Assignment 9 - Wow this got incredibly philosophical and I don't even know if it is cohesive - Cat Lucier

I don't care what you say. I believe that there is never an excuse for violence against others. No matter how angry you are, no matter how different your ideas and perspectives or beliefs - nothing warrants violence. All of the 5 major world religions, which make up over 90% of the population, teach love and peace. Let's take a look at what their scriptures have to say.

• Christianity: Matthew 5:9 - "Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the Children of God." 
• Islam: Surah 41:33-34 - "And good and evil deeds are not alike. Repel evil with good. And he who is your enemy will become your dearest friend."
• Hinduism: (From the Thirumanthiram of the Sanaathana Dharma, translated from Tamil) "Anbe Sivam" or "God is love."
• Buddhism: "Ahimsa" or "non-injury" of living things
• Sikhism: "One who does evil never succeeds, such a person burns in his own wrath; this happens to those who are self-oriented; their madness keeps them involved in conflicts; one who follows the guru's teachings understands every thing; he fights the evil in the mind." (M. 3 p. 1418)

Alright. It seems to be the general consensus of the 5 major religious scriptures that you should be nice to other people. So then what is the cause of such atrocities?
I hypothesize the patriarchy, and how it causes corrupt men to develop the charisma to spread their perversion of sacred texts, which was created to align with their personal agenda, to the masses as the word of God.
This personal agenda that I speak of is the key to understanding this issue. (While thinking out this philosophical essay, I realized that I am very Buddhist in my beliefs.) Having a personal agenda is evidence that a person has selfish desires and holds grudges. They are unhappy with themselves. I know that is a cliche, but it seems to be quite true.
TLDR: The 5 world religions teach peace. Our world would be much more peaceful if people were able to be happy with themselves and thus did not hold grudges and have personal agendas, which leads to spreading the world of a perverted scripture to align with the execution of the personal agenda.