Why We Fight

~ by Mark F. Carr whose love of earth and its physical beauty is surpassed only by an unquenchable desire for intellectual and emotional exploration of ideas. He loves his job at Loma Linda University, School of Religion’s Center for Christian Bioethics.

When Samir introduced me to the Faith House project, I thought of my own journey to understanding. Some years ago, I sat in class listening to my Muslim professor lecture about Islamic theology. I was astounded at what I heard; so many similarities to what I believed myself! How could a sectarian Christian from Alaska have point of common faith with a Persian Muslim who had only recently moved to the United States?! But in addition to the excitement I felt, I was also disturbed.

You see, part of the culture of western Christianity is to fight. We live and breathe conflict from our present day to as far back as you can trace our history….The most famous peace in western civilization was the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, which came about only after the universal and brutal destruction of all opposition.

Part of this culture of conflict had taught me to sift everything I heard of theological significance through my apologetic sieve. It was tiring me out! I recall the point at which I decided to simply listen and learn from this man who had once told me with no uncertainty that God had brought me to this school for a purpose and that God was truly involved in my life. He believed it, and I believed it; so I listened and I learned. I learned to appreciate the authenticity of early Islam and how it brought monotheism to the Arabic people. And how closely related it was to both Judaism and Christianity. Later, when I took similar coursework from my Jewish professor, I was equally stunned at how much I had in common with this rabbi’s understanding of God and his presence in the life of his creation.

How is it that I had been taught to believe that my faith was so drastically different from these other faiths of Abraham? And why does our society continue to foster conflict, exclusion, and hatred among us? I’ll share two quick illustrations of the points of commonality I found and then posit one simple reason we continue to fight.

One of the fundamental teachings of Judaism is that God created humankind. Important to this doctrine is the idea that his creation, humans of every sort, can perceive God in his creation–but not simply that humans have the capability to see and perceive of his presence. Included also is the idea that humans can reason well enough to reflect upon notions of morality. Of course human understanding of God’s revelation strikes each of us in personal ways, but communities of faith can come to points of general agreement.

Similar notions of human capability to perceive God and establish notions of morality as a result are present in both Christianity and Islam. In fact, even though there are well developed notions of the moral life in each of the Abrahamic faiths, at least three things are anathema to each of them; idolatry, adultery, and murder. Granted, there are subtly different ways of understanding these three issues, but all agree they ought not to be done.

Now, why would we continue to fight with each other? We fight, in part because so much of our societies depend upon our continued fighting. Take the media for instance and the controversy about the depictions of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Stupid as the original action was, it didn’t get much attention when the cartoons were first published. The attention came months later when the media began reporting it. This caused a stir all over the world, riots, killing, hate-filled speeches, and an incredible spirit of revenge. What did the media do during this time? Laugh all the way to the bank!

Why not do something in your little world today to reduce the hatred and violence? Why not find a point of peace and commonality with some “other” person this week and celebrate?