Introduction

Since the turn of the new century, and more specifically immediately after the September 11, 2001, attack on the US, acts of violence centered around misbeliefs in the name of religion or religious practices have seemed to become more prevalent. The authors could explain these acts as coming from outside our country's borders, and thus not take responsibility for them. Yet more recently, they have been experiencing the devastating consequences of hatred coming from the inside; our own people are turning against each other, and the acts of violence can no longer be dismissed as the responsibility of others. Religion understood as a belief or acknowledgment of a superhuman power or powers held by a human community, typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship involving adherence to a codified set of beliefs and practices as part of a system defining a code of living, differs greatly from author's understanding of spirituality.