Religions in Assisi in Search of Peace

'If Actions Follow Words'

Newspapers and television acclaimed the pope's initiative. Some even called the pope the "spokesman of all Christendom." (Christendom meaning churches who do not preach the truth of the Bible, which is pretty much all of them except for, yes, Jehovah's Witnesses)   The Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano defined the day at Assisi as a "milestone on the road to building a civilization of peace."  The headline of the newspaper Corriere dell'Umbria was  "Assisi Gives Light to Peace."

Not all observers were so enthusiastic.  Some  expressed skepticism because despite previous days of prayer for peace in 1986 and 1993, wars fought in the name of religion continue to plague mankind. Religious hatred had fueled bloody slaughter in Uganda, the former Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland. 

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica noted that some critics dismissed the meeting as  "just a show."  (exactly what it was. If it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, its a dang duck! Duh!)  A member of the European Parliament said that in order  to promote peace, religious people should "practice the Gospel" -that is, observe the words  "love your enemies, turn the other cheek." That, in his view is something "nobody is doing."  

The president of the Italian Jewish Communities said that "it will be good to see what happens now, that is, if concrete actions and real change follow words." The representative  of the Italian Buddhists expressed herself in like manner, saying that one should  "ensure that appeals for peace do not remain just good intentions."  One journalist, writing for the Italian magazine L'Expresso, suggested that the meeting at Assisi served another purpose for the religions of Christendom represented there. He called it "a coalition of resistance against religious disaffection, in discipline, and disbelief," as well as an effort to combat the "severe  process of  secularization" that afflicts Europe despite its "Christian history. 

Among the event's more severe critics were Catholic traditionalists, who fear the watering down of their church doctrines.  In a television interview with Vittorio Messori, a well-known Catholic writer, noted the risk that the event at Assisi might blur the differences between religions. Of course, ecclesiastical authorities had taken precautions to avoid giving the impression  of mixing religions.  The pope himself made a statement to refute such charges. Nonetheless, for many the very nature of the event seemed to suggest that the various religions simply represent different ways to approach the same higher power.  

Note: Well,  many of those religions, use idols to pray to or with, which are either crosses, pictures, statutes, rosaries, etc., Those things are called idolatry which Jehovah God does not approve of. There is only one true religion and that is praying to Jehovah God, through Jesus Christ, reading the whole  Bible  word for word, and studying it; not skipping around and reading the verses you either like or are familiar with because all the churches  do not teach or preach the whole Bible, which is not out-of-date and also does pertain to all of us today. It is an instruction book on how to have a good marriage, live our lives,raise our children, worshipping God and the things he expects us to do in order to have a good enjoyable peaceful life, a good marriage, healthy children and a healthy, beneficial relationship with God, himself.  I wish everyone would get a clue here!

Next time: Religions in Assisi in  Search of Peace - Religion and Peace

From the Awake! magazine, 2002