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I might understand a war where one party feels threatened by the other and starts a defensive war. Religious wars are something else. I need to think about it. I am sharing these thoughts with you and would love to read your feedback.

The Middle East war is a religious war. Israel feels threatened by Iran, which has announced on multiple occasions that it wants Israel to disappear from the map for religious reasons, viewing them as infidels. They are financing terrorists everywhere they can. And if they can kill 32,000 of their own people, they are capable of gassing and murdering the millions of Jews in Israel. For that, they need a nuclear device. Once they get it, America might be the next to be threatened. Did the Ayatollah not call America Satan?

Religious zeal is not new. How does one explain the Middle Ages Inquisition, where thousands of Jews were killed or tortured by the Catholic Church for refusing to convert? 

Are we not all serving the same God? All religions say God is LOVE, so what are we fighting each other about? Maybe the following explains it: Organized religion goes through a life cycle, like any organization does. The (A) role replaces the (I) role. Organizations start with a mission, with a dream (E), and end as a bureaucracy with the (A) role following instructions, orders, policies, and rules. This applies to religions, too. Organized religions differ not by whom they serve but by how they serve. When praying, Jews cover their heads, Christians uncover their heads, and Muslims take their shoes off. In prayer, Jews only bend their knees slightly. Catholics get on their knees. Muslims get all the way down to touching the floor with their heads.

Is it the rituals, the orders of organized religion, that divide us and cause us to go to war with each other? Is it the zeal to see to it that the entire world will practice what we practice?

If the religious leadership of the different faiths would focus on what the essence of God is, they would find that they agree. So, how we serve is not that important. We can afford to allow everyone to practice as they see fit, as long as the essence of what God wants us to do (I believe it is LOVE) is not violated.