There is a conventional belief among many individuals that religion is the main cause of the present and past wars inflicting torment within the world. However, many humans fail to see past that belief; they are unable to understand that religion is just a small factor amongst the many contributing to the cause of wars. In fact, religion is merely a tool and an excuse used to hide the need for power and sins of the human nature. Among these factors, it may be the misinterpretation of religious teachings and the differing ideals of many individuals. Unfortunately, these factors are often overlooked as most people view this issue with a simplistic mindset.
The idea of religion is often able to bring peace and harmony within the world. In
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It can be concluded that even though religion may play a role in the cause of wars, it is not necessarily the only factor to blame but also the misinterpretation of the religious teachings of religions.
It is not solely religion itself that spur the gruesome wars that have occurred throughout history, but also the varying ideals of the religious worshipers. Unfortunately, in some cases there is a chance that the ideals of certain individuals may have a larger influence on them than their own religious beliefs. Such terms are often confused with each other; however, there is a prominent difference between the two. Beliefs are set in stone already, statements or truths that humans have decided to place their confidence in. On the other hand, ideals are personal concepts of perfection; they have no boundaries unlike beliefs. When the ideals of humans have a larger power over them, the results often have a high chance of becoming cataclysmic. Such results are evident within Nazi Germany during the Second World War, after the 1930s. Germany had been under the dictatorship of a tyrant known as Adolf Hitler. Hitler was infamously known for his cruelty and mass murder towards the Jews in Germany at that time. His reason for his actions was that by protecting himself against the Jews, he was “defending the handiwork of God” (Mein Kampf, pg 60). Despite his religious reason, he had a deeper hatred towards the Jews and desired an ideal world, where there
Religions differing has caused many conflicts throughout history. “The feeling of attachment to tribalism and fake patriotism under the umbrella of religion is stronger and more apparent than respect for human rights and pluralism” (Mhamed 2). When people are tied so greatly to their religion, they will be willing to throw away their morals and do whatever they deem is right for their beliefs, leading to constant wars. “different tribal and so-called patriotic groups resort to religion to gain legacy and popularity” (Mhamad 2). Religion is even just a way to unite people to war such as saying they are doing something in the name of their deity
During the course of this analytical paper, we will look at the impact of warfare on world societies and people's consciousness, during the period of the 1500s in world history, called the Early Modern Period; also, we will discuss the consequences of the Great War. Additionally, apart from studying the altering methods of warfare and their magnitude, we will look up to different motivations of statesmen and peoples who declare wars or engage in several types of violent actions towards certain societies. Throughout the paper, we will stretch any pertinent evidence at appropriate points of what war leaders, intellectuals and common citizens view war and violence, which they experience during their life. Some of the examples include the Arabs that vastly expanded the world of Islam, yet were traditionally predatory in nature, which benefited more from the taxation of the conquered than from their conversion. There are also examples like the Mongol Empire, which was too, predatory, but differently from the Arab
Many of the ancient and historical conflicts are believed to be connected to religion in a various ways and proven that religion can be used as an excuse for violence. For instance, The Crusade Wars ended in the brutality of both Christians and Muslims during the mass dispute (Burton 1984). The Jews have perpetrated massacres through nations for the solitary reason to attain their belief. During the reformation of Christians thousands of people were killed because of their religion. In Yugoslavia, the war in 1991 pitted Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Catholics against each other in a brutal combat (Avalos 2005). Also, thousands of monks were being persecuted in Burma
these wars, but whereas others claim that religion is the main reason. From my religious
history, we find scholars who at one point or the other made allusion to this fact. Some have
However, there is another side to religion, one that is quite contrary to idea of unification and acceptance. When looking through the scope of history, we can also see religion as an exclusionary tool, often used to differentiate groups of people on an innate level. As many of these idealogies attempt to assert
The debate between whether religion cause war or not based on their impression of religion; furthermore, it is unreasonably clear about what does and does not permit like a religion. Countries such as Islam are fated while certain others, like nationalism, are subjectively ignored. Authors used different theories such as absolutist, divisive, and absurd to explain why religion is so predisposed to violence. Sometimes authors combine these arguments to make their case.
In Miroslav Volf’s book Flourishing, the idea is presented that religion will play a significant role in contributing to a better globalized world. In order for this to happen, however, world religions would need to be at peace. When Volf makes this claim, he is operating under the assumption that exclusive religions can and should adopt a postmodern view in order to eliminate acts of religious violence, provide people with a purpose, as well as close the prosperity gap.
The idea of war amongst countries is almost inevitable. When two people do not have the same views, what generally happens? There is a fight. A human’s mentality is to strongly have faith in what he or she believes. The number of religions across the globe is in the thousands and that stands to grow on a regular basis. When people do not believe in the same God, or even believe that there is not a God, it is common sense that is will cause havoc.
The power and the order of the common customs can not bring human beings with the inner peace. As a mysterious power , religion can solve the problem which can not be solved by the science and technology. When the science and knowledge can not explain all the confusion in this world,
But it also doesn’t make it correct to assert that religion is the primary cause of war. If you read the “Encyclopedia of Wars,” (Phillips and Axelrod, Facts on File, December 2004) the authors say of the 1,763, only 123 of the wars have been counted as resulting in religious reasoning. This number is a low 6.9% of all wars. Many wars were waged by Islam, and if you cut the 66 that were waged by them, you are at 3.23%. This is nearly half of all the wars caused by religion. This means that all faiths combined minus Islam, have caused less than 4% of all wars. This also means that these religions have had no part in the wars that have resulted with the most lives lost. Lives lost in wars caused by religion do not even compare to those that were lost in wars where they wanted nothing to do with
Most people think the way to stop holy wars is to remove religion so people can live in peace and get more freedom. For example, here is what Richard Dawkins says "Religion causes war by generating certainty. " We also have a quote by John Lennon and here is what he said "Imagine there are no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too, imagine all the people living in peace." Atheists and secular humanists consistently make the claim that religion is the number one cause of violence and war throughout the history of mankind. The concept of holy wars is most commonly expressed as a war justified on the ground of religious differences but this concept is neither taught nor encouraged by the Bible.
Since many religions have started in the Middle East, it has become the center for erupting conflicts. For instance, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been in the news for many reasons. Both groups want control of the God given land that they both claim is theirs, according to God, and what had happened in the past. The result of the conflict is religious terrorism (PBS, 1). Continuing, some Middle Eastern politics have been in conflict, even dividing communities of the
Religion was discovered back in 2000 BC and is considered to be a trait common to cultures worldwide to this day. Some use religion as a way to cope, to connect, but few could use religion as a weapon against others. Since religion began, over 195,035,000 lives have been lost in tragedies brought on in the name of faith. Regardless of the brutality religion has created, it has also caused others to come together in order to speak out. As a result of religions regression in society, humans are able to progress for the sake of defending human rights.
In every point of human history, we observe, a common scenario of religious activities is to establish peace. The way of religion to establish peace may be