Religion and Peace - Christianity and Islam Essay

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Pages: 4

The message of peace is a fundamental universal concern which is relevant throughout our world today. Peace is not merely the ‘absence of war’, but a state of mind in which a sense of tranquillity comes from actively working towards right relationships with individuals and God. To understand the way in which Muslims and Christians view peace it is imperative to understand the source of the teachings for each religion. The principles teachings of peace for Both Christianity and Islam are primarily found in the sacred texts of both religious traditions. Christianity looks to the bible and specifically the New Testament for teachings about peace, whereas Islam focuses’ on the Qur’an and Hadith to guide their beliefs of peace. These sacred
Christians also collaborate in different peaceful initiatives as part of tradition to honor Jesus’ teachings.

The two traditions also hold differences in relation to their efforts to achieve peace on both a local and global level. Christians are involved in a global initiative called the World Council of churches, where over 300 Christian churches collaborate in order to ensure uniformity among denominations in relation to world events. One of the councils main goals in to ‘seek justice and peace’. This is a unique initiative which unites Christian denominations in relation to fundamental beliefs in peace and the teachings of JC.

Jihad is a fundamental teaching of Islam which is often misunderstood in relation to peace, often believed to be related to war, it refers to a personal struggle in order to achieve peace and is split into two stages. Greater Jihad is the inner-struggle against temptation and sin, a personal fight against evil in order to achieve peace and Lesser Jihad refers to the outer-struggle against wrong and evil in encouraging others to strive for the same goal.

It is therefore through the sacred texts that a comparison of the understandings of peace in Christianity and Islam can be achieved. It is through an understanding of peace for each tradition that the beliefs can be compared in relation to the respective principal teachings. In conclusion Christians are guided by the New Testament in order to live a