Resorting to violence and the use of force at holy sites is unacceptable, whatever the reason might be.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The refined punishments of the spiritual mode are usually much more indecent and dangerous than a good smack.
In the holy city of Mecca, violence of any kind was forbidden. From the moment they left home, pilgrims were not permitted to carry weapons, to swat an insect or speak an angry word, a discipline that introduced them to a new way of living.
Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.
Jerusalem should not tolerate any religious war.
It is unacceptable, it is forbidden, to harm the innocent.
In my rational mind, I know... that is a very simplistic way of looking at it, but when there is violence of that kind, it challenges my faith. I still can't say that I totally understand why - why that is allowed to happen.
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.
It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements.