BahÃĄâ•Žuâ•ŽllÃĄh and the New Era - Knowledge Rush

Religious PrejudicesIn order to see clearly how the Most Great Peace may be established,let us first examine the principle causes that have led towar in the past and see how Bahá’u’lláh proposes to deal witheach.One of the most fertile causes of war has been religious prejudice.With regard to this the Bahá’í teachings show clearly thatanimosity and conflict between people of different religions andsects have always been due, not to true religion, but to the wantof it, and to its replacement by false prejudices, imitations andmisrepresentations.In one of His talks in Paris, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputesto vanish from the face of the earth; it should give birthto spirituality, and bring light and life to every soul. If religionbecomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division it would bebetter to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religionwould be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the purposeof a remedy is to cure, but if the remedy only aggravates thecomplaint, it had better be left alone. Any religion which isnot a cause of love and unity is no religion.Again He says:—From the beginning of human history down to the presenttime various religions of the world have anathematized oneanother and accused one another of falsity.... They haveshunned one another most rigidly, exercising mutual animosityand rancor. Consider the history of religious warfare.... Oneof the greatest religious wars, the Crusaders, extended overa period of 200 years.... Sometimes the Crusaders were successful,killing, pillaging and taking captive Mu%ammadanpeople; sometimes the Mussulmans were victorious, inflictingbloodshed and ruin in turn upon the invaders.