From ancient history to today differences in belief or religion have acted as the foundation or justification for acts of violence against other individuals or groups. Religion or belief is often associated with violence due to the major role that they play in individual lives. The identifying and existence of difference are often seen as threats. A threat is perceived and perpetuated most frequently through lack of knowledge and understanding. The volume edited by Gates focuses on freedom and authority in religions as well religious education, something which is essential to human rights development, socially and legally.
Education involves the teaching of all, especially younger generations.
If a greater awareness is made amongst individuals concerning religion and belief, then the intolerance and violence which so often accompanies them may be overcome. Individual chapters of the work look at the issue of freedom and authority in some of the major religions and belief systems in the world. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism are all discussed, with their contradictions and difficulties in dealing with freedom and authority. What the chapters demonstrate is that religion or belief itself is not the cause of friction or conflict, but the way the religion or belief is interpreted, understood or utilised for other purposes. The remainder of the work looks at the role of religious education, specially focussing on children, in the context of the religions that were studied in the previous section.