An interesting quote by Desmond Tutu on religion:

Religion is morally neutral like, say, a knife. When you use it to cut sandwiches, then a knife is a good thing; but if you use it to stick in someone’s guts, then it is a bad thing. Religion can make people caring, compassionate, and concerned about justice and peace. Religion can also make people bigoted and intolerant of others with different views. So Christians can turn on fellow Christians as in Northern Ireland, or they can use it to justify injustice and oppression, as some Christians did to justify slavery in the United States or apartheid in South Africa. In our antiapartheid struggle, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, et al, marched together and were united in their opposition to that evil. It is possible, therefore, for people of different faiths to work harmoniously together. There are bad Muslims, as there are bad Christians. We should avoid generalizing and stereotyping. No faith that I know believes injustice, oppression, poverty, war, etc., are good. Adherents of different faiths can and do live together harmoniously and can and do coexist in so many countries and so can be reconciled when they fall out. They are not inherently and in principle irreconcilable. It is not Islam that wages war against Christianity. It is certain Muslims fighting against certain Christians and vice versa. No faith has a monopoly on God or on goodness–and not on badness either! God has no enemies. Certainly, my enemies are not God’s enemies.

Posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 4:39 pm in Faith to Freedom.
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