There's a song by Eric Clapton called It's in the Way that You Use It. I think that applies to about any religion. One thing, though, I think Mahayana focus more on loving-kindness where as Hinyana puts less emphasis on that. At any rate, they seem to manifest themselves in different ways. One thing I like about Buddhism is that the texts do not advocate violence or such things as can be found in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. If one follows the teachings of Christ, he'll be a great person. If one follows the teachings of Buddha, he will be a great person. Seems that superstition, ignorance and poverty play a big part in the problem you described too. Thanks for the enlightening post though! Many forget that we like to imagine the "grass is greener on the other side" when it's probably a lot about how you look at things...
