by Maurice Sassoon

Created on: June 06, 2008   Last Updated: June 07, 2008

The essence of religion is Love. It is a quality that conquers all. It is drawn from the reservoir of one of the commandments, that is, "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself," and institutionalized as a moral requirement within the infinite scope of every religion. It is, therefore, wrong to use religion as a springboard for fanaticism, as well as a means of exploitation, nor should one religion dictate its principles to those of any other religion, considering that every religion is based on implicit trust and belief in God and in the universality of love, without the embellishments of hypocrisy and superfluities of certain ideologies.

The first words of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution uphold freedom of worship, so that a person can follow any religion he wishes. The major religions, such as Judaism. Christianity and Islam, are based on the principle of love, the fountain of which emanates from a single supernatural power, considered to be universally unrivaled and unequaled.

The institution of religion began on the premise of faith and simplicity of human values.
Its founders were those that preached the importance of simple virtues, emanating from the depth of the human soul and attributable to a divine being on which our mortality wholly and solely depends.

It is regrettable that today, as in centuries past, the concept of superiority of one religion over all other religions has caused divisiveness and discrimination, all of which are indelibly recorded in the history of humanity and considered as the very antithesis of the true definition of religion. One need not be reminded about the utter fanaticism of Christianity in the Middle Ages. Today, the specter of Islamic terrorism continues to haunt this planet, the reason being that the terrorists are wallowing in the belief that all other religions are morally unbalanced and must, therefore, be brought in line with their thinking.

The pillars of religion are those that support its edifice, as it stands on the foundation of justice and equality. Regardless of the diversity of the methods of worship, every religion draws its nourishment from a common source and channeled into the common reservoir of infinite love. The institution of religion advocates the discipline of eschewing evil. It has bestowed upon us the privilege of knowing ourselves in the light of our mortality. It reminds us of our susceptibility to temptations of immorality and reinforces our existence with the unconquerablr power of love.

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