Religion Should Not Be the Reason to Start Conflict - Essay Example

Religion Should Not be the Reason to Start Conflict The power behind religion is indistinguishable and subtle. This is what makes people develop faith. In this argument, a group becomes religious after integrating the ideology cognitively. This happens through social and emotional communications and combines a series of evolutionary cognitive processes perceived to be important. As a social occurrence, humans engage in religious activities through group settings. From this point of view, religion gives people the opportunity to link different specifics. Furthermore, it directs humans on the best way they can develop relationships and humanity appreciated. The force pulling people together to allow co-existence as same species is natural. Differences in religious beliefs carry the potential to cause and have caused variant forms of violence, conflict, and evil throughout all levels of humanity. This is fact that nobody should deny. However, this fact does not offer enough proof regarding the wrongness or rightness of beliefs in religion in Christianity, Islamic, and overall religious believes. Way before the turn of the twenty-first century, a simple glance at affairs across the globe suggests that religion is at the centre of much of the contention. In most cases, religion remains a contentious issue. With regard to the position of external salvation, it is always difficult to reach a compromise stance to the degree that other people consider such actions sinful. Levels of sacred associations by people fall into four categories. They are the denominational level. This is where different groups split into less significant inclinations. The private level is second and at a collective level, fellowships become more helpful. The Secret level of religiousness is another level mainly tackled from a psychological point of view. Groups raise their children religiously learning and following their doctrines. Confining people keeps them of the beliefs not acceptable to the religion they belong. Members may later in life change denominations nevertheless, will remain religious. Lives of people are controlled from the personal levels and from within the precincts of the community. Through the same, people tend to become religious. Man from the days of the ancestors including the early man can trace religious beliefs. Religion has attributes in the contemporary mind of people covering several groupings. It helps people within groups to abide by the doctrines without questioning. Through religion, groups of people can express their feelings in secret languages. Religion brings people together and helps to sustain their relationships hence encouraging harmonious associations. Religion cuts across all humans and research by different scholars has shown that it is a practice not associated with any other animal. Complexity and mystery hide if people come together as a group and become practicing loyalists. There are those who believe in holding religion in groups for as long as has existed. Those who hold this view argue that humans create important relations with characters that are supernatural from their time as toddlers. In contrast, the significance of religion arises from the perspective that it is at the core of the identity of many people. Here, the slightest threat to the belief of a person squarely falls among the threats to his or her existing. The fact is a fundamental ingredient that causes ethno-religious conflicts. The interrelationship falling between conflict and religion remains a complex one in various perspectives. Most nations that go to war do so in the pretext of seeking honour and justice. Nonetheless, this discourse does not aim at insinuating that honour and justice are bad concepts in the society. In reality however, conflict arising from religious reasons tells members of the society little about the human nature and religion itself. Human beings turn against each other because of various reasons among them racial, historical, personal, as well as cultural where on many occasions religion does play a causal role. History informs members of the society that regimes hostile to religion masterminded some of the most heinous atrocities to happen on earth. Overall, people are capable of fighting concerning everything strongly held by between them politics and only romp in religion to start conflicts. Certain aspects of religion make religion a potential concealed cause of conflict (Johnston, 2007, 63). However, this takes place to small percentages. People who subscribe to various forms of religious sects must follow accepting some articles of belief, doctrines, and dogma of their religion. These aspects result in intolerance and flexibility in different measures in the face of the believers. The claim is that there is reason for compromising the word of God. Most of the dogma and scripture is vague making it susceptible to variant ways of interpreting them. Most people start war following the different positions of interpretation adopted by those interpreting the scripture. It results in starting a conflict that cannot get a solution because of lack of an arbiter. A situation that does not warrant winners and losers ends up having the majority on the same side of thought referring to themselves as winners. This situation is unnecessary. The truth on this matter is that the majority of the people always hold moderate views about interpretation of a particular scripture. This group entails most people who are contented as opposed to the few extremists burning with the push for increasing the number of followers interpreting the will of God. This is a position that if well controlled, there will be no need of having religion as a starting place of disagreement in the world. Religious beliefs held by people control them from all perspectives. Incarceration that holds groups together gives an insight religion as a social phenomenon. It explains that you can only convert adults who are willing and interested. Members in this group become religious after circumstances force them. They face situations they cannot cope with therefore, seek for alternatives. The traumatic events they face serve to redirect them into joining some kind of religion. They believe that that a supernatural power would help explain what man cannot People who lose wealth, jobs, and those who become ill later in their lives are some of the likely members who fall in this category (Johnston, 2007, 105). At all levels, groups subscribe to a set of beliefs and carry out particular practices as long as they consider the matters sacred. Many times ethics approve giving guidelines to the members. This has to satisfy the desire within their conscious minds. Religion entraps personal distinctiveness. Sometimes, it entails eternal salvation making it a very controversial issue. People construe any threat to personal belief to mean a threat to personal being. Several beliefs characterize religion followed by the members without asking questions as they relate to a superior power i.e. supernatural. Since these beliefs are varied, intolerance results into religion becoming a source of conflict. The differences sometimes occur on trivial matters of interpretation and since there cannot be arbiters, a quarrel becomes inevitable. Extremist followers push such ideologies while the complacent ones tend to seat back making the former get encouraged to win. Such are the trends that cause conflicts. Extremists push for radical ideas and because most things in the world are a struggle between what is good and evil, all efforts are pulled together to make sure the former is defeated. The society is made of heterogeneous elements and therefore religion is one of the issues used to distinguish people from others. Information that most people are always ignorant of the details that underlie beliefs held by others creates tension within the society. This makes religion a source of latent conflict. However, it can be a catalyst to latent conflict turning into real war. Such circumstances are always hard to resolve and in the end cause religious conflict. Religious identity strengthens the beliefs held by extremists and therefore influences war among various religious groupings. If the ideologies held by extremists permeate into the bigger population, it would be taken to be in line with carrying out the wishes of God. This definitely escalates conflict. Some people consider attempts by others to take a liberal stand a form of defiance of the will of God (Johnston, 2007, 115). Simple slip-ups by the people who have the knowledge of what most of the varying beliefs holds will give a big chance to extremists to introduce radicalism. This will be the chance for the radicals to exploit using violent means if the legitimate methods become sluggish. Clear cases in point are in the Middle East in countries such as Jordan, Iran, Iraq, and Palestine. In Africa Nigeria, Algeria, and Libya are countries that such extremists have used the vacuum in legitimacy to wage religious war. India has also not been spared as some extremists some have made attempts. Evangelism and denomination can also be a recipe for conflict. Attached to these was the European colonization whose leadership forced people to do what was strange. This conflict has expanded to include governments. Other nations such as China view religion as a commotion that would divert the loyalty from the government. Such conflicts occur owing to lack of respect between the warring partners. Religious nationalists do the reverse of the events in China. They consider religion an extension of the land and state. This group similarly shares the views of others that when you touch any of it then you are interfering with their being. Proponents of such ideologies fight for their religion through government legislations where they insist that their religions get priority and status in the political hierarchy. Governments will adopt some things used in such churches if their bids become successful. On the brighter side of the discussion, various efforts continue to increase in the use of religion as a gadget for conflict resolution. This has seen several measures of success while on other fronts the results are still not good. As a group phenomenon, devoutness puts together people with predictable patterns through which members interact. The conventional blueprints create status systems within which the respective members function. Persons within the groupings share norms, goals, and objectives. The clear outline helps people through their assigned duties albeit collectively. As a group, the common features shared by members include among others perception, values, considerable beliefs, and prescriptions of behaviour. In addition, they also share the order of authority along with the specified ways in which to reach the goals. All these processes entail technically striking equilibrium between personal spirituality and acquiring identity in the society. Works Cited Johnston, Richard. Religion in Society. New York: Pearson Publishers, 2007. Print. Read More