Religion as the Cause of War - Essay Example

? War and Religion of Your Religion is the cause of war. Organized religion has been a significant part of society for so many centuries in the past. From one angle, organized religion can be seen as an attempt to institutionalize spiritual activities and spiritual practices. Thus, religion provides a set of customs, activities and observances that ensures that all members of a given spiritual inclination perform a set of minimal tasks. This culminate in a number of values, norms and mandatory practices. In the past 2,000 years, religion has played a pivotal role in the organization of nations, states and empires. And this has come with so much military concerns. In other words, religion has been a fundamental part in the organization of nations' military policies and military campaigns. This paper seeks to argue that religion is a major cause of war. In order to undertake this discourse, it is important to identify the origins of organized religion. This will provide the basis for the identification of the important variables and undertake a comparison of the era before organized religion and the era after organized religion. In providing a background to what we will call organized-religion today, Wilson identifies that “Jesus did not call what he taught Christianity nor did Buddha call what he taught Buddhism” (2011 p62). This implies that what we call religion today evolved years after the founders of those groups died. In other words, these great teachers in history lived for a given philosophy and idea that was meant to improve the lives of people and get human beings closer to the Creator. However, after these exemplary teachers died, people who came after them sought to spread their creed and spiritual beliefs. These individuals are the ones who can institutionalize religions and make it imperative for people to adopt those religions and live according to these fundamental ideals. With time, these “religionists” philosophize and put religion in a context that binds all people and all members of the community. This is because they feel that the teachings of the founders of the sect are universal and every human being must be forced to comply with those religious ideals in order. A further analysis of the emergence of religion indicates that the founders of these religions were mainly individuals with very modest visions and modest views. However, after they died, some people believed in the institutionalization of the religious views and in doing this, they got closer to people in authority and created a symbiotic relationship that made religion self-serving and a tool for the control of the masses and the wider sections of the society (Gooding, 2006, p45). As Karl Marx opines, religion is the opium of the people (Ott, 2007). In his writings, Marx challenged the status quo and he identified a lot of things about the abuse of religion, power and authority. In doing this, he provides a thesis that religion is used by the people in power and the people in authority to control the masses and get them to do what the leaders want. This observation of Marx can be identified in many societies ranging from the Far East to the Atlantic and down to the southern tip of Africa and the southern continents. Religion was used by people in authority to guide and to control the minds of people in society. In notable examples, religion was used to organize Empires. Caroll writes that Emperor Constantine unified Europe and kept the Roman Empire alive through the adoption of Christianity as a state religion (2012). It is worthy to note that Christianity was an outlawed religion that came with a death penalty in the Roman Empire before Constantine came to power. However, realizing that there were economic challenges ahead and there was pressure and rebellion from the “barbarian” tribes in northern Europe, Constantine decided to adopt Christianity to unify the masses and create a single code. Thus, through the Church, an organized religion was formed in Europe and this helped Constantine and the other Roman Emperors after him to rule a single unified nation. The legacy that the adoption of Christianity came with was the fact that it helped the leaders of Europe to create a social hierarchy that put a number of people in power and allowed the clergy and the priests of the Church in Europe to preach to people and soften their hearts to accept the undemocratic policies and the greed of the people in power and authority. And in order to satisfy their lust for wealth and power, the people in authority waged war against different peoples in order to expand their authority. This will not have happened if the Church had not cooperated with these kings and nobles to subjugate the masses to the command of people in power and authority. The problem of organized religion being used to commit massive atrocities is not restricted to Europe. In the Middle East and North Africa, the rise of Islam also gave justification for wars. Islam came to being as a result of a number of agreements and military pacts between the various Arab tribes who accepted the teachings of Prophet Mohammed. These tribes created some kind of camelot that enabled them to help each other in battles on the Arabian Peninsular in the lifetime of Prophet Mohammed. However, after the death of Mohammed, the leaders who came after him waged major military campaigns in the different directions of Arabia and Islam spread. Technically, Islam means “accepting peace, and submission to the will of Allah, or God in the Islamic term”. This “peace” means that a group will accept a peace treaty with the conquering Islamic forces and accept their religion. In other words, refusal to accept that “peace” meant war. This shows another strong evidence that religion between 2000 and 1000 years ago was a major catalyst for wars. In the Middle Ages, nothing much changed. What changed was that after years of in-fighting between Christians in Europe and Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa prepared the two groups for major showdowns called the Crusades. These were wars waged by organized European Armies under the banner of the Cross, the primary symbol of Christianity and the Arabs and Muslims in the name of defending Islam. This led to so many massacres and the killing of different people in the name of religion. After the Crusades, things did not end there. After the year 1,500, European powers discovered sailing routes to Africa, the Americas and Asia. They moved to these countries and waged various levels of wars and this led to atrocities. In Africa, they justified the wars that led to the enslavement of Africans as a religious duty to “civilize” and “save” the Africans from “heathen” customs and religions. The slavery of people in the Middle East and North Africa were justified in Islam. This led to wars that were motivated by the capture of slaves but they were disguised as religious duties. In Europe, there was massive sectarianism throughout the continent. After Protestantism emerged in the 1500s, there were many wars fought against Protestants and Catholics. Islam has had histories of sectarianism that is linked to the two major divisions: Sunnism and Shiism. One may argue that religion brings people closer to God. They may say that religion has nurtured civilization, brought education and improved the lives of people in different nations around the world. Yes, it might be true. However, religion has not been without its own excesses. Today, nations are still organized on the basis of religion. All the major wars that were fought in the past 50 years have some connection and motivations that can be traced to religion. Communists were warded off because they were seen to be “godless”. This led to the Cold War, in which millions of people died in different wars. Militant Islam has taken over the world and there are many wars that are fought with the primary motivation being religion. The US-led war on terror was tagged as a “Crusade” and this has given many motivations for Muslims to arm militant groups to defend their Faith. In conclusion, religion has played a significant role in the motivation for wars in different parts of the world over the past 2,000 years. Religion has been overridden by greedy people who partner with leaders and nobles and wage wars, some of which are extremely senseless. So in my opinion, organized religion has been packed and abused in the quest for power and authority by a section of society. Hence, organized religion is the single most pervasive situation that has caused the most wars on earth. References Carroll, J. (2012) “The Church and the Agenda of Power” Journal of Religious Studies 32 (3) pp41 - 59 Gooding, T. (2006) The Emergence of Us London: iUniverse. Ott, M. (2007) The Future of Religion: Towards a Reconciled Society New York: BRILL Wilson, C. A. (2011) Healing Power Beyond Medicine New York: John Hunt Publishing. Read More