Question 1
Among the factors that can play a role in religious identification (culture, history, economics, politics, etc.,) does one stand out over the others?
Religion is identified using various factors. However, the existing factors are similar in importance to one another. Identifying all the factors are similar in interest and importance when used to determine the religion of a community. For example, economics play its role in identifying the religion of a community. Both culture and history refer to the way of living associated with the people of the community. The past defines how the future will be. The experiences involved with people belonging to a community bring closer to one another. Also, they define the proceedings they will be involved with in the future. These past experiences shape the future of the community because they provide an opportunity for them to rectify any past mistakes they might have made in the past.
If they are all equal, explain how they are used for violence.
These factors can be used for violence activities in various ways. In the current world setting, these factors majorly used as the basis for the execution of various violent activities. These identify often bring about differences in the beliefs that various members of the community have. For example, politics has been used in the past as a form of disagreement between various political parties in various countries. Political parties that do not believe in the produced election results can cause violent eruptions to compel the electoral body to cancel the elections. Also, history can possess some grudges that may exist within different communities. These conflicts may lead to the eruption of violent practices between differing groups of people. It may be in the sense that one party wronged the other during past practices.
Question 2
Among these domains where would you place a group such as ISIS and why?
Religion is a result of domains that exist to identify the origin of a certain religion. Based on the domains that define religion, I would place ISIS under the problems and evil domain. ISIS is a terrorist organization that is focused on bringing terror to various countries across the world. The terror group belongs to the Islamic religious community. Different religions have different beliefs of how they should run their operations within their respective communities. The beliefs of what is wrong and what is right differ from one religion to another. Furthermore, all religions try their best to outdo each other. Each religion is looking towards increasing their following to as many people as possible. For this reason, there are some conflicts that may arise. However, some religious communities have varying ways of dealing with it (Healey, 20). Therefore, ISIS has resulted to engaging in terrorist activities across the world. For example, the terrorist group coordinated attacks in the French capital of Paris, where thousands of innocent people.
Question 4
Is there any instance when a state may use violence in the name of religion to justify its agenda?
Religion is often associated with good deeds and the need to help others better their lives. For this reason, I do not believe that the government can engage in violence and use religion to justify its actions. Instances where the government uses force or violence can be justified through other means. Religion cannot be used because religion is associated with good deeds and the need to spread the gospel to various communities. The government may use other means to justify its violent actions. In most cases, the government usually uses revenge as a means of justifying it is violent actions. For example, the Al Qaeda terror group attacked the twin towers in America. After the attack, the American government sent its military troops to invade Iraq. Such an act was not justified with religions. Instead, it was justified by the need to protect its citizens (Bradley, 23).
All governments have the duty of defending and protecting the sovereignty of their respective countries. The American government invaded Iraq with the aim of capturing the terror group leader known as Osama Bin Laden. The raid in the country was explained by the need for the country to protect the rights of the country and defend its borders. Therefore, this was an act of revenge on the part of the terror attack. The result of this action is peace to its country and protecting the innocent people living in the country where the terror operations are conducted. Religion has never been used as a basis for violence by governments. However, religion is often the basis of terrorist attacks. This provides the reason Islamic communities are never the target of the terrorist attacks.
Question 5
Promote its agenda
Religion often uses the act of demonization of its enemy to help it in achieving its goals. In demonizing an enemy, religion paints an evil picture of the enemy and causes people to be against these evil acts. Also, these acts paint a good picture of religion. Therefore, more followers are encouraged to join a specific religion. In this case, demonization has greatly helped religion to achieve its agenda. It campaigns the consequences associated with evil. This act discourages people from engaging in evil acts that may affect others.
Justify the use of violence
Some religions do not believe in revenge actions. However, those that do often use demonizing as a basis for engaging in acts of violence. For example, when an evil action has been done to a religion a counter attack is prepared. The counter attack can be categorized as a form of revenge on the part of the religion. The act of evil attacks can be demised by religion to justify why they are retaliating and revenging on the attacks. The painted picture of the other group of people going against the religion can form a basis for violent attacks.
Radicalize and recruit new members.
Demonization can paint a bad picture of another group of people. This is done with the aim of encouraging people to join a particular religion. The act of demonization paints a good picture of the religion in the public. This causes one to see that the religion is the best option to explore. As a result, the religion gains new members. For example, religion can state that another gathering is not legitimate and is not truthfully what it claims to be. Also, it can say that the other group in not in line with the religious ways. This move discourages members from joining the opposing group and instead join the religion.
Works cited
Bradley, Arthur. "The new atheist novel: Literature, religion, and terror in Amis and McEwan." The Yearbook of English Studies (2009): 20-38 Print.
Healey, Stephen. "Religion and terror: a post-9/11 analysis." International Journal on World Peace (2005): 3-23 Print.
