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The Rev. Bailey Smith, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention said: "With all due respect to those dear people, my friend, God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew." The audience responded with enthusiastic applause. Emerson said: "Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding." Robert Kennedy once said: "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... those ripples build a current which can sweep down the walls of oppression and resistance." It is often believed with suicide bombers that their motivation for going into war is to receive a reward in heaven. But an American, Sergeant Jones, had a different strategy with new recruits. He sold life insurance instead! It wasn't long before Captain Smith noticed that game of war quick power was having a staggeringly high success-rate, selling insurance to nearly 100% of the recruits he advised. Rather than asking him about this, the Captain stood at the back of the room and listened to Jones' sales pitch. Jones explained the basics of GI Insurance to the new recruits, and then said, "If you are killed in a battle and have GI Insurance, the government has to pay $200,000 to your beneficiaries. But, if you don't have GI insurance and get killed in the battle, the government only has to pay a maximum of $6,000. "Now," he concluded, "which group do YOU think they are going to send into battle first?" Today, I want to look hard at the connection between religion, war and peace. When we look at the reports from Syria, it is so easy to get discouraged, isn't it? What an incredible mess is there. What a tragedy! Like you I have witnessed the funerals of our military who have died from roadside bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq; I have seen them come home without arms or legs, or psychologically damaged, suffering from PTSD. Their amazing courage to go on despite all that they have endured is inspiring. I know about the tragedy of families who have lost loved ones, families who have lost father or mother to war, and the little children left alone with only a picture to greet them when they get up each day. I am aware, as you are, of the suicide rate amongst our veterans. Daily, we see the horrors of war on our television news casts. It affects us all either directly or indirectly. We also live in a time of unprecedented gun-related violence in America. The President was giving a good bread-and-butter speech for his State of the Union address this week, when suddenly he soared into greatness when he asked Congress to unite to do something about gun violence. He singled out those who had come to the State of the Union from the Sandy Hook massacre and other killings, including Gabby Giffords, who touchingly was trying to clap her hands together but could not. He pleaded for Congress to vote their consciences. I had tears in my eyes.