The Potential of Inter-Religious Peace

Leading to Peace Worldwide

 

 

Methodology and Research:

History, with special reference to possible power and transformation of religious narratives, the notion of “enlightenment”, and the area of Palestine; solution-oriented conflict management.

 

Abstract:

The world has become one. There is no way to turn back history.

The major world religions on our planet coexist and claim at least equal rights. This leads to competition over doctrinal matters but also to legal conflicts over ownership-rights as is the case with Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, Haram Ash-Sharif in Jerusalem – the center of the Middle-East conflict – caused by different narratives of Judaism and Islam.

Considering the very strong, but widely unconscious motivating force of religious narratives and identification, it is understandable why Jews wanted to return to their biblical homeland and – since Muslims believe Judaism finally will have to yield to Islam – why they cannot allow Jews to ever claim Haram Ash-Sharif for themselves.

This seemingly remote motive may be the deepest source of the devastating power of the Middle East conflict. Therefore, the conflict cannot be solved politically or by military means but only by lifting that motive into the light of conscious reflection.

Without hidden motives, empathy can arise; all parties become able to view the matter in an attitude of mutual appreciation.

Their common ground, Abraham, can become the basis for a common future, in spite of the different historical pathways the three Abrahamic religions have taken – by the will of God.

With this perspective, the understanding of the narratives around Mount Moriah may undergo substantial transformation, and, as a result, the people of the three religions may wish to express their basic spiritual unity architecturally, in form of a common sanctuary, that once and for all times will document their empathic realization, that the One Creator of all wanted to be worshipped in different manners according to the different traditions in the different parts of the world.

With this empathic realization, the people who have turned away from religion because they did not want to succumb to the dangers of superstition can be moved to appreciate the divine mercy and benevolence which radiate from rightly understood religion. So they too can support that one sanctuary – and the three religions in turn become able to submit to the principles of enlightenment in a secular and democratic state under the rule of human rights.