As people look at the sectarian violence that has been plaguing our world, many people come out criticizing religion as a divisive force, and they lump Christianity with its unique claims among the divisive forces in the world. They say that we should just love each other and don't think about dogma (right rituals and right beliefs- rituals being the manifestation of beliefs). There is something bothersome about that statement for me and I think Ihave pinpointed what it is.

     To tell people to just do good and forget about dogma shows a lack of respect for people's values and a lack of willingness to understand others, which incidentally is an attitude that leads to strife. Besides, people can be good from a distance, but God wants goodness from the heart and in our close relationships. We don't know if the Saint Francises and the Mother Theresas of the world could maintain their apparent goodness in the midst of family life.    

      Dogma can direct people to right action as well as wrong action. Believing that God is creator of everyrthing we have may give people a sense of gratitude and humility. On the other hand, believing that my race is superior to your race may lead to genocide. The point is we can't just blindly criticize any dogma, because it may actually promote virtue and may actually be true. 

     Dogma reflects values of a group. We cringe at the fighting going on between Sunnis and Shiites, whose only difference is their view on who should lead the Islamic world (the Caliph for Sunnis or the Ayatollah for Shiites). Some may say this is just nitpicking but listen to the values behind their view of leadership. Shiites apparently see leadership as coming from God, inspired by him, not a political office. To just dismiss that is to dismiss those who believe that God is involved in the world in an intimate way. The point is those who criticize dogma is being dismissive. If we want peace, we need to value and listen to people's hearts.

    On the other hand, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God does criticize religious ritual. However, this is not because ritual is wrong but because ritual is not accompanied by a right heart. People's lips praise God but their hearts are far from him. People fast but the real fast is to fight injustice. The tradition is against empty religion, devoid of heart. Therefore, on the surface, God is against religion. But on closer inspection, what God is against is the impure heart- the heart that is self-centered and hateful.

     Religions usually do help mankind strive to be better, and that is something positive that we should celebrate. However, Christianity is unique in that it affirms as a truth man's inability to be better, and presents God's grace in Jesus as the solution to that problem. Grace is not God giving a second chance but God lifting mankind to himself in Christ. This exaltation towards God is what men strive for in his quest to be better. It is forcing man to be better through law that makes religion sinister. Pharisees push their fellow Jews to do the right things because it is for the good of the Jewish nation. Muslims want to impose Shariah law because they believe it is for the good of society. Secularists want to push religion away because it is for the good of society. Animists sacrifice to the spirits for the good of society. Christian revelation affirms repentance as the proper attitude before God, not a striving ego. That repentant heart finds its rest in a humble God who gives himself for the good of the world.