Thank you for your well-articulated commentary. The world would be a far better place if more people approached life and disagreements the way you’ve described.
My 10yo son and I just finished listening to The Inheritance Series of books by Christopher Paolini. I won’t spoil the plot line, but eventually we discover that the evil king sincerely believes he is doing what is best and what is “right” for the subjects in his kingdom. In his mind, his atrocities were merely necessary means to establish equity and “justice”.
This is often true in life. Those who commit heinous crimes and atrocities do so because they have convinced themselves that their sense of morality is “correct”. Many have done so in the name of religion or as an act of fealty to some perceived deity.
When Jesus walked the earth, the people he had the harshest criticisms for were the Jewish religious leaders of the day. He called them vipers and whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones.
Yep.
I like the saying...
"Good ideas do not require force"