ABSTRACT
Religion has a long relationship with terror. The fear of the Lord, after all, is the beginning of wisdom and the experience of the mysterium tremendum is a well-attested theme in religious literature of many traditions. However, not all terror is induced by an encounter with God. The human race has its own demonic capacity for creating terror. Sadly, religion has often abetted this capacity and found itself a willing partner in human evil. In light of religion's complicity in violence and terror, it is not an idle pastime to ask whether the world's religious communities can respond constructively to human terror and violence. But the challenge of interpreting gospel sayings is not the only reason for the difficulty of finding and implementing nonviolent solutions to political problems. Wink's and Küng's essays offer a vision of religion liberated from violence.
