Of course, they have different understandings of their God across the faiths, but there are similarities. One thing many hold in common can be seen in the Crusaders in the Middle East and many of those Puritans who first landed on the shores of the United States. Their faith was founded on the belief that only they were right and that unless people worshipped their God they should be killed.
When the Puritans landed in America from England they faced the quite sophisticated Native Americans who had columned buildings, developed farmlands and towns. The Christian Puritans said: “Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” The Native Americans said: “Thank you, but we have our own faith”. The Christians said: “Oh well, you will go to hell anyway, so we will kill you now.” They did that, cut off the heads of their victims, put them on stakes and created an avenue with them. This is just one example. The Crusaders were killing all people in the Middle East who refused to become Christians, especially in Palestine.
None of this means we should condone ongoing violence against people in the name of any religion. On the contrary, we should look more closely at why this cruel fundamentalism can arise and be in any way justified by people in the name of their “God”. Those of us who are religious, but horrified by having the name of God in any way associated with killing people, could reflect deeply on whether there are any edges of self-righteousness in our faith, any forms of hate for those who differ from us, and what sort of God we really present to ourselves and others.
Having said all that, we would still hope and pray that our God calls us to love, justice and compassion for all people – of all faiths and none.
