Alva James-Johnson: Giving religion a bad name

The world is a scary place. If you have any doubt, just look at the news.

We were just getting accustomed to life without Osama bin Laden, and now there's ISIS.

ISIS, you probably know by now, is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an al-Qaida renegade group that makes Bin Laden and his crew look like saints -- except sainthood started as a Christian tradition, not Muslim, and getting the two confused could get a person killed in such a combustible climate.

That's what our world has come to -- people using religion as a cover for their ghastly deeds.

Some may want to blame Islam for an ideology that leads to suicide bombings and beheadings. But that would be a mistake. It's not the Quran, the Bible, or any other religious book that's responsible. It's people that give religion a bad name, and they've been doing it for centuries.

Religion has been used to justify everything from slavery to genocide in the annals of history, and it is still the scapegoat today. But the real culprit is intolerance and the idea that people should not have the freedom to choose.

Christians have been just as guilty as Muslims in that arena. So blaming an entire faith group for the actions of a few is just not fair.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Christian and proud of it. I believe the Bible has the answer to all societal ills. However, I also believe God gives us choice and doesn't force us to do his will. If he did, we would automatically love our neighbors. But just pick up any daily newspaper and you will see that's not the case.

We say we're a Christian nation, and yet there's still so much poverty, crime, racial disparity and family issues. We have churches on practically every corner, but the problems still persist.

This week, President Obama rightly called ISIS a "network of death" in a speech before the United Nations. At the same time, he was careful to make a distinction between terrorists and Islam, calling on Muslims all over the world to live up to the tenets of their religion.

"You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not ignorance; innovation, not destruction; the dignity of life, not murder," he said. "Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition, not defending it."

It's a message that should be embraced by people of all faiths.

Use religion for good, not evil.

This story was originally published September 25, 2014 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Alva James-Johnson: Giving religion a bad name."