Column: Why some conflicts of faith bleed

• For starters, some nations have it easier when it comes to negotiating religious differences.
• Of course, there is no religious consensus in America.
• My best answer as to how the U.S. has avoided religious bloodshed is the First Amendment.

Look around the world at our bloodiest conflicts, and more often than not, they have something to do with religion. The most recent violent clash between the Jewish state of Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamic fundamentalist organization in Gaza, is a prime example.

Here in the United States, too, some of our most intractable social conflicts — abortion and gay marriage — are grounded in different ways of seeing the world religiously.

So how is it that some nations such as the U.S. handle religious conflict sensibly while others — like Iraq and the Sudan, and countries in the Middle East — bleed?

For starters, some nations have it easier when it comes to negotiating religious differences. Everyone is alike. Think of Italy and Mexico with their huge Catholic majorities or Saudi Arabia with its Sunni Muslims.

Personal experience

I experienced this growing up in the South where "diversity" meant you are Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian. But introduce just one sizable minority into the mix, and things change. The truth is that most nations handle religious differences poorly. There are "insiders" and "outsiders" when it comes to freedom and power.

You know the story in Sudan. For years, the Muslim majority persecuted the Christian minority in the south. Now, after a protracted civil war, the new Republic of Southern Sudan is trying something radically different. Their provisional constitution separates church and state and provides religious freedom for all. We won't know the extent of their commitment to religious freedom until substantial numbers of non-Christians join their ranks.

Then, there is Iraq. After decades of rule by the Sunni minority, the Shiite majority is now at the helm. And while the new Iraqi constitution guarantees the "full religious rights" of all — including the Sunni minority as well as Christians and Jews — it fudges. Islam is established as the official religion of the state, and no law that contradicts the teachings of Islam may be passed. That means someone with government power — most likely a Shiite — gets to decide such questions.

Of course, there is no religious consensus in America. To the contrary, we may be the most religiously diverse nation on earth. Just consider my little tribe — the Baptists. At one time, both Jesse Jackson and Jesse Helms were Baptists. Ditto for Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. The same was true for Al Gore and Pat Robertson. And that's just one of America's hundreds of religious groups.

Also unlike our European counterparts, we cling to our religious beliefs passionately. And America's critics of religion appear equally passionate. Turn on the Simpsons or purchase a ticket to The Book of Mormon and you'll see what I mean. Our religious satire is withering.

Passionate divisions

So if America is religiously diverse and passionate about our faith, how have we avoided the bloodshed?

The teachings of Americans' dominant faith may have something to do with it. Thomas Jefferson once called the teachings of Jesus "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," and he may be right. But even the best ethical teachings can get turned on their heads in the hands of zealots. Just consider the Crusades, Inquisitions or Salem Witch trials.

My best answer as to how the U.S. has avoided religious bloodshed is the First Amendment — America's greatest gift to civilization. The framers of our Constitution gave us the perfect civic framework for enabling citizens — such as those in south Sudan and Iraq — to live together with their religious differences without going for the jugular.

Our foreign friends have figured out the importance of putting those ideas into the law. Is it too much to hope for that countries in Middle East could learn to live by them, too?

Oliver Thomas is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors and author of 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job).

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