On Religion

So, I was watching this special on CBS tonight called "In God's Name"...and these guys took interviews with practitioners and believers of several different religions and denominations of religions worldwide (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Baptist, Lutheran, Shinto, Islam, Judaism...you get the picture), and did not go so far as to COMPARE these, as to say, "look, there is nothing in any of these that necessarily - if at all - condones violence as an answer, especially in God's name." Being as I'm not at all a religious person, I found all of this very interesting, and perhaps even enlightening. Would it be too much to ask the politicians of this world to take this basic concept into account when they go to war? What makes the people of the world any less sacred than some text that one worships, or the concepts therein? Why is it so easy to distance ourselves with labels like "Us" and "Them", bold proclamations - to quote our genius president, George W. Bush, such as "EVILDOERS". Come on..."evildoers"? What book did that come out of? Are we not all indoctrinated with the basic concepts that people need respect, that living a good life and not hurting others is the best you can possibly do or hope for? So many questions, so few answers. Will we survive our own warlike tendencies, or will we only succeed in irreparably damaging the sphere we live on for the use of future generations?