Karen Armstrong, in her book “Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence” writes that: “In the West the idea that religion is inherently violent is now taken for granted and seems self-evident. As one who speaks on religion, I constantly hear how cruel and aggressive it has been, a view that, eerily, is expressed the same way almost every time: ‘Religion has been the cause of all the major wars in history.’” Armstrong asserts that: “The problem lies not in the multifaceted activity that we call ‘religion’ but in the violence embedded in our human nature and the nature of the state…”
Dr. Karen Armstrong is a scholar, author and commentator, as well as a former Roman Catholic nun. Leaving the convent in 1969, she pursued an understanding of major religions and their common understandings of compassion and the Golden Rule. “A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam was published in 1993,” followed by a series of books exploring major religions, compassion and the history of sectarian violence. In 2008, Armstrong was awarded the Ted Prize to launch the Charter for Compassion, a global campaign to activate compassion at the center of our lives and social institutions through collaborative partnerships worldwide.
Karen Armstrong will be one of the major speakers at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City. The Parliament runs Thursday, October 15, through Monday, October 19 at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
