Israel's defense minister, Ehud Baraq, recently said, "All options are on the table." He was referring to a potential military showdown with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. Few familiar with the region doubted Baraq was talking about an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran. Senior Israeli leaders claim Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon. That eventuality has spawned widespread fear among many Israelis that if Iran builds a nuclear weapon, it might use it to eliminate the Jewish state.

But in suggesting that all options are on the table, the Israeli minister unwittingly made room for the choice of prayer, which could spare Israelis and Iranians a military confrontation that might touch off brush-fire wars in neighboring countries. There are several spiritual alternatives that could point to solutions that would bless everyone.

Think, for example, of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, which assures those who turn to God in prayer that "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth" (Ps. 46:9); and, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). That's not an implausible scenario. Although the world is awash in reports of regions in conflict, too often we overlook how many disputes are resolved peacefully through negotiation.

A good place to begin resolving any conflict is found in the Hebrew Torah, in which Moses first preached, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:18). That's a stricture Jesus called the second of two great commandments, more than a millennium later (see Matt. 22:39).

War is neither an inevitability nor a very good option. We need to recognize that evil, in whatever guise, spawns destruction and violence, and that hate doesn't have a divine mandate. It behooves anyone who reads a newspaper, searches the Web, or watches television to rebel at the suggestion that evil can clothe itself in righteous or religious rationales. They can insist that there is but one God, and He is not at war with Himself. He is infinite Love, and does not sanction wars in His name.

In the Science of the Christ, no one has a monopoly on divine Love or on God's favor. The Bible states that "God is a spirit" (John 4:24), and the Scriptures contain abundant examples of this one divine Spirit transforming the hostile attitudes of men and peoples. There is no shortage of spiritual options. God really does wondrous things—not just two or three thousand years ago, but now, in our everyday lives. And our expectancy hastens progress.

Each of us can pray to see and know that God's law of love is already in operation. This universal law neither makes exceptions for subplots in the name of Melhemet Mitzvah (wars sanctioned by the God of Israel) nor for Islamic Holy Wars.

Science and Health makes it clear that "... there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or material, creating and governing man through perpetual warfare. God is not the author of mortal discords" (p. 231). This is cutting-edge theology. The spiritual rules cited here are as universal as the commandments not to kill or steal.

Isaiah's millennial vision is not idle musing: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. 2:4). The world has seen evidence to this effect with the removal and destruction of US and Soviet intermediate range nuclear-tipped missiles that targeted Eastern and Western Europe two decades ago. Since then, the Libyans and the South Africans have forsworn development of nuclear weapons.

Viewing recent rumors of wars through the prism of Christian Science, we can see beyond, or rather, above a scene of Israeli threats and Iranian counterthreats, to the higher truths that defang human antagonisms. These truths include the prayer of affirmation that God is the only Mind or intelligence governing humanity and the universe, and that governments can be driven by wisdom instead of fear, and by confidence in the one, all-powerful God who blesses nations. Also, that God is all-embracing Love, who knows neither enemy nor threat from enemies, but rather proclaims the spiritual unity of men and women everywhere. Here is the admission that dissipates threats, real or contrived.

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