Hear our Prayers

I wrote this song and video with the idea that maybe it’s time for God to set the record straight on what his intentions are for mankind, because we haven’t figured it out since Adam and Eve.

In their Encyclopedia of Wars, authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document 1763 wars overall, of which 123 (7%) are classified to involve a religious conflict. But the term “religious war” is often comingled with secular, ethic, and political conflicts. One of the definitions of religion in Merriam Webster’s is, “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.”  In terms of religion, ethnicity, wars, and conflicts, Jack David Eller states, “When a pure or hybrid religious group and/or its interests are threatened, or merely blocked from achieving its interests by another group, conflict and violence may ensue.”

Religion, with best intentions, has evolved into an instrument of controlling the masses with decreed societal laws. As a society evolves, sadly, many tribal customs become archaic, and human rights are suppressed. Don’t believe this?  Research the customs of circumcisions performed on girls against their wills as one of countless examples. Recent headlines chronicle the inadvertent burning of several Korans in Afghanistan, which ignited mass violence resulting in multiple deaths. On a much greater scale the anti-Israel rhetoric of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his demand for “the regime occupying Jerusalem to vanish from the page of time”, leading some Israelis to fear an eventual nuclear attack from Iran.

All this conflict over religious beliefs.

My song and video poses the question: What if God asked his iconic leaders—Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, Abraham—to reappear and tell their ardent followers, “You folks have it all wrong. Surrender to love!”  The Buddhist believes we are souls set forth on earth to experience the human condition. Being mortal means being prone to sin and mistakes. And who wrote the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, Science and Health, Sanskrit, and various Buddhavacana? Humans. Religion is mankind’s interpretation of God’s wishes, and mankind is mortal. Hear our prayers, God. Please set the record straight.

View the video!