The Issue of Violence in Religion - Literature review Example

The Issue of Violence in Religion of Learning In todays world, the problem of the correlation between religion and violence is rather acute since the recent events have shown that religious extremism is a serious threat to the safety of people around the world. Possible global consequences of religious extremism define research on the factors and causes contributing to its development. Overall, the study of the problem reveals that the ambiguity of religious texts, the psychological characteristics of believers, as well as manipulation by their religious leaders are the powerful factors in the use of religion as a strong argument for violent policy and enmity between people. Keywords: eschaton, extremism, terrorism. The Issue of Violence in Religion Over the past few decades, the issue of religious extremism and terrorism has become particularly important to maintain the stability of human security in todays world. Many studies focus on the subject and each of the authors offers his/her views on the matter. The essence of these researches suggests analysis of both the sacred texts of various religions, and the characteristics of their religious practices in the social reality. One can designate two camps of researchers who offer exactly the opposite points of view on the issue. Some researchers deny to link extremism with religious beliefs by arguing that its reasons have rather political than religious origin, since the analysis of ethical concepts in this or that religion gives them the opportunity to believe that all religions advocate the peaceful coexistence of people. In turn, other scientists find compelling reasons in favor of the fact that in most religions (including religion as Christianity, Judaism and Islam), one can find justification for the idea of violence and intolerance between people. Despite the ambiguity of the problem and the complexity of its solution, the ideas of the latter researchers seem to be rather reasonable, since despite their calls for peace every religion contains the possibility to be used to justify violence and extremism. It may seem that religion has only spiritual significance and is aimed at spiritual purification of people by their moral self-improvement. As part of this understanding of religion is not meant to be an active participant in the social and political changes in a given society. It takes a detached position with respect to all phenomena and events that do not relate to the spiritual realm of man. However, different authors do not agree with this view. In particular, in their article Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace, Silberman, Higgins, & Dweck (2005) point out the fact that most religions emphasize the idea of changing a social world order. They are not abstract theoretical constructs that remain indifferent to what is happening in the human world. On the contrary, as the authors point out, religion is always able to influence peoples attitudes to social reality by contributing to their social activity. In some cases, religion can provide a positive impetus by protecting the ideas on the implementation of tolerance between people of different faiths and cultures. For example, the identity of Martin Luther King is a prime example of this religious influence. Based on the religious truths of Christianity prescribed in the Christian scriptures, King preached the change of the social order by love, kindness and tolerance. However, with the same success, religion can be the direct supervision of a radical change of reality by means of terrorism and extremism: “Intensive activism in the name of religion has also been demonstrated in numerous historical and recent acts of violence, wars, and terrorism across the world such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, the conflicts between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East, Hindus and Muslims in India, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, Christians and Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, East Timor, … and the killing of physicians and nurses by Christian anti-abortion groups” (Silberman et al., 2005). Taking into account historical data, it can be argued that the faith-based natural law might justify acts of violence. This happens for several reasons, which have both objective and subjective (psychological) character. Considering that violence is an integral part of religion, Selengut (2003) sees it causes in the notion of eschaton as one of the main religious ideas: "All religions have a vision of the ideal society which will come at the "end of time," the eschaton, when the universe will be in full harmony with God "s plan and all predictions for the ideal society described in the scriptures will come to pass." Selengut draws attention to the fact that many believers cannot come to terms with the social reality in which they live and try to form their utopian community, the values of which contradict the generally accepted rules and regulations. As a result, such believers lose touch with the real world is being successfully used by their religious leaders in order to pursue their in most cases not religious, but political goals (Selengut, 2003). Such believers accept violence as the only effective way to change the social reality. Thus, religion can give impetus to efforts to change social reality, while psychological and objective factors may contribute to its implementation in a negative way such as violence and extremism. Another researcher Mark Juergensmeyer (2000) does not think that religion certainly justifies the idea of violence, however "that happens only with the coalescence of a peculiar set of circumstances - political, social and ideological-when religion becomes fused with violent expressions of social aspirations , personal pride, and movements for political change." This makes it possible to understand why religion (particularly Islam, Judaism and Christianity), the sacred texts of which defend the idea of peaceful coexistence between humans, give rise to the violent change of social reality. In fact, they contribute to the development of special religious consciousness that tends to a rapid change of the reality. Depending on various factors (psychological characteristics of believers, manipulation by religious leaders in the name of certain political and even economic objectives, etc.) religion becomes a shield that is used to justify violence against not only individuals but also against groups and communities. In addition, the study of the major religious texts such as the Bible or the Koran allow one to find out that there sayings can be interpreted as calling for violence and intolerance between people (Hagerty, 2010). This suggests that written in different historical epochs, the sacred texts have rather ambiguous ideas which in the modern world are often interpreted in favor of prosecution of particular purposes. In this regard, the Core Value of Respect presented by Saint Leo University is particularly important because it allows realizing the value of different religious ideas throughout the world. The main idea of this code is that it must be recognized that every person, regardless of his/her religious beliefs is a unique creation of God. This uniqueness has a distinct meaning and promotes the idea of respect for all people. Every religion is based on a respectful deference to their God as the creator of the world. People are God’s creations. Accordingly, one should respect other people as Gods creation, otherwise one cannot speak about his/her sincere faith in God. As a result, the main task is seen as a productive interchange of religious knowledge and ideas. Under the conditions of the existence of different faiths and cultures, which are often very different from each other this code represents a particularly high value. To sum up, the problem of the use of religion as an argument for extremism and violence in society is rather complex and requires a very careful approach to its study. In general, it can be argued that despite their variety, different sacred religious texts contain concepts or ideas that somehow can be interpreted and used to justify violence and cruelty among people. Due to the fact that the realities of todays world are far from the religious ideal, depending on the psychological characteristics of believers religion can promote this type of thinking that seeks to radically change the world. This consciousness might be successfully used by spiritual leaders in their various political and other interests leading to strengthening of intolerance and psychological rejection between people from different religious systems. Answering the question at what point the character of faith-motivated activism becomes extremist and terrorist one needs to specify both the internal (psychological propensity to use violent ways of solving the problems) and external (manipulations by religious leaders) factors of the phenomenon. References Hagerty, B.B. (2010). Is the Bible more violent than the Quran? NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788 Juergensmeyer, M. (2000). Terror in the mind of God: The global rise of religious violence. Berkeley: University of California Press. Mission & Values (n.d.). The First Florida Catholic University. Retrieved from http://www.saintleo.edu/about/florida-catholic-university.aspx Selengut, C. (2003). Sacred fury: Understanding religious violence. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira. Silberman, I., Higgins, E. T., & Dweck, C. S. (2005). Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace. Journal of Social Issues, 61 (4), 761-784. Read More