"If all societies have religion, it must have a social purpose''- Frans de Wall. Countless wars and conflicts have had an overt or covert religious dimension throughout history right up to the present day. There have been endless conflicts down the years that were fought in the name of religion. The Oldest religions all have troubling histories of bloodshed. The great religions of the world proclaim their aim as bringing peace but have used their sacred writings to legitimate war. But what does religion truly mean? Does it only endorse violence and war? Absolutely not. Our Earth is home to many religions. All religions preach the goodness of truth and moral living, love and compassion. The underlying message of all religions is the same. Hatred is not the precept of any religion. Now we will discuss about the sacred places of the Earth.

The city of Jerusalem is sacred to many religious traditions, including the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which consider it a holy city. Some of the most sacred places for each of the religions are found in Jerusalem and one shared between all three is the Temple Mount. During classical antiquity, Jerusalem was considered the centre of the world, where god resided. Jerusalem is a city located in modern day Israel and is considered by many to be one of the holiest places in the world. Both Israel and Palestine have claimed Jerusalem as the capital city. Medieval Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi once called Jerusalem "A golden bowl full of scorpions." The holiest of the holy cities, and yet the bloodiest of them all, Jerusalem has remained the most disputed city in the world.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple, India. Set on the western bank of the holy river Ganges, Kashi Vishwanath is one of the most famous Hindu Temples. It is a jyotirlinga shrine, dedicated to Lord Shiva who is believed to have appeared here as a fiery column of light. Hindu people are expected to make a pilgrimage there at least once in their lifetime.

Lourdes, France. Lourdes is a small market town in the Midi - Pyrenees region of south-western France. It gained fame among Catholics in 1858, when the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared 18 times to a local 14 years old girl, Bernadette Soubirous. Since then Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage with more than 200 million visitors since 1860, many of them hoping to be healed by spring water from the grotto.

Mahabodhi Temple, India, the original temple of Mahabodhi in Bodh Gaya, Bihar was completed in the 7th century to commemorate the site of Prince Siddhartha Gautama's supreme enlightenment and the moment he become the Buddha. It has been the most sacred place of pilgrimage for Buddhists in the world.

Mecca, Saudi Arabia. As the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad and the religion he founded is the centre of the Islamic world. Positioned in the Sirat Mountains of Saudi Arabia and 45 miles inland from the coast, Mecca is an Oasis in the sacred region known as the Hijaz or Hejaz. The Kaaba is here, a cuboid building within Islam's most sacred mosque Al-Masjid al-Haram which all Muslims are expected to face when praying.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia. More than a couple of big reds rocks in the central Australian desert are millions of years old and have been home to the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years . They believe that the land was made by creation ancestors who have left behind marks in the Earth and spiritual law to guide their lives and the relationship between people, animals and the land.

Mount Sinai, Egypt. Once again of seminal importance to the Jewish Christian and Islamic faiths, Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb in Egypt is thought by many is to be where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. Saints, prophets and pilgrims and tourists have been traveling here for thousands of years.

We have discussed a few sacred and religious places all over the world but when I am writing all these, something is clicking in my mind. There are a lot of places around the world which are called as religious places but I think the Earth is the Paragon of Holiness. To be holy is to be whole, to be one. Holiness is unity, integrity. The Earth as a whole is a holy place. Every smallest part of our Mother Earth is unquestionably holy. The zero, a symbol we all use in daily life, is an unrivaled innovation. The zero is of indispensable value to our development: architecture, science, information technology, none of this would have looked the same or would have even existed without zero. Likewise, Mother Earth is paramount. It is the holiest place, all of it. Anthropological studies have proven that religion has been dividing us for more than 2000 years. It is time to grow up and eschew the illusions of exclusionary beliefs that have caused millennia of misery. The human race has misinterpreted the true meaning of religion. Religion is nothing but a way of life. Religion is like a vast ocean, to embrace it, we must dive deeper into it. Mother Earth loves all her children, all the living beings above all such divisions. She doesn't discriminate. She has everything to sustain all the species on this planet. She is the paragon of impartiality. She is our eternal Mother.