EDUCATION MATTERS:Of peace, tolerance and understanding

Like many of you, my wish at this year's end is for greater peace on this Earth.

I won't expect miracles any time soon with our "stay the course" policy in the Middle East, so my prayer, perhaps when there is a lull in the killing, is for greater understanding between the people of this Earth. If that seems too general, or perhaps a little on the grandiose side, let me refine it a little.

My prayer is that religious fundamentalists the world over recede into the background of their rigid orthodoxy and move aside for a core of believers who carry banners of tolerance and understanding. From the time that I have been able to think for myself I have been wary of individuals, and of organizations, that proclaim a corner on the truth, or who want to direct us all along the one and only path (their path) to enlightenment.

Human history is rife with examples of people and religions who have led others to believe that they, and they alone, know God's will. The corollary to that belief is that everyone else is not only wrong, but is condemned to suffer for their incorrect/incomplete understanding. Therein lies the greatest impediment to peace on Earth. The shouted sanctimony and holier-than-thou pronouncements that come from the towers and temples and cathedrals of the world carry with them a message of exclusivity that puts all others at arm's length.

While so many take comfort in belonging to one religion or another, it does not occur to them that God, in his infinite wisdom, spread far and wide the answers to questions about our life's origin, its meaning and its finality; that He has provided a wider path to our final destination than any one religion has conceived or any one book has prescribed, and that in our burning zeal to define Him and contain His word under one roof, we have managed only to constrict our understanding and set ourselves against each other because of our differences.

Is it not possible that the great puzzle of our existence contains many fragments of the truth and that instead of separately encapsulating and then enshrining each of those fragments into creeds, we one day learn to fit the pieces together? Yes, yes I know that some of you are thinking, "Sure, when Hell freezes over."