by Elijah Betancourt

Created on: May 09, 2008

To me, the question at hand is this: does this type of email create a sense of responsibility for making the situation better? Or does it take the animalistic path of self-righteousness that continues to lead to further hostilities?

I believe that interfaith dialogue is crucial to peace. And creating a holy war is one of the oldest sources of conflict in the world. I think that there are many explanations as to why people hate. However, Jesus has said in Matthew, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." To me this exemplifies the spirit of dialogue, which Jesus had the courage to pursue. If people consider themselves followers of Jesus, would they not try to manifest the courage to create dialogue with people whom they consider misguided?

True courage is not writ with the sword, but rather, with the pen. We are already at war, so the method of the sword is being employed. Can we honestly say that we are creating a truly lasting peace? The only track that fear and hatred will lead to is that of total dominance of one belief system over another. This cannot be considered peace by any sense of the word.

Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist peace activist, has said: "Without dialogue, humans are fated to walk in the darkness of their own dogmatic self-righteousness. Dialogue is the lamp by which we dispel that darkness, lighting and making visible for each other our steps and the path ahead."

War cannot be considered a solution by any means. Were we to give up on the process of trying to engage others in discussion about difficult issues, we would all be bound for mutual annihilation.

I think that it's much easier to justify war when we create propaganda and see another culture as generalized. The signs display a dehumanization of Europe. Similarly, believing that these protesters represent the vast majority of the Islamic world is to become close-minded. And perhaps, by so doing, we perpetuate our own crop of youthful protesters who hate Muslims as much as these troubled youth seem to hate what they call "Insults Against Islam". Are there not extremists in any religious faith? It is doubtful that any prophet or spiritual leader who has inspired people to experience the divine in their own lives would ever condone a knee-jerk response to hatred. Those who take this path, are no better than those who initiate the hatred.

My belief is that heaven and hell are neither above us or below us. Rather, hell exists in the heart of those who are

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