War and Religion
Annotated Bibliography
Kuriakose, K. K. Religion, Terrorism and Globalization: Nonviolence: a New Agenda. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2006.
The author, Kuriakose, believes that the topic of religion is a very sensitive one and the one that must be approached with sobriety. For a very long time in the history of mankind, there have been so many instances of religious warfare. Either one religious group is fighting with another, or different religions are opposing several ideas in the contemporary world. Some of the issues that religious groups have been faced include abortion, divorce, separation and drugs within the society. Since time immemorial most of different religious factions have been known to engage other religious factions on wars that could have been prevented. The issue of abortion, for instance, is the one that is understood differently among different religions and denominations.
Pearse, Meic. The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict? Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2007.
The author asserts the fact that the Catholic Church is known for not supporting abortion and use of contraceptives in marriage. They believe that it leads to irresponsible behavior, and make most of the youth practice unsafe sex, since most of the contraceptives are cheap and available in most retail shop. The youths, on the other hand, could see this as a loophole and will continue engaging in unsafe sex. This is, however, debatable. The bottom line is that there are varied opinions about this issue. There are some instances when one may consider having abortion as a safety measure so that their health is not at risk. There are cases when women may be forced to abortion since giving birth may expose them to serious health implications. Under such circumstances, abortion becomes the most preferred option. Due to these different views, many religious factions have been at war amongst themselves, with politicians and civil society. The Protestants, for instance, insist that this is wrong; the Catholics do not. This sets them on religious warfare with one another.
Pearse, Meic. The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict? Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2007.
The author agrees that religion causes war. This is because of different views that each religion has. The main religions in the world are Christianity and Islam. These religions have had different views and beliefs about life. The Christians, for instance, do not believe in terrorism and terrorist activities. As a result, the two greatest religions have had major wars in the recent past. They may both believe in the same God, the one that ensures life after death. They believe in supernatural God. They believe that a sacred day is meant for worship. Why then they have ideological differences? This is the question that has been asked by many psychologists and scholars.
Religious Discussion
Different schools of thought believe that religion causes war. In order to assert their authority, both the Christians and Protestants have had conflicts. Some of these conflicts have led to shed of blood on both sides of the religious divide. But the wars have not just been related to Christians and Muslims (Bell, 19). They have been extended to other religious factions like Judaism, Atheism and other small religious factions. Religion is so powerful and belligerent. It is for these reasons that most people in the world fight over religion. Religion causes conflicts in families. Some religions oppose diets eaten by other religions. This also causes war. Muslims support circumcision among both boys and girls. The Christians do not.
- Plagiarism and QA report
- Professionally-qualified writing experts
- Top-quality, at a great price - guaranteed
- Commitment to deliver papers by deadline
- No limit of revisions a customer can request
It creates a religious warfare as each of the religion believes that the other group is being extreme on their views. State-imposed atheism has been responsible for the wars that were led by Stalin, Mao Zedong, Tito and Pol Pot, among other leaders. It led to millions of people dying in the wars that were propagated based on different religious ideologies. The Holocaust in Nazi Germany was caused by religious indifferences. Hitler believed that the Jews dominated most of the offices in Germany, and that they were preferred for most of the white-collar jobs in Germany and Austria Hungary at the moment.
Wars due to religious identities have been witnessed in the world; they have been due to defensive warfare. National and political alliances have been known to break apart due to different religious ideologies (Turner, 34). The wars of religions were witnessed among the Bosnians and Croats in the famous war of the 1990s. They were divided along Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslim fault lines. Muslim scholars support Jihad, which they call the Holy War, and the one that has been blamed on rising the wave of terrorism among Muslim adherents. They believe in dying during Jihads, believing that they will be going to eternal life. It leads to a situation where Christians involve in religious warfare as they oppose the other’s extremities.
The Koran has been blamed by a score of scholars for fuelling religious propaganda. As a result, they have corrupted the earth, spreading hate messages and propagating unknown miseries. Religion plays a key role in most wars (Pearse, 23). It is used by leaders to tell the youth that they should fight for their country, since the highest God will always protect them in the cause of the war. During the Atheist wars that propelled the Orthodox tyranny to fight, the belief was, and especially among the faithful, that they would not be injured in the course of war. Religion made the young men who were willing to participate in the war to do so believing they would be stronger to face death.
Conclusion
Religion does cause wars. Most of the wars, the world has witnessed, have been linked to some elements of religion. In Nazi Germany, for instance, religion was used to spread propaganda for the hatred of Jewish people. Hitler considered them a powerful force to reckon with. Most of Muslims have used the so-called Jihad, a holy war, to propagate war against Christians and Western interests in different parts of the world. Religion is used to reassure young people, who take part in the fights, that the Almighty Lord will protect them in times of calamity (Ward, 23). As a result, they go into the wars, feeling stronger, more encouraged, and believing that nothing will ever occur to them.
