There is an old saying, “To err is human, but to really mess things up, we need a computer”. To that word of wisdom, we might add “or religion”. Religion adds another dimension to conflict. If we are going to have a fight, we must perceive a distinction between us and our enemy. This distinction may be on that basis of any attribute we can think of - skin colour, dwelling place, or economic status, but religion is the best reason of all for a punch-up because religion defines our existence not just in time, but for all eternity. This sometimes gives us access to superhuman courage, as when martyrs chose death by burning rather than to deny their beliefs, and also, sadly, access to superhuman cruelty at other times. We need an exclusiveness to our religious belief if it is religious violence that we seek. If we believe God has chosen our group above all others, we can go out and kill with His blessing. If on the other hand we believe that the same God is present in each and every human being that we meet, then how can we abuse or kill them? Fundamentalism (the father and mother of exclusivism) is one of the drivers of both common terrorism and state terrorism. In a world dominated by change, uncertainty and superficiality, some individuals find comfort and security in an ideology, whether it be religion or nationalism. Their certainty affirms their being-in-the-world. The exist in contrast to their enemies, find their identity in their struggle with their opponents, just as paranoid schizophrenics, who do not undergo the ego-fragmentation that characterises other forms of schizophrenia, find their identity in their distinct relationship vis a vis their perceived persecutors. The world is looking on in fascinated horror as three fundamentalisms are battling it out in the Middle East. Jewish fundamentalism claims the land of Israel for the children of Israel, exclusively, from Dan even unto Beer Sheba. Fundamentalist Islam claims the land of Palestine for the Palestinians, exclusively, so that the Israelis are to be driven into the sea. And fundamentalist Christians ponder the book of Revelation that foresees an almighty battle in the Vale of Megiddo that will presage the return of the Anointed One. Each of these fundamentalisms claims the exclusive backing of God. So there is a theological question to be addressed. Are there three different gods at war here, or is there perhaps one True God and two false gods, or are the names Allah, JHVH and God just three different terms applied by three different cultures to one and the same great transcendent Entity? Clearly, to the warring parties, there is one true God and two false gods. However, fundamentalists form a small and fissiparous section of the three great Abrahamic religions. There is a great popular mainstream to all of these religions, all in possession of learned theologians who think and write and speak for that mainstream. Their relative silence during the so-called War on Terror has, for the most part, been deafening. Maybe they have been speaking, but they have not been given space and time by the media, or then again, maybe they have not had anything to say. Either way, it is time for this silence to end. (In order for it to end, maybe it is time for a real silence to begin, as we shall see). Of course, there are many multi-faith initiatives already in existence. Tikkun is one. The Elijah Interfaith Institute, a multinational organization dedicated to fostering peace between the world's diverse faith communities through interfaith dialogue, education, research and dissemination, is another. In the UK we have the mighty Sir Sigmund Sternberg, founder of the Three Faiths Forum, and a papal knight to boot – the only Jewish papal knight in history. There are any number of other groups who aim to cross the divide – small groups of people who are developing personal links with each other. This is vital work, but it is quiet and goes unnoticed, while the fundamentalists are grabbing the headlines by throwing bombs at each other. Theology has no equivalent of the bombshell, if we discount the miracle. Discounting the miracle is really to discount all theology. It is to say that the real purpose of theology is to provide theologians with a lifestyle of sorts, for them to wallow in words, to linger in libraries and to write books to one another. That is one view. If on the other hand, if theology is the systematic attempt to know about Origin of Being It might be helpful to some extent if theologians of the Abrahamic faiths met together and meditated on the question of whether or not The God of Abraham is one great being with three different culturally assigned names. They should meet in fasting, because this is appropriate when so many are starving and dying because of religion, and they should meet in silence, since words can cause disagreement, but silence can only cause thought. At the end of the silence, they should try to come up with a brief statement to set out their understanding. There should be a limited number of words, say fifty, so that they could be memorised. Each participant could perhaps first write down their thoughts, and then they could be pooled and blended. The result? That we cannot know until the deed is done. It might be that the outcome is that there are three incompatible gods, and that war should continue until death of all civilisation, in the name of these gods. In that case, at least we would all know where we stood. It might on the other hand emerge that the religions gain a little insight on the nature of the Absolute, and the nature of human existence. There might be other, completely unexpected outcomes. Religious people might wish to repeat the exercise together in their local communities. Of course, whatever happened would not in any way affect the views of the fundamentalist wings of their respective religions, since they are immune to anything except that which is beaten out on their own anvils, but it might give a lead to the mainstream body of followers of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian faiths to look at the human family in a different way. It might be that religion itself could be seen to be playing a positive and constructive role in our messed-up history. Now that would be a miracle.