Religion is always a very touchy topic whether a person considers him or herself religious or not. Throughout history, wars are fought in the name of religion.

?Every religion says it is the correct one or the superior one. What everyone forgets is that all religions, or at lest the one that I know of, have the same core value. Cultural traditions, history and geography is what separates us all, not religion.

?Religions teach us to be humble, to give charity, do good deeds, have tolerance for others, and to avoid: backbiting, lying, committing malicious acts, etc. But what have humans learned from religion? Humans have mixed religion and politics into one. All around the world there are conflicts among people of different faiths as if tolerance is intolerable.

World religious violence includes the following:

In Tibet, the Buddhist and communists are at conflict. Chinese Communists annexed the country in late 1950’s. Brutal suppression of Buddhism continues.

In Northern Ireland, the Protestants and Catholics the main religions in conflict for over 30 years. Some progress has been made.

In South Africa, the main religions are Animism and Witchcraft. People here are murdered on suspicion of practicing black magic.

Understand that religious sources inspired Gandhi and Mother Teresa to commit their life to the improvement of human suffering. But there is also a darker side of religion: how religious beliefs have contributed to hatred, intolerance, unjustified discrimination, as well as mass murders and genocides, historical support oppression of groups, historical opposition to medical advances.

Mass murders and genocides include places such as Nazi Germany, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Sudan and countless other countries.

Whenever there is a group of people who think they are superior to another group of people, that is when we have problems like colonization. It may look like colonizing/ civilizing others is a good thing but it’s not. So many innocent lives are destroyed in the process but people over look it because they think it’s for the “greater good” or it’s a “long term effect.” Who said slavery was a noble act? Or the slaughtering of the Native Americans was survival of the fittest? Or exploitation of women and children shows who wears the pants?

It doesn’t matter what religion or country is doing it, what’s wrong is wrong every religion has a skeleton in the closet. It’s not the religion, it’s the people that have the skeleton in the closet because religions are pure but people are not.

The human race is the most intelligent creature created yet we act lower than animals as we fight over land, natural resources, treasures, etc. Everywhere, there is an echo of human rights, but where is the human rights? Where is humanity? We turned our cheek to humanity and doing what is right. We have become selfish and only look for economic gain.

The history of the religions is something that is very important. Everyone should go over the timelines and origins of religions, which helps understand the culture and traditions that they carry. Also, not all aspects of religion is from the religion itself. Religions include the lifestyle of the group of people since it is a way of socializing and community.