I came here to answer that one question " Can we get along". For me , I'm seeking a long term answer, not a short one.
My major "religious" focus if it were, is longterm, sustained human spaceflight. That's the next stage in evolution, transhumanism and evolution to an eventual state beyond what we are right now, physically and mentally. The challenges of "up there" are so immense we'll probably have to use every technological tool we can develop or think up just to do that. It's the rationalist answer to God - if there is no God - and I have not seen convincing proof that there is, then we should try and treat each other fairly and equally and accord every member of society an opportunity to develop. I guess I believe in a form of "adapted post-enlightenment Christian-civilization inspired rationalism".
I think getting along is very simple, and it's muslim phrase that leads back to it . "There is no compulsion in religion". In short, this is absolute to me. Separation of church and state is paramount. Religion is a private matter, and must remain so eternally, with whatever eternal reward or punishment meted out by God after one dies. The older I get, the more I believe that "there probably IS no God, or not one we have recognized yet.", and "God wants us to all live together in peace, no matter what.".
The older I get the more I see Islamic civilization like the Klingons, from Star Trek. No, I don't believe quite frankly, Islam is the most perfect civilization on the planet. The words "historically warlike" tend to cross my mind. But, eventually, the Federation and the Klingons found a way to live together in peace. Captain Picard doesn't go to Kronos with an invasion fleet to "impose" Federation ideals by force, but the Federation has the right to defend itself against incursions into it's territory. It's a case of the Star Trek "Prime Directive". I don't believe we should have ever interfered in other's affairs to get expedient access to oil. Instead, we should have developed out of our reliance on fossil fuels in the first place, and gone on to the next step. Ultimate, that reliance on oil is set up to profit a very few families in America that have gotten rich from it.
In short to live together in peace I propose we just STOP. Islamists STOP trying to Islamicise the West. The West STOPS supporting proxy wars and assorted bullshit in the middle east, and lets Arabic and Muslim countries live their way, even if it's imperfect or we don't agree with it. Personally, I'd be very comfortable with a situation where anyone who wants to live under religious law, however strict, is accorded a choice when they are an adult (the age of 20), and they either continue an adult bound by the strictures of their culture or can again voluntarily leave. We could do the same thing here in the west, and set up a transfer program of "people who wanted to live a certain way bound by certain societal laws". I know it's totally impractical given our current situation, but basically this is what happens in a far more chaotic and disorganized fashion anyways with the refugee crisis, or people migrating to the middle east to join ISIS. It's only when we STOP TRYING TO DOMINATE ONE ANOTHER for any reason, that we'll be able to live in peace. Us in our space, you in yours. I know that sounds like certain western nativist groups, but essentially, I've got less in common with those groups than I like. They are tribal . They are violent. They resort to the same form of primitivism in the name of self defense that ultimately limits our species from evolution.
I want to sit down, and come up with some kind of other solution . Ultimately multiculturalism, TRUE multiculturalism that isn't used as an excuse to guilt trip people into accepting anything, but says "You in your place, I am different, me in mine, eternally" ala Star Trek Prime directive is probably the only real solution. We all live on this tiny marble in space. The rest of the universe is very big, very cold, and largely uninhabited, and if we get our act together, we might actually be able to change that and go out there and see some of it. We're a young species, like a child, barely taking our first steps out there. We have the potential to make so many mistakes, or blow ourselves up with nuclear fire. All of these things are ultimately pointless , and lead only to silence, and yet another star that empty and dead of radio signals on the frequency.
I'm here to find out all I can before I make any kind of judgement for the future.
