Does Religion Cause War - Research Paper Example

Does Religion Cause War? Explanatory Synthesis Young (2010) explains the influence of religion after Westphalia from 1648 and its continued influence in national and international issues to present times. He argues that even though economic and political interests have prevailed over religion on a lot of issues, the influence of religion cannot be ignored. To bring this point out clearly, he examines the “Dark Alliance” that religion and war has as he emphasises the strong relationship that exists between religion, foreign policy, and war. Another writer on religion and war, McCormick, looks at writings in three main areas relating to this topic: the causes and remedy of the growth of religion- induced terrorism and violence, focusing particularly on how Christian Bible and theology contribute influence aspects; terrorism’s ethical challenges and the importance of finding a ethical response to it; and the limits and strengths of “just war” thinking in responding to contemporary threats arising from violence and terrorism. (McCormick, 2006). On his part, Seividge (2009) gives a quantification of encounters with the violent connection of war, religion and business. He discusses how some religions from West and East, whether violent or not are influencing wars in the face of sacrifices and warrior gods. Heft (2010) is alive to the fact religion is very influential in most societies in the world. As such, it is important that each religion should examine their contribution to the common good which encompasses more people than simply followers of a specific religion. Particularly, he argues that religions should examine how they contribute towards the culture of peace and justice in the world. He gives a greater attention to Christians’ attitudes towards peacemaking and war. Religion and war has been given additional thinking by other authors as well. Eyre (2006) takes a look around the world and makes an observation that there are “religions of war”. He argues that Islam is the common feature in most if not all wars taking place in the world. He gives example of Islam vs. Hindus in Pakistan and India; Islam vs. Christians and African tribal religions; Islam vs. Jews in Israel; and Islam vs. Buddhists in Thailand. The historical relationship between religion and war is put into perspective by Popovski et al (2009) as they observe that, historically, there has been a co-existence between religion and war: whether they are ignored or studied, loved or hated, they are part of past, present and future of human beings. He argues that the people of war and people of religion can be easily identified in terms of their high respect for discipline and hierarchy and compliance with superiors’ orders. Often both groups can sacrifice their individual gains, materials, and interests for “higher purposes”. Stout (2009) provides America’s example in the war- religion interplay where he argues that war is the custom of American national life characterized by generations preoccupied with war since the colonial times, even though the nation itself is at peace. He argues that since seventeenth century, religion has been conspicuous in American wars. Niebuhr (1993) argues that in as much as the world is full of peacemaking and war, these two concepts cannot be properly understood without examining the role of religion in them. Tobey (2009) discusses the Plowshares movement to demonstrate the relationship between religion and war. He says that Catholic activists use non-violent civil disobedience as a way of confronting nuclear proliferation threat. Since the war in Israel has been one of the long-standing in the world, Smith (1995) explains that religion has been at the centre of the war. Foreign countries and other international actors have also been giving it a religious dimension and approach. Lastly, Johnson (2008) observes that since the reality between religion and war is very evident, increasing scholarly works have attempted to study the relationship between war and religion. He notes that nearly all comparative studies of the topic show that war, peace and religion are inextricably linked. Analytic Synthesis Previous readings on religion and war and national and international news have informed by position on religion and war. It is true that a simple analysis of any war, past or present, is most likely be attributed to economic and political interests either from within or without an affected society. That notwithstanding, a deeper and broader analysis of these wars is most likely to indicate that most of them have some elements of “religious origins”. It is agreeable that the world has had a number of wars over the centuries and that it has always made efforts to solve them and restore peace. However, the fact that some of these wars are persistent or recurring is a proof that, in most cases, the world fails to address the real and root cause of these wars. A case in point is Israeli-Palestine war and Sudan war. The “peacemakers” seem to focus more on the economic and political interests when addressing these wars. Such an approach has yielded significant results as evidenced by numerous wars that have been brought to an end. However, some of the wars have been recurring or persistent; most of these wars have religious elements and as such should be addressed from a religious perspective. To a greater extent, I believe that religion and war are inextricably intertwined. This belief is informed by the analysis of circumstances surrounding these wars including the historical factors. Introduction Numerous studies have shown that there is a strong relationship between religion and war. These studies are based on the past and present events relating to wars. Actually, prior to Westphalia, historical records show that most if not all wars were religion-related, wholly or partly. However, the peace of Westphalia seem not to have greatly altered this scenario as periods after it have witnessed religion-related wars (Young, 2010). This reality has, nonetheless, been blurred by the perception of rising prominence of economic and political interests in regard to wars taking place in the world. Even in the face of political and economic interests being greatly associated with wars, elements of religion in most of those wars have been undeniably evident. The presence of long-standing wars such as Israeli-Palestine war and persistent conflicts between the Western countries and the Arab countries such as Iran and Syria have served to prove that religion, conflicts, and wars are inextricably intertwined. It should be noted that most historians and policy-makers have not entirely reached a consensus regarding the relationship between religion and war (Seividge, 2009). There are those who believe that political and economic interests prevail over religious interests in a war situation and that the later plays a very negligible role, if any, in triggering, catalyzing and even ending a war. On the other hand, there are those who believe that religion is at the centre of war and is a direct “factor” in war (Johnson, 2008). They further believe that in cases where religious elements are not directly evident, they are usually disguised behind other interests such as political and economic interests. It is against this background that it can strongly be stated that “religion causes war”. Body Religion causes war because it plays a crucial role in the formulation of foreign policies of most of the countries across the world. Arabic world which is Islam-dominated formulate their national and international policies majorly based on the Islamic teachings and provisions. Similarly, countries such as England, Spain, Dutch Republic, and France, which are perceived to be “Christian” countries, are greatly influenced by religious factors when formulating their foreign policies (Young, 2010). Even though the extent of the role of religion in formulation of foreign policy is relatively lower compared to the past, religion still plays a significant role in formulation of these policies. The period between late seventeenth and early eighteenth century was marked with great influence of religion on Western European warfare and politics. Stout (2009)) notes that the United States attack of Iraq in 1991 was greatly inspired by the fact that the US viewed Iraq as having “undesirable” policies hinged on Islam religion. Also, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars have been attributed to religious factors as the US and its allies accused these two countries of supporting religious extremisms that bred terrorism. Secondly, the use of terms such as war against “evil”, “Islamic Insurgency”, and “clash of civilizations to refer to “war’ just shows how religion and war are related. Also, the framework for “war on terrorism” which has dominated recent wars portrays a closer relationship of religion and war. Terrorism attacks and “war on terrorism” like the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars is often viewed as a war between the West and Islam (Seividge, 2009). The evidence of religion causing war in the regard to terrorism is seen through the list of the groups that the United States Secretary of State has listed as dangerous; more than half of them are religious organizations. According to (McCormick, 2006)), this state of affairs should not be ignored because history has shown that unimaginable destruction of peoples and awful atrocities committed against them have been done under the feet of religions. Terrorism is one of the aspects that show how religion can cause war (directly or indirectly). In situations where people are so intertwined in religious beliefs they tend to lose their own identity. As a result, they fall prey to ruthless violence-makers (Popovski et al, 2009)). In such cases, religion becomes a central force that mobilizes and motivates people to acts of violence. As Seividge (2009) notes, ability of religion to motivate and mobilize people makes it to be a “fertile” cause of war as evidenced by numerous terrorist attacks and other religious-instigated violence. Heft (2010) and Eyre (2006) agree that the world is awash with “religions of war”, thus supporting the argument that religion causes war. Eyre (2006) argues that a look at most of the world’s conflicts illustrates that “religions of war” exists. His position is specifically on the commonality of Islam religion in nearly all worlds’ conflicts. It is important to point out that this position is very debatable and should be taken as a factual and verified viewpoint. Eyre’s point of view is informed by a number of examples from conflicts experienced in some parts of the world. For example, he points out that Islam is dominant in the following conflicts taking place in some parts of the world: Islam vs. Buddhist in Thailand; Islam vs. Jews in Israel; Islam vs. Christians and African tribal religions in Sudan; and Islam vs. Hindus in Pakistan and India. He further argues that in America and most European countries facing the threat of terrorism, the conflict is between Islam extremists vs. Christians and Secularists. He gives related examples in Indonesia, Philippines, and Nigeria. Based on these examples, Eyre (2006) is convinced that just like most other religions in the world, Islam is a religion of war and intolerance. Similar observation is made by Heft (2010) who argues that, ideally, all religions need to contribute to the common good of the world which includes more people than the followers of specific religion. Therefore, it is important to examine their contribution towards world’s peace and justice. His view is informed by the reality that religions tend to have certain attitudes towards peacemaking and war that are counterproductive to the very objective that they intend to achieve. Making similar observation to Eyre’s, Heft (2010) argues that has some elements of a “religion of war” even though it has affected the understanding of the morality of peacemaking and war. He substantiates his argument of Christianity as having elements of “religion of war” by stating that the early Christian scholars such as Thomas Aquinas advocated for “just war” and legitimizing such a war on the basis of self-defence. During Middle Ages, popes called for reclamation of Holy Land from the Muslims, as well as enforcing their policies and protecting their interests (Heft, 2010). In addition, the co-existence of religion and war throughout the history of human kind is not just an indication that they are inextricably linked, but also a proof that religion causes war. Popovski et al (2009) argue that religion and war are part of human kind’s past, present, and the future. They further argue that war is often designed based on the religious principles and traditions such as sacrificing of individual gains, material, and interests for “higher purposes”, endurance of hardships, compliance with superiors’ orders, high respect for discipline and hierarchy, and adherence to traditions and rules. History has shown that although religions promote same values such as love, ethical behaviours, modesty and respect for other people and condemn acts of injuring or killing others, they sometime resort to “ just war” achieve their ends. In such cases, they usually justify their reasons to kill and injure people; for example, they may cite grounds for “just war” as reclaiming their land, defending their religion or self- defence (Niebuhr, 1993)). Stout (2009) says that America’s war abroad is an illustration of the intimate relationship between religion and war. Most of the wars that America engage in are often termed as “military interventions” but they often have all the dimensions of “total war”. The most notable of these wars are: Iraq (1991, and 2003-present), Iran (1953), Cuba (1961), Lebanon (1958), Libya (1986), Indonesia (1965), and Guatemala (1954) among others. In all of the America’s wars, there were religious justifications such as “to overspread”, “missionary purposes”, and “manifest destiny”. The most notable religious justification of America’s wars was the position held by American statesmen and churchmen in regard to divine law’s superiority on “New Israel” when other nations upheld human positive law (Smith, 1995). Furthermore, the state of affairs on how scholarship on religious and religion is treated in most cultures across the world is evidence that most societies are alive to the reality that religion causes war (Johnson, 2008). It has become apparent among many scholars that there is a very strong relationship between religion and war as evidenced by numerous historical events and potential future events that have a religion-war bearing. Johnson (2008) explains that the impact of Islam in the Iranian Revolution was one of the main events that presented a new arena to scholars to study the relationship between the two as there was a very close link. The political movement was explicitly defined in terms of Islamic ideals and ideas, including warfare justifications in terms of jihad principle. Subsequent years have witnessed increasing body of scholarship studying various religions across the world in relation to their influence in war. The fact that no category of religion can be said to fit exemplary well in the face of global reach implies that there is need for increased scholarship, with the view of understanding their relationship with war, and particularly how they can cause war (Seividge, 2009). Conclusion It is evidently clear from the discussion that religion causes war. As has been noted, there is a very strong relationship between religion and war; the two are inextricably intertwined. The reviewed literature has shown that most authors agree to the fact that religion and war have co-existed throughout the history of human kind. Although economic and political interests have seemed to prevail over religious interests in the recent years, the role of religion in war cannot be disputed. However, it should be noted that in as much as religion is linked to war, it plays a very important role in peacemaking. Therefore, peacemaking and war cannot be properly understood without examining the role of religion in them. References Eyre, A. (2006, Jun 07). Religions of war. National Post, pp. A.19-A19. http://ezproxy.aus.edu/login? Heft, J. (2010). Religion, World Order, and Peace: Christianity, War, and Peacemaking. Cross Currents, 60(3), 328-331. Johnson, J. (2008). Thinking Comparatively About Religion and War. Journal Of Religious Ethics, 36(1), 157-179. McCormick, P. T. (2006). Violence: Religion, terror, war. Theological Studies, 67(1), 143-162. http://ezproxy.aus.edu Niebuhr, G. (1993). Religion and War: Group Studies How God and Guns Mix. Washington Post, December 23. Retrieved on 15/4/2012 from http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.aus.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=8075&sr=HLEAD%28Religion+and+War%29+and+date+is+December,%201993 Popovski, V et al. (2009). World Religions and Norms of War. Tokyo: United Nations University Press Seividge, M. J. (2009). Religion, Greed, and The Insanity Of War. Political Theology, 10(4), 721-745. Smith, J. (1995). Religion and War in Israel. The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1995), pp. 17-31 Stout, H. S. (2009). Review essay: Religion, war, and the meaning of America. Religion and American Culture: R & AC, 19(2), 275-289. Tobey, K. (2009). Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement. Journal of Religion, 89(4), 635-637. Young, W. (2010). War and religion after Westphalia, 1648-1713. The Journal of Military History, 74(4), 1272-1273. http://ezproxy.aus.edu/login?url Read More