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Many of our more secular contemporaries despair of finding any hope for peace from religion, arguing that all religionists at some time or another become oppressors and murderers.

At the same time, it can be observed that not all violent upheavals have been the work of religious zealots.

A great deal of violence in human history can undoubtedly be attributed to persecutions and even genocide committed in the name of God. Historically, bearers of arms have often borne religious standards into battle.

Though the particularly vicious kinds of violence and oppression we are witnessing now at the hand of religious fanatics in the Middle East and Africa may seem to confirm that, we cannot ignore the bloodshed of earlier decades coming from the advance of godless totalitarian regimes. Revolutions in Russia (Stalin), Germany (Hitler), Kampuchea (Pol Pot) and other places - evidently more ideological than religious - inevitably resulted in the persecution of people of faith or people on the wrong political side.

One way or another, it seems that some ultimate belief or conviction about the nature of things is evoked to justify the violence inflicted by the "true believers," be they religious or secular. In effect, this belief or conviction, whether strictly religious or ideological, is the "God" who sanctions or even demands the "holy war."

One thing is clear: Such "holy wars" seem to have a lot more to do with cursing than blessing - and that sounds more like a God whose prime concern is to assert sovereignty rather than send a message of love.

Of course, that begs the question, in the minds of skeptics, as to whether there is a God - and, if so, if that God is a God of love.

If one takes Christian revelation to heart, it is difficult to justify the kind of religious intolerance the world has witnessed at the hands of either the religious or secular revolutionaries. One of the logical outcomes of worshipping the Trinitarian God Christians believe in - one God, three co-equal persons - is the conviction that the essence of God is love, not power.

Though God may be powerful enough to create a universe, God is a lover before even creating anything or anyone. Essentially, God is revealed as three persons revolving about each other - almost "crazy" in love, one might imagine - for all eternity.

God does not need anything or anyone to be sovereign over, because God has everything. Thus, creation springs forth not from some power-need to dominate; rather, it is a desire to include other beings - different beings - in this eternal love-embrace.

Now, if God is more about love than power, more focused on bringing joy and happiness than imposing a sovereign will, then to know this God is to be drawn into a circle of love, not conflict, more likely to lead one to bless than curse humanity.

Nor is God's power or sovereignty diminished by human subjects, even if they choose not to respond to God's love.

At times, it seems that the actions attributed to God in the Bible do not always affirm this fundamental belief of Christians that our God is all-loving, all-merciful and all-forgiving. Human impatience with the patience of God, however, may have been as much responsible for violence in God's name than the fabled wrath of God that God's self-appointed agents were all too eager to execute.

The truth remains that the God one really worships and believes in will have a profound effect on how one treats other human beings. The inhumanity that we are hearing about in almost every new news cycle should lead all of us to question our own consciences - indeed, our personal relationship with God.

Do we see a God whose offended dignity makes Him angry with us and with creation, and who is now ready to strike? Or do we see a God who knows well about evil in the world, and sent His Son into that world to die for our sins so that the sins would not kill us?[[In-content Ad]]

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