How to End Religious Terrorism by MH

     This has been a very perplexing question for me.  I did research and contemplated long and hard about this problem and only came up with one idea.  Unfortunately, I did not know how to stretch “blow up all the people on earth and start from scratch” into a full essay.  Regrettably, that is how I truly feel.
     As I have stated throughout both of these religion courses, I do not claim to follow any one set religion.  Organized religion, in my eyes, is completely hypocritical.  Every religion declares that they are the one true religion and that whatever they do in the name of that religion is considered God’s will.  They feel they can declare war on other people and commit genocide against non-followers of their religion.  They are intolerant to anyone who thinks or believes anything other than what they believe.  This is contradictory to what religion should actually be about.
     Mark Juergensmeyer wrote of five possible scenarios to end religious terrorism.  Each one, though it sounds good in theory, will not produce a world without terrorism.  In some cases, I believe it could escalate it.  First of all, he speaks about “destroying violence”.  In our global world, it is impossible to orchestrate a plan that will obliterate all forms of violence.  Juergensmeyer wrote, “The prognosis for victory in the military war against terrorism has been hopeful only when the opponents have been easily identified and- perhaps more important- contained within a specific region.” (236)  We have seen with our war on terrorism so far, we do not know exactly where or who are enemy are.  Another possible scenario he wrote about was “terrifying the terrorists”.  This is an absurd idea because terrorists have already dedicated themselves to achieving their objectives by any means necessary.  If terrorists are willing to be martyrs for their religion, threatening them with violence and war only ratifies their justification that they are fighting against an enemy who treats them unjustly and inhumane.  This also backs up my reasoning why I believe that his theory that “violence wins” will not work to eradicate terrorism.  His last two theories about healing and separating politics with religion are both illogical.  First off, unless a country and its surrounding nations all agree on one set religion, involving religion in the operations of politics is only going to cause more problems to escalate terrorism.  Also, separating religion and politics is unfeasible.  Juergensmeyer wrote, “Most religious activists regard the social manifestation of cosmic struggle to be at the very heart of their faith….regard as its rightful position at the center of public consciousness.” (241)  Political agendas in all nations are fueled by religious views.  If that was not a factor, we probably would not need politicians anymore to arbitrate opposing ideas.  Regardless of the theory, I believe that none of them would be effective enough to end religious terrorism.
     Sadly, after two thousand plus years of religious turmoil and unrest, religious terrorism is something we are just going to have to learn to deal with.  Even in our own secular country, where it is okay to be whatever religion you want, intolerance still remains.  For example, this whole situation about Christmas and Holidays is just a way for people to say “if I don’t believe in it, then you can’t say it, celebrate it, or display it”.  What is that teaching our future generations?  It is teaching narrow-mindedness and bigotry, which will eventually lead to religious hatred and terrorism.
     The only way to end religious terrorism is to make people understand that there is diversity in our world and that no one actually knows the truth about God, religion, or the afterlife.  We can still hold our own beliefs strong and accept that not everyone feels and thinks the same way as us.  We need to share ideas and accept different cultures and admit that we are all different.  Essentially, most of us want the same things out of life.  We want to live a secure and peaceful life where our children are given as many opportunities as possible.  And when we die, we want to believe that our actions on earth were not in vain.  This is possible without all the hoopla of organized religion.
     Alas, Pandora’s Box has already been opened and now we must put up with the messes that have been created.  Religious fundamentalists of all religions will fight to the end of time that they are the one true religion and that everyone else is wrong and will not be saved.  If Heaven is where these people are going to be, then I don’t want to go to Heaven.  I would rather the afterlife be complete darkness and nothingness, then have to live in another dimension with hypocritical, judgmental religious fanatics who refuse to admit their religious beliefs are just a theoretical guess.