The minimum you must know
Should you pray for peace and love on earth?
Perhaps the answer is deeply personal and different for each member of the media.
Remember that the U.S. “separation of church and state” means Americans are free to practice deeply held beliefs in private and public. That includes the media. The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights guarantees the U.S. media’s freedom to express any views you hold dear.
The Vatican in Rome, Italy symbolizes the great importance of religion in our daily lives. His Holiness Pope Francis has patterned “peace” at the Vatican almost daily for years. It’s part of the Vatican’s distinguished diplomacy as well. For instance, the Pope met with President Biden and all of the other influential heads of state at the 2024 G7. Peace and compassion were salient topics, according to subsequent press releases.
The Vatican explicitly supported peace after President Biden called for peace at the United Nations. President Biden said that, “The United States is ready to work with any nation that is seeking peace.” He later set this example by renewing the U.S. commitment to the Irish “Good Friday” peace agreement. Northern and Southern Ireland named the peace accord “Good Friday” both for the “Good Book” the Holy Bible and the Christian holiday.
Former President Donald Trump entered the United States into agreements that help create religious freedom and tolerance in the Middle East. The Trump administration called the agreements the “Abraham Accords,” because of the shared “Abrahamic” commonality between Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which includes a love for peace!
Christianity, Judaism and Islam all teach that the Almighty revealed himself to the same person named Abraham. Jesus is the son of the Almighty to Christians and an important Prophet in Islam. That’s why there are crosses above most churches and mosques throughout Africa and the Persian Gulf, and why the Holy Qu’ran makes this explicit: "We believe in… [what] was given to Abraham [and] that which was given to Moses and Jesus." (2-136).
Civilian Scolasticus Theologicae Kevin Cook teaches that there may be a consilience between major religions. And Christianity, Islam and Judaism all encourage patterning “peace,” by encouraging regular use of the word. For instance, “Islam” was nearly named “peace!” The entire word literally means “surrender,” and part of the word “salam” literally means “peace.” The most common Islamic greeting consequently is the word “salam” or “peace.” Jews greet each other with the same Hebrew word “Shalom,” which means “peace” as well. (Notice that “salam” and “Shalom” have nearly the same phonetic spellings, because Arabic and Hebrew “peace”’ greetings are virtually the same.) Jesus used the greeting, too. In fact, the first words Jesus said to his Apostles on the day of his resurrection were, “Peace be with you.” See John 20:19 and Luke 24:36. Perhaps this is because the word “peace” was a pious greeting in Judaism in Genesis 43:2329. (Praying for peace and wishing for peace appears throughout similar religious writing, including in Numbers 6:26, Psalm 122:8, Romans 14:19, and Hebrews 12:14.)
Love for peace obviously isn’t unique to Muslims, Christians and Jews. Love for peace is felt by Buddhists and Hindus, too! (It’s part of most religions.)
Six countries signed the interfaith international Abraham peace agreements, including the United States, Israel and four Islamic states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. (Israel currently lacks peace with one of the Palestinian political parties, Hamas, but is at peace with all of these Arab states.)
Should the media follow the examples set by Presidents Biden and Trump? Should the media follow the example set by Muslim and Jewish heads of state? Should the media follow the innocent example set by His Holiness Pope Francis?
Should the media pattern “peace?”
Of course you should!
The coolest people on earth pattern peace!
Even Sir Elton John performs, “It’s peace we want... it’s peace we pray!”
Here are some of many recent examples of Pope Francis patterning “peace” at the Vatican. This visionary pontiff regularly sets a saintly example:
The example is being followed by religious leaders everywhere.
Franklin Graham
NOW you can pattern “peace” too!
