Religion Based War
In
class, the topic of whether wars were ever based off of religious disagreement
or if it was for more tangible assets such as oil, land and such arose. I feel
that both are true. However, it could be argued that was or conflicts do not
arise for religious reason because the driving factor behind the actual reason
is politics and money. Religion is just a bifactor of the war. One could look
at it as a cover up. I could reason that for some this might be true. I don't
agree that we cannot say that it not because of religious disagreement because
for the people fighting for the conflict believe that it is for religious
purposes.
One
example that was brought up in class were the 9/11 plane bombers. Did they do
it for religion or was it for some other reason? The Torah teaches nothing
about hurting innocent lives, but if they were manipulated into reading the
torah wrong then they could be convinced to bomb a plane and run it into two
buildings killing many. In that case they would be doing it for religious
purposes. Situations like this are very prevalent in history.
Not
every conflict is based off of religion but to say that no conflict is based
off of religion is a false statement. Religion can be misinterpreted and can be
used to convince people to do acts that ensure them eternal gratification and
ensure them a place in an afterlife. The promise of a wonderful afterlife and
eternal gratification is enough incentive to make people fight for a cause. Do
you guys agree?
It seems that in most cases, religion is like an "innocent bystander" that gets thrown in the den with the lions when it comes to war. Sure arguments can be made that in places like the middle east, the reason for war is strong beliefs or old "rivalries" caused by religion. I personally believe that what has really happened is that religious leaders have abused their power and made their followers believe that taking lives is justifiable by any religion. The truth is that killing a person is always thought to be morally wrong and you can definitely not kill someone in the name of God. Its simply not feasible nor justifiable by any passage in the Bible..
ReplyDeleteReligion is not the driving factor of war, but rather as stated in class, a kind of scapegoat to pin the reason of war on. I definitely agree that the primary factors of war are desires for "stuff" (land, money, power, etc) and religion is tacked onto that as a way to make others believe that is also what they want. As Jesse just stated, an abuse of power from religious leaders led to this sort of action simply because their followers are taught to believe everything they say is true.
ReplyDeleteIt's an unfortunate cycle because they are raised to believe these things, and as Dr. Johnson stated in class, there have been many more non-religious wars compared to actual religious ones. People are just led to believe that if it's for a religious purpose then it's okay, when in reality it's more than likely a ploy to get more "stuff."
Religion is hardly ever the driving cause of the war of course but it is certainly the tool used to get the wheels of the war machine rolling. People can kill in the name of God and if the bible is to be believed religion has been used to commit mass genocide and untold horror. Religion certainly has its role in war that can't be denied.
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