The History of Religion and Religious Conflict - Essay Example

Prof’s The History of Religion and Religious Conflict: Why The Dali Lama may be Wrong Religion is one of the most fundamental aspects of human life – it is only in recent centuries that people have been able to envision a world in which religion does not play a central role. This is true for myriad understandable reasons: human beings, by our very nature, are subject to pain, suffering and death, and religion can provide structure, meaning, and succor to these horrendous events. In this light, religion can have many positive influences, it can uplift the soul, spur on artistic production, and cause people to lead more driven, purposeful lives. On the other hand, however, religion has also shown that it can be a destructive force on many different occasions. In his work, “The Art of Happiness,” the Dali Lama makes many claims about religion, but seems to fundamentally believe that religion has always been a positive influence on the world, saying, for instance, that “all world religions have, of course, provided tremendous benefit for millions of human beings throughout many centuries past” (Dali Lama, 296). When considering this claim, it is easy to oscillate drastically to one side or other of this argument. Someone seeking to defend religion would point at the acts of Mother Theresa, to the charity of religious organizations, and to the benefits that organized religion can give to people personally, such as peace and comfort. Detractors from religion, however, can point to the attacks of Sept. 11, or the Crusades, and decry religion as a destructive force that causes hatred and violence throughout world history. Neither of these answers are fully correct, however. Rather, religion often does not make a significant amount of difference in and of itself. Religious actions, either positive or negative, are often results of complex societal interactions rather than religious fervor: so the Dali Lama is incorrect, as I believe that religion has not been a consistently positive nor negative influence on the progress of world history. One of the first things that must be understood in this discussion is the relationship between religion and spirituality. Though these are very closely linked ideas, “the Dali Lama distinguishes between spirituality and religion” (294). This is because spirituality and religion happen on very differ planes – spirituality is a personal, though often sometimes communal thing, that has to do fundamentally with belief in the underlying structures of the world, and one’s place within them. Religion, though resting on spirituality, is a very different thing. It is a structured organization that codifies beliefs and practices, almost like creating rules and laws for spirituality. This difference is important because many of the impulses often attributed to religion may in fact be spiritual. Altruism, for instance, is often one of the things most lauded about religious people and institutions. But there are obviously many people who are altruistic without being religious – they do good out of a fundamental belief that it is good to do so, which is much more akin to spirituality than religion, while there are also certainly religious people and institutions that are far from being altruistic. So when analyzing the impact that religion has had on the world, one must isolate the religious side – the order and structure of beliefs and actions, from the spiritual side. Upon parsing the actions of a religion or religious institution from the actions based on spirituality, one might be immediately drawn to condemning religion whole-heartedly. Religions and their institutions have been guilty of many grave sins that immediately spring to mind. Current, organized Islamic leaders have called for terrorist attacks and Martyrdom, and the Westboro Baptist Church’s “God Hates Fags” campaign has disgusted people worldwide, many churches in the United States were associated with hate crimes against blacks during and before the civil rights movement, the Spanish Inquisition led to the death and torture of countless innocent people, and the Crusades represented one of the greatest and bloodiest attempts at early proto-colonialism, all in the name of religion. But to blame all of these issues on religion alone would be incredibly simplistic and naive. The Crusades provide what might be the best tool for analyzing the role of religion in these events. On the surface it looks like one of the most damning condemnations of religion. These massive, destructive wars were directly initiated by the leaders of the Catholic Religion. Pope Urban II, in 1095, exhorted many people to go to war to against Muslims in Western Asia, in order to “reclaim” the holy cities that had once been Christian (such as Antioch and Jerusalem), and in return, promised “spiritual rewards” such as the remittance of sins previously committed (Backman, 231). There can be little doubt, therefore, that these were religious wars. They were started by the internationally recognized leader of Catholic Christianity, they had a religious objective in claiming the holy land for Christianity again, and they were even encouraged by the offering of religious rewards for people who chose to comply and engage in the warfare. So clearly, these were religious wars, and thus made the world worse, right? Unfortunately, that is an overly simplistic analysis. The fact is, Europe was not a peaceful haven that was suddenly spurred to a religious war, rather it had been “racked with warfare” between “petty princes” for many centuries prior to the outset of the crusades (117). The Church had even created extensive movement, such as the “Peace of God” and the “Truce of God” (103), which were aimed at limiting the amount of violence committed by nobles against each other and against the populace. So, what becomes apparent on a closer analysis, is that Europe had a society and culture that was heavily dominated by violence and a violent ethos. Rather than creating new violence, the Crusades at the absolute worst directed already existing violence against a new target, the Muslims, which in fact gave Europe a relatively peaceful existence for several centuries. So, the Crusades were not caused by religion, rather, religion was representative of the violence that existed in the culture that coexisted with the religion. This same pattern can be seen in many other issues that are often blamed on religion today. Homophobia, for instance, is often associated with religion in the American South and Midwest, with people blaming homophobic attitudes on the prominent Christian religion in those areas. The fact is, however, that homophobia simply pervades those cultures, regardless of religion, and some people use religion as a way to express that culture aversion. There are churches, for instance, that have absolutely no problem with gay people, or even encourage them to join their congregations, such as the United Church. There is even disagreement among Catholics as to the role of homosexuality in the religion. The churches that are more supportive of gay people tend to simply exist in areas that are friendly to gay people, such as large cities, the coasts and so on, whereas churches that are hostile to gay people tend to exist where people are more hostile to them. In the 1920s, many churches were against mixed-race marriage, while today very few would be. This was not a religious change, but a cultural change that religion responded to. The Churches represent rather than create cultural preferences which are hurtful and destructive. The Dali Lama may have an overly positive view of religion, especially considering the ways religions have engaged in and encouraged violence over the course of human history. The fact is, however, that religion actually follows cultural and societal patterns much more than one would often think. So religion has not necessarily been a positive influence, as the Dali Lama asserts, but it also has probably not been a negative one. Rather, it has probably been more of a barometer of other socio-cultural factors that exist in and around religions. Works Cited Backman, Clifford R. The Worlds of Medieval Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 2003. Print. The Dali Lama, and Howard C. Cutler. The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living. New York: Riverhead, 1998. Print. Read More