Blessings, advantages, greater peace and harmony,etc if religions merge???

Question

Due to some similarities/origins? Since being apart for millenia had never brought peace? Will there be less problems and terrorism become history? Consider::
Christianity with Islam, Buddhism with Hinduism.
Please treat this question on an intellectual and exploratory basis, just for the purpose of discussion.

UPDATE::
*********** The world has seen greater global peace and social harmony since the times total or pure Communism, Democracy and other ideologies/governance styles started to mix and match. Now, no more Cold Wars! So who knows one fine day, some exceptionally enlightened religious scholars, even a Messiah, will create a new order, a renaissance of sorts, for the general good of all mankind.

Answer 1

I agree with human ABE. There can be other ways to bring people together. To help bring Christians and Muslims nearer to one another, you are invited to the Yahoo! Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamchristianitybrotherhood/
This group is dedicated to those Muslims who are interested in giving respect to the Christians.

Answer 2

A single religion, would most likely divide and create a new religion than merging with another one. It's the nature of religion - very divisive. If all religions merge however, it'll be a very good thing because the number one cause of division among humans, the number one cause of wars is no more. But in what way that is to happen is hard to think because religious beliefs are just incompatible with each other.

EDIT: As a response to your update

The idea of world under on banner of a certain philosophy of peace and harmony is noble and has been attempted countless times throughout history. These attempts are made by individuals of advance knowledge and wisdom but this is Information Age. We are shifting from group mentality of leadership by some advanced individual to self-leadership mode where each individual are more advanced, educated - capable of wisdom required to be a great military leader or messiah. Parables and miracles are obsolete. We are now more rational and questioning, we can decide right or wrong for ourselves - no wonder the world seemed to have more potential of stability because more and more people are unwilling to be a follower of just one leader to do their agenda that is most likely flawed or detrimental to humanity as a whole.

Answer 3

Constantine tried to merge Christianity and Paganism in the fourth century AD, and we all know how well that has worked out.

Who's going to decide which set of beliefs to practice. Even sects of Christianity can't agree on the nature of God and Jesus Christ. What makes you think we can all come together and believe all the same things?

BAD IDEA

Only God himself coming down to earth could get everyone together.

Answer 4

grow up, kid!
You can make Cyclops and Lila (from futurama), not single religion world. Well, better have a thousand eyes than just one, isn't it? You can't eat only potatoes all your life, can you?

Answer 5

i dont think that is possible. several faiths have drastically conflicting teachings. however it may be possible to blurr the divisions creating a gradual scale with no defined individual points. e.g. an atheism<->agnosticism<->theism scale.

Answer 6

Are you kidding? Some in the same church cant agree what color the carpet should be!

Answer 7

Oh no , it will be a bigger mess , if religions merge ,

We mankind should strive to find the fact , much more than we strive to fulfil our material wishes ,

greater peace and harmony could be achived by reaching the real truth , not by mixing all available religeons ,

Human Brain can get us to the solution ,

HOW?

Some religions discourage the questioning attitude in regard to the soundness of their teachings. They advise their followers to follow their instructions without examination ,

So ,

1 - Never embrace a doctrine when evidence stands against it,
nor should one follow a principle without evidence.

If God wants a person to believe in a principle, He should make it clear and evident. He is the Most Fair and Just. He knows that belief is not a voluntary thing; that is, it is not up to the individual. A person is not able to believe or disbelieve anything he chooses. The human body is at one's command but not the mind. I can obey a command that tells me to move my hand up or down, to walk or sit, even if such a command does not seem to be wise. But I am not able to obey a command, for example, that tells me to believe that two and two are five, or that three are one, or that fire is cold, or that snow is hot.

Our human knowledge comes from direct or indirect evidence, and it does not follow our own whim and will. An acceptable religious belief must be based on knowledge. When God wants me to know something, He should make such a knowledge possible by making its evidence available. Should He demand from me to believe something while evidence is standing against it, He would be asking me to do the impossible. This contradicts His justice.


2 - Never accept popularity at face value. A religious researcher should not take the popularity of a religious doctrine in his society as an evidence of its truth. Many popular ideas have been proved wrong. At one time, it was believed that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around the earth. People believed this for thousands of years, but now we know that neither of these ideas is true.

Furthermore, what is popular in one society may be unpopular in another. The opposite is also true. If popularity is a sign of soundness, all those popular ideas which contradict each other would be true, but truth never contradicts itself.

When the first prophet came to proclaim the concept of one God, his message was not popular in any society because the people of the world were either pagans or non-believers. The unpopularity of such a Divine message did not prevent that message from being true. As a matter of fact, all the prophets came to their societies with unpopular messages. Their aim was to correct the popular wrong and replace it with the unpopular truth. From the Qur'an:

"And if thou obey most of the inhabitants of the earth, they will mislead thee far from the way of God: They follow naught but an opinion, and they do but guess." 6:116

3 - Inherited religious principles should be examined. Islam advises every adult to examine the religion which he inherited. Inherited religion, like any other religion, is subject to proof.

One may rely on the judgement of his parents as long as he is a child and not capable of making his own decisions. When he becomes an adult, his religion becomes his own responsibility. Respect and honor towards parents is one of the Islamic commandments, but that does not mean accepting their opinions in important matters such as religion when their opinion is wrong.

As a matter of fact, when parents adhere to a wrong religious principle and demand from their children to follow them, they should not be obeyed because such action would be contrary to the will of God; that is, if a person obeys his parents when they are wrong, he disobeys God. From the Holy Qur'an:

"And we have enjoined on man concerning parents.... saying: 'Give thanks to Me and to thy parents. To Me is the eventual coming. And if they strive with thee to make thee associate with Me that of which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not, and keep kindly company with them in this world. ' " 31:14-15

Islam commands the individual to examine its own teaching as well as any other teaching. By doing so, one may be able to value Islam more than ever before.


4. Doubters are not excused. When a person is not committed to any religion and doubts the whole religious concept, he should not be satisfied with his doubt. It is his duty to protect himself and his vital interests in this world from any harm and damage. Similarly, he has the same responsibility and duty in protecting his spiritual interest from being damaged. His serious inquiry about what may have a bearing on his spiritual life is as important as his inquiry about what may have a bearing on his physical life. In order for a person to carry out his responsibility and to fulfill his obligation, it is necessary for him to inquire, and inquire seriously, about his religious doubts. There may be many accessible facts in the doubted area; therefore, he has to try to find them. When he conducts his research and exhausts all his means and fails to find the truth, he would be excused in the eyes of God. God asks the individual only to do what is possible for him to do. From the Qur'an:

"God does not impose on a soul a duty but to the extent of its ability." 2:286

5. When you conduct a religious research, let no one make decisions for you. Do not rely on the judgement of any other person, even if he is sincere and highly intellectual.

There are sincere and intellectual teachers in every faith. If a person allows them to make religious decisions for him, he will be lost because these teachers will undoubtedly contradict each other. If he relies on the judgement of teachers of only one faith, disregarding the teachers of other faiths, he will be biased. A sincere and highly intellectual teacher can be wrong, and one is not excused if he follows the judgement of this teacher. One's religion is his responsibility and after he makes his extensive inquiry, he is the sole judge to reach conclusions and form opinions. From the Qur'an:

"And no bearer will bear other's burden .... " 35:18, 53:38

Thus, we can see from these five Qur'anic verses that Islam is not afraid of being questioned or analyzed. Only those who fear failure forbid free discussion of their religious principles and avoid examination by