Wednesday, December 28, 2005

My Plan to End Religious Terror and Violence and Achieve Lasting Peace by LS

My plan to end religious terror and violence and achieve lasting peace is based on Mark Juergensmeyer’s fifth scenario for solving the problem of religious terror and violence. The scenario is "secular authorities embrace moral values, including those associated with religion" (243-244). It seems to me that this would be the most logical scenario if government conjured up least a minimal level of mutual trust and respect for religious values (and overall societal morals). I really don’t feel that one person alone could end religious terror and violence and achieve lasting peace; and I especially think it would be impossible for me alone to persuade secular authorities to embrace religious values. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all share similar moral values and I feel that if government embraced those values that it could help stop religious terrorism. To help contribute to this, I will do the only thing I know how to in this situation... pray.
“[I]n the wake of secularism, and after years of waiting in history’s wings, religion has made its reappearance as an ideology of social order in a dramatic fashion: violently” (Juergensmeyer, 248). And public violence is the most powerful because it’s the most dangerous. Also, it’s the most eye-catching, mind-boggling way to get a point across. Christian militia and other religious terrorists feel that we live in a Godless nation anymore and that something has to be done to set our priorities straight, by showing us how morally wrong we are and using violence to do so. Yes, it is pretty hypocritical to use violence (something in itself that it morally wrong) to prove to secular authorities that their morals are wrong. If only our government and other secular authorities around the world based our political systems off of moral values (even those associated with religion). Juergensmeyer claims, "The most successful solutions are those that have been forged on a moral plane–those that have required the opponents in the conflict to summon at least a minimal level of mutual trust and respect" (243). It seems highly unlikely to get religious activists, terrorists, and governmental authorities to come to a compromise on their value systems, but what could be done to make this possible? If only the world could agree on the same morals and values, but we all have different governments and different religions. Juergensmeyer says, "This respect has been enhanced and the possibilities of a compromise solution strengthened when religious activists have perceived governmental authorities as having a moral integrity in keeping with, or accommodating of religious values". (243)
According to my religious beliefs (Christianity) God listens and answers the prayers of His faithful people. To start off my plan I will pray faithfully about the situation at hand (war and peace). Also, without ceasing to pray, I could write congress and other secular authorities about embracing religious values and how I think that it would help contribute to world peace. I could re-write this essay to direct it to the secular authorities and attach a petition signed by members of my church and community. My church has about a thousand or more members so the petition could get quite lengthy enough to get their attention.
In conclusion, the best solution to end religious terror and violence and achieve everlasting peace throughout the world would be to collectively compromise with one another’s moral values and embrace any values and beliefs associated with everyone’s religions. I wish that the world could agree on the same morals and values, but all I can really do about it is pray. Juergensmeyer ends his book Terror in the Mind of God with this statement that I also believe to be true: “...[R]eligious violence cannot end until some accommodation can be forged between the two [secular authorities and religion]... then, the cure for religious violence may ultimately lie in a renewed appreciation for religion itself” (249). By becoming active and contacting secular authorities with Juergensmeyer’s theory of them embracing moral values, even those associated with religion, as a possible solution to achieve everlasting world peace... one person could possibly make a difference. Personally, I agree with Juergensmeyer and Niebuhr "that what religion provides society is not just high-mindedness, but also a concern with the quality of life–a goal more ennobling than the simple accretion of power and possessions" (246).

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