Religion Essay Sample: Does Religion Cause War?

Although there are innumerable religions in the world, most of them are based on peace, order, and love. These various religions tend to abide by certain rules and principles that hold peace, love, and order together. Nevertheless, there are people who tend to misinterpret such rules and sacred texts such as the Quran, Bible and the Torah. One may thus note that although there are many religions that are considered as [peaceful, the interpretation of such religions tends to be misinterpreted and misunderstood. The result of such misunderstandings and miscomprehension tend to act as motivation and justification for violence.

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The fact that religion often deals with extreme things tends to depict the potential for violence due to extremism. Individuals tend to make compromises on disputes over land and territory but deal with the issue of religion differently. This is because to such individuals, the will of God is absolute. Although religion is based on love, it is very easy to sabotage religion and transform it into opposite hatred. It is imperative to comprehend that religion over time has been seen as the primary cause of violence between different ethnic groups. According to Huntington (52), religion is a source of violence due to the various misinterpretations of the messages written in holy books. It is the misunderstanding of religion that extremists find justification to exercise violence upon others.

Most of the modern and ancient wars or major conflicts are connected to a particular religion in some ways. This is because any religion in the world can be used as an excuse to violence. For instance, the Crusade Wars ended up in a lot of bloodshed to both warring parties (Christians and Muslims). The Jews can be used as an example since they have committed genocides overs nations and their main excuse is religion. In 1991, Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox Christians were pitted against each other in Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, there is also violence not only in instances where religions have been pitted against each other but between different ethnic groups in the same religion. During the Christian Reformations, many thousands of monks were executed after being tortured while other Christians in Burma were killed due to their religious beliefs. During this war, all the different religions thought that they were doing the right thing. Their main objective was to eradicate non-believers or heretics in the bid to take control of the holy land.

Currently, there are some wars plaguing the planet that can be thought of as being religious in nature. These wars are notably those that have been instigated by Muslim extremists. There are various passages in the Quran that appear to sanction violence against all non-believers. Although such passages in the Quran elicit hotly contested debates, some Islamic apologists argue that such passages are related to defensive warfare. It is imperative to comprehend that although Islam as a religion is considered as peaceful, history has it that the founder of Islam, Muhammad was personally involved in some violence in the bid to extend the reaches of Islam. In fact, such violence in Islam is considered as a religious war, and it is the obligation of every Islamist to persuade others to join the religion of Islam by either persuasion or force.

The difference between Islam and Christianity is more elaborate in the manner that they both interpret their holy books. There is a significant difference between Christianity and Islam. Muslim extremists often find ample encouragement in the passages of the Quran to promote violence. There are no such incitements that Christians can find in the Bible. Most of the Christian scriptures in the Bible often persuade the avenue of peace to the extent that enemies should be prayed for and loved. Muslims, on the other hand, have gone to extremes such as forming terror groups that openly declare that their main intent is to conquer the west and establish Islamic caliphate with the key objective of world domination.

In contrary to the above statements, all religions in the world are peaceful. There is not a single religion that existed in the past or currently exists that preaches wars or violence as a form of a solution. In most of the holy texts, whether it is the Quran or the Bible, there are rules and principles that its followers must abide by its rules. Most of these principles tend to forbid murder, doing harm to any human being or stealing. Religions are based on impartiality and justice. All religions tend to avoid extremism, and some go to the extent of condemning it.

From the above statements, it seems that the religious beliefs of individuals are the basis for major acts of violence. This statement, however, is not true. The true reason as to the cause of violence in the world is due to ethnic, political, and economic disputes. It is also imperative to comprehend that even in some sections that religions play a key role in the everyday lives of its factions, there are no instances that violence erupts as a result of pure religion conflict. In most instances, there is something different that has acted as an instigator to the violence. According to Marty (34)individuals tend to use religion as a camouflage to their evil intentions to cause war.

Economics tend to play a significant role in the violence that is often attributed to religion. Many of the soldiers who fought in the Crusade Wars only went to war for the wealth that they would get from all the plundering that they would participate in aside from liberating what they considered as the holy land from the Muslims. On the other hand, Muslims could be seen fighting from an economic perspective. The Muslims fought so as to protect the property that they had conquered and to protect the resources that they got from the conquered lands in addition to the taxes that they collected. This means that if the real reason that people get involved in conflict due to economic gains, then the justification of getting to war should be removed. In this instance, the justification for violence is religion. If the justification is eliminated, then there would be no no conflict to fight about. When properly analyzed, even when religion is not the main cause of the conflict, it is probable that the conflict I considered as a religious conflict. The existence of other various factors other than religion in conflict means that the removal of religion as the causative factor to violence and other justifications, then the real reasons for violence can be identified. Reasons such as greed for wealth, power, and hatred could be identified as the primary causes of wars.

One has to note that for every religious extremist be it Christian or Muslim; there are many more individuals who are living peacefully aside from them in that they exercise the same religious beliefs but opt to act in a different manner. Opponents of religion as the cause of war often argue that although the extremist often justifies their acts of violence through religion, the religious doctrine itself is not the cause of violence but as mere justification. Such extremists often use religion to unite others so that they are not alone in their egoistic or personal goals. If such people comprehend any kind of free will, then they ought to realize that it is not the rhetoric, religion or doctrine that has the problem but rather the individuals in question. Every individual should be responsible for their own views.

By politizing religion, there is an implication that cannot be avoided. Politizing a religion often tends to lead to stereotyping a particular region to religion. This may then have negative impacts on individual relations with people in the region or those interacting with such people in the region. The generalizations that some people have of a particular region tend to come up as people begin speaking openly about such a region. Differences then come out in the open. A strict discipleship that has been built in a particular area then stand up for their region and religion, as one of the religious leaders incite their followers against the other religion. The funding that some of the followers get tends to benefit the warlords as they avail weapons.

Although religion is being misinterpreted and used as a cause of war, its importance to the society cannot be understated. There are many uses of religion other than a justification for war such as inculcating morals to its many followers. This is a moral thread that can be said to be universal in all religions. In fact, religion can be used to used to reduce instances of social misfits such as liars, rapists, and thieves.

In conclusion, a religion that is peaceful can become aggressive and violent in its thinking when it is integrated into people who reside in a climate of fear, humiliation, and fear. The generalizations that religion is the cause of war can be seen as being incredibly simplistic and misleading particularly when this mantra is applied to the pre-modern era. Initially, religion was not thought of as being separate from the rest of the life. However, it cannot be identified as the cause of war. In truth, states, people, and empires resorted to war due to various reasons that include social and economic concerns. The fact that religion often deals with extreme things tends to depict the potential for violence due to extremism. Individuals tend to make compromises on disputes over land and territory but deal with the issue of religion differently. In fact, religion has sometimes been the leading cause of stopping wars. In most instances, the religiously-motivated outbreak of peace in most countries that is attributed towards the stopping of wars has often been overlooked. Moreover, religion in some instances has acted as a corrective action to state violence. Nevertheless, religion can be affected by the context in which it exists thereby people sometimes find themselves reacting to the fears and anguish of the culture and the people within.

Works cited

Marty, Martin E. The One and the Many: America's Struggle for the Common Good. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1997. Print.

Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New Delhi, India: Penguin, 1997. Print.