Ideas from Kids

Wisdom Beyond Their Years

End disagreements about religion

If I had to choose one thing about the world to be changed, it would be the hatred among people of different religions. Disagreements about religion are the root of a lot of the world’s current problems, and this should put us to shame. The principle of God is that of a protector and guide, and every human being is certainly in need of such. Many of us believe in a similar God, so why should we argue about his name? It simply does not make sense!

A lot of our religions are centered on principles of kindness, love, and forgiveness, and the difference is not in the beliefs but in the ways to implement them. For instance, I have heard that the call for the holy war that Muslims often talk about could also be interpreted as a call to find religion and holiness within each person’s soul; is this not what all of us would like to accomplish, and if so, should we not agree to agree about it? And is it so important that we all have the same prophets? We should consider ourselves lucky to have had different prophets at different locations of the world: enough for so many of us to be believers after their teachings! Of course, religions do not agree perfectly about everything. And so what if there are differences? We should learn to respect them as long as they do not hurt us. Are we not constantly defending our right to make decisions, and is our religion not one of our main choices in life?

In my opinion, most big disagreements come from misunderstandings due to ignorance and also from taking things to extremes. The key is education. If children were taught to respect differences, many problems would be solved. Our next generation would not believe that differences matter. We would not hear any more talk of ‘infidels.’ The way this could be accomplished would be to teach children about religions other than their own. Similarities should be pointed out, while differences should be explained before the children learn to fear them. It is probably the fear of the unknown that has taken us through roads of hatred.

My dream has us all using one of our most wonderful tools—the power of religion—for the good of the whole humanity. Religion pushes us to put all our effort into accomplishing things for a group. We just need to learn how to expand our group!

Steven Ammerman, age 11

Albuquerque, New Mexico

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