If… humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it
must look to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has
listened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion perpetrated in
the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their
particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and
conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God, bear
heavy responsibility for this confusion—a confusion compounded by the
artificial barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion. For
from a fair-minded examination of the actual utterances of the Founders of the
great religions, and of the social milieus in which they were obliged to carry
out their missions, there is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices
deranging the religious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.
- The Universal House of Justice (‘The Promise of World Peace, October 1985)
