We ought to recognize that religious strife is not the consequence of differences among people. It's about conflicts between creation stories.
Interpretation
Religious conflicts arise from differing foundational narratives rather than from the people themselves.
E. O. Wilson's quote emphasizes that the root of religious strife lies not in the inherent differences among individuals but in the contrasting creation stories that guide their beliefs and values. These conflicting narratives shape how communities perceive themselves and each other, leading to tensions and disputes, suggesting that understanding and dialogue about these stories could foster greater harmony.
In practice
In a discussion on interfaith dialogue, this quote can illustrate the underlying issues at play.
Consider the nematode roundworm, the most abundant of all animals. Four out of five animals on Earth are nematode worms β if all solid materials except nematode worms were to be eliminated, you could still see the ghostly outline of most of it in nematode worms.
Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.
The worst thing that will probably happen-in fact is already well underway-is not energy depletion, economic collapse, conventional war, or the expansion of totalitarian governments. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired in a few generations. The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life.
Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
An Armageddon is approaching at the beginning of the third millennium. But it is not the cosmic war and fiery collapse of mankind foretold in sacred scripture. It is the wreckage of the planet by an exuberantly plentiful and ingenious humanity.
Those who wait for God are pilgrim souls that have no tie that will hold them when the definite command is issued; no prejudices that will paralyze their effort when in some strange coming of the light they are commanded to take a pathway entirely different to that which was theirs before; having no interests either temporal or eternal, either material or mental or spiritual, that will conflict with the will of God when that will is made known.
Am I the woman I think I am, the woman I want to be? More importantly, am I the woman the Savior needs me to be?
The pain is there; when you close one door on it, it knocks to come in somewhere else.
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury.
Silence is the sea, and speech is like the river. The sea is seeking you: don't seek the river. Don't turn your head away from the signs offered by the sea.
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