Should All Religions Give Up Their Exclusive Claims to Usher in World Peace?

Thomas L. Friedman, the well known journalist and the author of the bestselling book "The World is Flat", once mentioned that for peace to happen in the world, all the religions of the world will have to give up their exclusive claims.

Friedman is right in that, in spite of the secular voices and forces, he recognized that the world is a deeply religious place, and will become even more religious in future. He also recognized that all the major causes of crises and unrest in the 21^st century world are religious in nature. But his claim that all the "exclusive claims" of religions are the major cause of the world's tension and crisis is highly debatable.

I believe that the tension in the world is not caused by the exclusive claims of the different religions in the world. But it is the sanction and approval that religions give to the use of violence that is the cause of major tension in the world right now. We live in the modern world of progress. But this sanction and approval that religions (all religions) often give to the use of violence is a major cause of the tension and unrest in the world.

We can come up with tons of examples right from the "Muslim" East to the "Christian" West. What about the Taliban and the Al Queda declaring their allegiance to God, and in the name of that same God pronouncing death sentences to the West? And to take an example from the Christian West, a few moments after the September 11, in 2001, Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham was doing a life commentary on a life TV show, and as the commentary flowed, he preached the Christian Gospel, and with the same breathe, he also declared that US has every right to go to war against the perpetrators. Graham's word seemed innocent and patriotic, but in the name of his religion he sanctioned and approved the use of violence, which eventually meant killing your enemies. And I asked myself the disturbing and difficult question: Can nations turn the other check?