(Leviticus 16-20)

18th April 2013
8th of Iyyar, 5773

GOOD AFTERNOON!!People often like to say that religion is divisive and destructive. They point out that religion has been the cause of many wars. With this in mind, it’s interesting that the two prime suspects for the bomb in Boston this week are radical Islamists and Aryan supremacists. The former is clearly religious. The latter, whilst sometimes associated with Christianity, is not. The bottom line is that human beings, unfortunately, are the source of division and destruction. In the 20th Century over 200 million people died in wars and persecution. As far as I can see, not a single one of those wars was a religious war. What happens is that people get lost and confused in their thinking and that causes them anger and hatred. That thinking might be about religion, about race, about nationalism, about politics. It doesn't matter what, those are all manifestations, but not the problem itself. The problem is human beings getting caught up in their anger and frustration – and taking it out on others. Religion is not a cause of divisiveness and destruction; it can simply end up being one of the unfortunate conduits through which they are expressed.