Religious conflict isn’t what Christ taught
I recently heard someone say, “Religion is the source of all conflict.” That was not the first time I had heard this. As a pastor, that opinion cut to the heart. So I had to ask myself, “Is this really true?” I went back to track the record. Go back to the Crusades from the 11th to 13th centuries and see the brutal wars between Christians and Muslims. We look closer to home and see the raging conflict for decades between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. And in the present context, brutal acts are performed against Christians in the Middle East and Africa in the name of Islam. That is just to mention a few examples. The list goes on and on. All this, in the name of religion. I came to the same conclusion as others had expressed.
How could this be? I had to pull aside the curtain and look behind the scenes.
We live in a very touch-feel-see society. But there is another reality that we ignore too often. It’s the unseen forces. Many people have paranormal experiences, but I find people tend to keep them to themselves, lest they be ridiculed or misunderstood. Researcher Reginald Bibby of the Lethbridge University claims that at least 40 per cent of Canadians have had some paranormal experience. So if there are spiritual forces out there, I have to conclude that there are also forces of good and evil. The Christian Bible bears testimony to that.
How then do we reconcile the fact that Christianity is as involved in these religious conflicts as any other belief system? This is where the bigger picture comes into play. We have to ferret out what is true Christianity (a personal relationship with God) from what is merely a form of Christianity (which can be described as no more than religion). The Crusades, the Catholic/Protestant conflicts, the current persecution of Christians by Muslims — these are all religious conflicts. They have nothing to do with what Christ taught. Even when his closest allies were ready to put their swords to work in his defence, he restrained them — even reversed the damage one of his disciples inflicted in slashing off the ear of a member of the group that came to arrest him. He never advocated violence, not even picketing or demonstrations. Rather, he changed lives — still does. The most satisfying part of my career has been seeing lives transformed when they have opened themselves to a relationship with God through Christ.
The big picture, that we don’t necessarily see with our eyes (though we see the results), is the good that emanates from God on the one hand, and the evil, perpetrated by the devil, on the other. And because the devil is a liar, he dons the cloak of religion, be it Christendom as a religion, or militant Islam, or Satanism, or whatever form suits his purpose. That — not true discipleship of Jesus Christ — is the source of conflict in the name of religion. Harald Froise is a retired Baptist pastor living in Bonnyville, Alta. He has pastored three churches in Canada since immigrating in 2000 after decades of Christian ministry in a variety of capacities in South Africa.