Those who dare to interpret God's will must never claim Him as an asset for one nation or group rather than another. War springs from the love and loyalty which should be offered to God being applied to some God substitute, one of the most dangerous being nationalism.
Interpretation
Interpretation of God's will should be universal, not limited to specific national or group agendas.
Robert Runcie's quote emphasizes the danger of using faith and loyalty to God as a justification for nationalism or the superiority of one group over another. It warns against the conflation of religious devotion with national allegiance, indicating that such attachments can lead to conflict and war. Runcie suggests that true spirituality should transcend boundaries, promoting unity rather than division.
In practice
During a lecture on ethics and morality, this quote could illustrate the potential dangers of conflating faith with nationalism.
Very few people really care about freedom, about liberty, about the truth, very few. Very few people have guts, the kind of guts on which a real democracy has to depend. Without people with that sort of guts a free society dies or cannot be born.
Our Constitution does not profess to have been established simply by the majority, but by 'the people' - the minority as much as the majority.
And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no "after", in the "ever after" of a Witch there is no "happily"; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is-alas, or perhaps thank mercy-no telling. She was dead, dead, and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice.
What's really hurting me, the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. ... Islam is not a killer religion. ... Islam means peace, I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem.
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
No war is over until the enemy says it's over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.
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