4th December
Does religion causes war
A religion war can be defined as a war that is caused by or justified by differences in religion. In such a case it can involve a state with a religion that is established against another state that has a different religion or also a different sect located in the same religion or even religiously motivated people that are attempting to spread their faiths by violence or by suppressing another group. Most people are very passionate especially when it comes to their religious beliefs. It is therefore not astonishing to realize that a few well known wars have resulted from disagreements on religion. Human warfare can be traced back to the start of recorded history and even all the way before that time. A recent anthology on the history of human warfare indicates about 1736 wars and 123 of them have been to religious conflicts .
Some of the reasons that make religion be related with war are that to those people who want war sometimes, they use it as an excuse to attract support from those with no material stake in a conflict. For example it is observed that if war were for land, where one man had1000 acres and another has one acre, the man with one acre would not venture so far as the one that had 1000. Some people argue that religion did not cause war but greedy opportunistic people who crave absolute authority and power are the major causes of religion conflicts. Religion has given politicians and the wealthy people tools to control their servants and workers. Sneaky individuals have cunningly utilized human fear of death. The purpose was attained the creation of an abstract awareness of hell and heaven so that they are able to simulate their workers to maintain obedience and loyalty through the fear of sin and death. They used the natural acts of nature to validate their fabrications. They went on to convince the naive workers that the natural disasters signified God's anger on them for their doubts.
When a certain rival religion threatens the economic control of another religion, then harassment and terrorism is used to eliminate the competition. The religion wars are more to do with power, greed and wealth than it has to do with holiness and righteousness. As we have seen religion can be used to fuel and create division and chauvinism, but so can race and nationality. Our religion is one of the things that make us who we are. Prejudice and war come up because of greed, ignorance and fear which can be fought over land and resources inspired by the will to dominate another. These are the real problems and not the religion itself. One doesn't need to shed his or her religion to stand up against prejudice and war.
Actually, religion can help you to stand up against prejudice and war as many religious people have found that it is their faith that leads them to non violent efforts to change the world and end oppression prejudice and war for example Martin Luther King. Part of the problem can lie in the scripture that was written at a certain time place and can contain passages that point to other religion in an unconstructive way. We have to comprehend that all religion's have fundamental message of compassion and salvation which must trump any hostility that may have been recorded in ancient texts.
All this come to a possible conclusion that people should try and meet people who practices faith in a different way they do. This includes those who have no faith at all and get to know them as friends and learn about their beliefs. And when we know someone of another faith personally, we are less going to view ones religion as a bad one or as an enemy thus reducing religion conflicts. In this 21century we are required that all people no matter what they believe to learn to share resources and show generosity towards one another because we are all in this together.
Some violence that is committed by people and secular government which includes the anti-religious are normally documented including some cases of persecutions or violence focused on to the religious believers and also those who have believe in the mysticals. Most civil wars for example the El Salvador, American, Russia, China, Sri Lanka and many others revolutionary wars and major conflicts like the drug and gang wars for example the Mexican drug or even the wars on terror are secular. Some research on culture, violence, and religion has shown that religion is not irredeemably and naturally aggressive; it is positively not the source and essence of all violence. Religion and violence are clearly well matched, but they are not the same at all.
Violence is an occurrence in human which is actually a natural existence in them while religion is another, and it is predictable that the two of them would become compatible. Religion is modular and complex, and violence is part of its modules which are not universal even though recurring. As a behavioral and conceptual module, conflicts and violence are by no way exclusive to religion. Violence and conflicts are not necessary neither are they exclusive to religion. Religious violence is also not the same and almost every type of religious violence has its consequences that are not religious that it imprecates.
In terms of conflict, war and ethnicity, it is stated that when a hybrid or pure religion has its interests threatened or they are hindered from achieving their objectives by another group, violence and conflict may arise and in such cases, religion is part of the issue and as such religion groups become competitors. At this point it would be wrong to make an assumption that religion is the reason for the trouble or the groups are fighting due to religion. Here the religion can be said to be a maker of the group than a point of conflict between both of them. In some cases many conflict throughout the history have apparently been for religious reasons with many different religions having been involved.
An example is in the Christianity where it occurred in just but to name a few, the crusades in which several campaigns from 11th to 13th centuries with objectives of reconquering a land that was Holy from Muslim intruders and coming to help the Byzantine Empire. The French also had a series of war in the 16th century where in this case it involved the Protestants and the Catholics. Christianity has been a main factor in many conflicts throughout it’s of 2000 years. In the Islam, we find the notion of the jihad or in other terms the holy war. The word jihad means struggle but its concept is generally used in describing warfare in the defense and extension of the Islamic territory.
The most frequent warfare that takes place Middle East in the past half century was contributed to the notion that religion is the major cause of most wars. An example is the September 11attacks to the U.S which were said to be a jihad against the Americans where the Muslims eyes have been similar with the Christianity. When it comes to Judaism, the wars were clearly chronicled in the Old Testament Bible especially in the book of Joshua where God's command conquered the Promised Land. It is therefore certain that religions have played a role in the warfare throughout history of human and in so saying this it brings out the question as to whether it proves the point made by religion critics, is religion the cause of war. Religion is the most often reason that is given to many wars in history .
However, this would be the same as saying religion in the cause of war. The answer should be yes and no. Yes due to the sense that there has been a secondary cause religion on the surface that was behind much conflicts. But also still the answer is no due to the sense that religion is never the main cause of war. To explain this point is the 20th century, in which by any account it was the bloodiest century in the history of human and in the two major world wars religion had nothing to do with them. The common thing that the genocide and conflict have is that they were mostly ideological rather than religion in nature. Therefore we could easily make a conclusion that more people have died throughout the history of due to ideology than due to the religion.
In the recent years religion is said to have faced attacks from agnostics and atheists who have a belief that its practice leads to more havoc than good. Atrocities, wars and violation of human rights have always been carried out over the past years in the name of religion giving sufficient credibility to the atheistic suggestion that this should be a serious concern. To sum up the problem, those who defend religion such as the Dinesh D'Souza are doing poor job to defend religion. They argue that atheistic regimes, like the Communist Soviet Union or Nazi Germany are just as vulnerable to carry out similar wars and atrocities. Even though the argument may be true, it doesn't prove false the fact religion has led to the shedding of more than it should.
Work cited
Adams, Scott. The Religion War. New York: McMeel Publishing, 2007. Book. 2 December 2012.
Bell, Brian C. Is Religion the Cause of Most Wars? 23 April 2007. Web. 03 December 2012.
Deem, Rich. Are Most Wars Caused By Religious Beliefs? 9 August 2012. Web. 03 December 2012.
Fox, Jonathan. Religion, Civilization and Civil War. New York: Lexington Books, 2005. Book. 2 December 2012.
Grobmeter, Christina. How does religion cause war? 2 August 2009. Web. 3 December 2012.
Martin, David. Does Christianity Cause War? Regent College Publishing, 2008. Book. 1 December 2012.
Parrish, Geov. Things That Can Be Done To Prevent War. 5 December 2011. Web. 03 December 2012.
Pearse, Meic. Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict? Interversity Press, 2007. Book. 1 December 2012.
Porritt, Arthur. The causes of war. New York: McMillan Publishers, 2010. Book. 2 December 2012.
Wilber, Ken. Why does Religion Teach Love and Yet Cause So Much War. 6 Februar 2012. Web. 03 December 2012.
