<div>Ask the Religion Experts. Does Religion Divide or Unite People?
Rabbi REUVEN BULKA is head of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa and host of Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka on 580 CFRA.
Yes. Religion both divides and unites.
It divides by the very nature of having different religions, which then become different faith communities, which are inevitably divided because of the differences. The divisions are tolerable up to the point that they become cause to vilify other faiths, and the members of those faiths.
Vilification of other faiths has often moved from verbal condemnation to wholesale murder in the name of God. If there is anything we have learned from history, it is that we must categorically reject the verbal attacks on other faiths, precisely because they are prelude to attacks less verbal and very physical.
Within the faith community itself, the embrace of a specific faith may unite the community of its adherents under the common faith banner. The cynic will argue that such unity is also achieved when people are brought together by common membership in a golf club, or a bowling league, or any other shared endeavour.
It is also true that within individual religions, it is not unusual for denominational friction to prevail. Name any major religion, and you can bet the house that there are serious divisions within that religion.
The good spin on this is that the adherents to the faith take their faith very seriously, and look carefully at what the faith demands of them. Once they are convinced of the specifics of their faith obligations, they will reject any other interpretations as distortions. The distorters are then branded as being outside the pale, not true representatives of the faith, and worthy of contempt, if not worse.
Since we agree (I hope) that unity and togetherness are prime values, then, whatever faith we embrace, we must ask whether the divisions and subdivisions are important enough to justify divisiveness. Once we ask that question, we are at least on the road to making wise decisions.
Rev. RAY INNEN PARCHELO is a novice Tendai priest and founder of the Red Maple Sangha, the first lay Buddhist community in Eastern Ontario.
The simple answer is both. Religion isn
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Rabbi REUVEN BULKA is head of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa and host of Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka on 580 CFRA.
Yes. Religion both divides and unites.
It divides by the very nature of having different religions, which then become different faith communities, which are inevitably divided because of the differences. The divisions are tolerable up to the point that they become cause to vilify other faiths, and the members of those faiths.
Vilification of other faiths has often moved from verbal condemnation to wholesale murder in the name of God. If there is anything we have learned from history, it is that we must categorically reject the verbal attacks on other faiths, precisely because they are prelude to attacks less verbal and very physical.
Within the faith community itself, the embrace of a specific faith may unite the community of its adherents under the common faith banner. The cynic will argue that such unity is also achieved when people are brought together by common membership in a golf club, or a bowling league, or any other shared endeavour.
It is also true that within individual religions, it is not unusual for denominational friction to prevail. Name any major religion, and you can bet the house that there are serious divisions within that religion.
The good spin on this is that the adherents to the faith take their faith very seriously, and look carefully at what the faith demands of them. Once they are convinced of the specifics of their faith obligations, they will reject any other interpretations as distortions. The distorters are then branded as being outside the pale, not true representatives of the faith, and worthy of contempt, if not worse.
Since we agree (I hope) that unity and togetherness are prime values, then, whatever faith we embrace, we must ask whether the divisions and subdivisions are important enough to justify divisiveness. Once we ask that question, we are at least on the road to making wise decisions.
Rev. RAY INNEN PARCHELO is a novice Tendai priest and founder of the Red Maple Sangha, the first lay Buddhist community in Eastern Ontario.
The simple answer is both. Religion isn
More...