If you are looking for answers, don't read this. But if you are willing to contemplate controversial questions, read on.

What questions could be so sensitive that many people are afraid to ask them and choose instead to cling to the old advice that says to avoid religion and politics? They are the same old submerged questions that surface anew when we realize that the war in Iraq has not ended even after American intervention. Questions like these: Can one belief be forced upon another? What will it take for us to realize that religion knows no boundaries? Why do we remain blind to the irony that current and continued Sunni and Shiite violence is just one of many episodes that throughout history have plagued the banks of rivers mentioned by name in Genesis, soil saturated with blood shed by brother against brother ever since Eden? And when will we realize that religious fanaticism will remain with mankind as long as religions remain?

What kind of person is willing to strap on a bomb and kill others in ways that defy logic? In fact, where is logic to be found in what believers and non-believers alike call "blind" faith? Is this the same kind of logic exposed by Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute who claims in a recent poll that 70 million Americans believe that god has an influence on the outcome of the Super Bowl? And what does it say about our beliefs when a serious subject like god is lumped into the same trivial superstitions as wearing a worn-out jersey? Why would god care about sports when people are dying in his name?

These are uncomfortable questions that we avoid because the implication is that there is no cure for religious violence as long as there is religion. Some might argue that only the fanatical members of world religions would go to extremes such as terrorism, that moderates in those same religions believe in peace and love, and that to eliminate worship and replace the laws of god with the laws of man would bring chaos. Some will insist that humans need a higher power. But isn't history full of chaos caused by religion? Has a belief in a higher power led to world peace? Are there not enough examples of atrocities done in the name of one god or another throughout mankind's history? And why do we refuse to learn from these examples?

Perhaps if we were willing to ask the right questions we could learn the lessons of history instead of repeating its mistakes. But difficult questions might lead to difficult answers, so we continue to chant in our churches as we put boots on the ground in foreign lands and to achieve the same results, calamities we might avoid if we stopped avoiding questions like these: Has religion really made the world a better place?

If we tallied the earthly lives lost to religion against those saved by it, which would be the longer list? Would putting earthly responsibilities into our own hands instead of into the hands of a fatherly deity improve our behavior and make us act like responsible adults rather than feuding children? Does religion create barbaric behavior or prevent it? Wasn't Richard the Lionheart pursuing a "holy" war during his crusade against Saladin (who was willing to exchange prisoners) when he butchered some 2,700 Muslims including women and children who had already surrendered to him when he sacked the city of Acre in the name of Christianity? Didn't Adolph Hitler claim to be doing the work of Christ when he exterminated six million Jews? Wouldn't life here on Earth be much more precious and not so expendable if we believed it to be the only life we have?

In his song "Imagine" John Lennon attempted to make his listeners think along these lines, but he has been dead for decades now, and his old song gives rise to a new question: When will we be able to imagine a truly moral world where all the people are doing right by each other not because they seek reward or punishment in the hereafter, but because they believe life in the here-and-now is precious?

These are questions that must be asked if we want to find the answers. Or do we really not want to find them? Just asking.

Mike Ruskovich is a Blanchard resident.