today. Why not blow up buildings and behead people if where you spend eternity is at stake?
The afterlife is one of the most inspiring of religious ideas. Maybe that’s where you’ll be reunited with all your loved ones. But it’s a dangerous idea, too, and will go on being one for a long time to come.
I’m Tom McBride, and that’s my Perspective.