#TITLE#Finding Peace In Different Angles#/TITLE# by Edwin C. Bukowski Often, perusing the news or reading up on current events appears pointless to me. No matter what, it seems the info presented in the papers is unchanging; the lone parts that are altered are mere details, all against a backdrop of combat and confrontation. It’s in the news, it’s in our history books, it’s in our films, and the prevailing theme seems to be religion. Beliefs versus beliefs, religious warfare versus religious conflict. What exactly is moral about combat? What is at the heart of these clashes? I’d suppose it’s a question of ethics, but how would you define ethics? To put it in straightforward words, it’s our skill to discriminate the just from the unjust. Most faiths can probably concur about this, but how come they appear to diverge on a lot of other topics? Could it be that these belief patterns are fundamentally flawed? It is highly unlikely, because then you have people who are moral and don’t adhere to any particular religion. So is the violence we face in the world today an issue of religion or morality? Contemplate this: if it weren’t for the church, would ethics still exist? It appears that the above subjects raise a more profound question: what individuals judge to be good or evil. If I think it’s good to purloin bread to feed my family, but you think it’s evil no matter what, we have a bit of a predicament. In just a brief period of time, you and I will fight over whose viewpoint is more powerful, and in our civilization, the most powerful person succeeds. Who may opt to establish what is just or unjust? What is there for us to do because there’s not a planetary sanction on this focus? We must discover a meeting place between our opposing points of view, instead of just focusing on how we differ, in order to coexist (our greatest hurdle). A lot of collectives have been formed to accomplish exactly that. As an case in point, the Unitarian Church is a synthesis of various creeds that aims to sustain primary ethics. This church’s objective is based on tolerance, but it overlooks individuals who don’t have faith in any deity. Groups exist that manage this state of affairs by upholding morality that isn’t rooted in theology of any kind. One case of this is NXIVM, a group started by mathematician Keith Raniere. NXIVM’s aim is to be a manifestation of the righteous society of mankind. Attitudes such as these help in closing the gulf linking where we presently are as a civilization and where we wish to end up. Whatever the approach, whether religious or not, it seems more organizations like these are necessary in the world Nancy Salzman. No matter the tactic, it’s vital to get to the bottom of things and discover a method to coexist in concord Clare Bronfman.