Inner Peace And World Peace

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Analyze the distinctive response of TWO religious traditions to the issue of either inner peace and/or world peace by linking their relevant sacred texts to their principal teachings.

World peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations. It is the professed ambition of many past and present world leaders. It is the utopian ideal of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance, which prevents warfare. Both Christianity and Islam explore the possibility of world peace in their principle teachings that peace begins with the individual, without peace with oneself, peace with others cannot be achieved.

The New Testament (NT) strongly urges people to work at peace, even when it is difficult. In the famous Sermon on the Mount, which appears in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his followers, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Making peace with others is part of making peace with God. This contributes to world peace as world leaders have the power to prevent war for example the World Council of Churches in 2001 participated in the Decade to Overcome Violence in hope to achieve world peace. Jesus taught people not to escalate quarrels by taking revenge for wrongs. “Turn the other cheek” and “go the second mile” are both teachings about peace from the Sermon on the Mount. Other words of Jesus in relation to peace between people include, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. Political leaders and others who heed to this scripture have prayed for Osama and members of Al Queda to help bring peace to the world. The reason he gave for this teaching is that “God...

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... repeated all over the world in an endeavor to research, reflect upon and dialogue about the real and/or alleged sources of conflict between Islam and the West. For instance, in 1989 the International Scholars Annual Trialogue was setup by a group of Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars.

Christianity and Islam both strive for world peace as indicated in their sacred texts: the Bible and the Quran. The initiatives created by organizations of both religious traditions have played an influential role in the journey for world peace. However world peace will still be difficult due to many factors such as the strong pro-war personalities, world politicians, power mongering and religious fundamentalism. Unless principle teachings of peace of both religions are interpreted and adopted true to the principles of pacifism, it will be impossible for world peace to exist.

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