Jihad - A Holy War Essay

Church and State seem to be two words which are entirely inseparable from each other. Religion in politics and the government has been present since the federal government was first put into place. The issue of

Foreign and domestic policies are not linear, rather the policies are connected in a circle, with each policy reinforcing the values of another. Domestic American terrorism in the prison and detention systems and governmental reforms are influenced by the mobilization and ethnocentrism abroad. The militarization internationally is justified by the domestic handling of the same cultural issues within the United State borders. The United States has strangely used a near Catch-22 to handle dilemmas. The United States has allowed perspective to become reality, whether with oneself or regarding issues abroad, specifically in the Middle East. Terrorism is the use or threat of fear for political or economical gain. An internal characteristic of terrorism is how dependent it is of perspective, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To understand “terrorism,” a focus must be applied to the history, what drove an organization to commit such acts. Respectively, the Middle East has been a hotbed for the key word “terrorism,” especially because of 9/11. Subsequently, Muslims have been stigmatized by the United States as terrorists. The consequences spawned because of 9/11 require a look to the past to understand the present.

The only power the secular government should have are matters of “actions only, & not opinions.” These words echo that of Luther who believed that “... need no ruler ought to prevent anyone from teaching or believing what he pleases, whether Gospel or lies. It is enough if he prevents the teaching of sedition and rebellion (Luther, 22).” Two hundred years later, the influence of Luther’s theology and concept of the separation of Church and state influenced those who founded of the United States of America. This would then lead them to make the separation of Church and state the cornerstone of modern

The relationship between the Church and State is completely different than what most American hoi polloi believe. One of two principles state that, the church should not govern “the things that are Caesar’s”. This principle means that there should be no church control on the actions of civil government. Jesus refused to take authority in a realm of civil government that had not been assigned to him by God. The second principle states that, the civil government should not govern “the things that are God’s”. This principle implies that every nation should allow freedom of religion, by which every person is free to follow whatever religion he or she chooses. The civil government should support and encourage churches and bond-fide religious groups in general. While civil government should not rule

Considered the “new pearl harbor,” the attacks on 9/11 left a lasting impact on the world today. Due to damage they had to take out large amounts of money in order to rebuild the city and fix what was broken. New words became popular in the American language including al-Qaida, Taliban, ground zero, radicalism, extremism, anthrax and the Axis of Evil. People began to look

Separation of church and state was a big issue in the beginning of Christianity, mostly because it didn't exist. God supposedly chose the emperor Constantine and in turn Constantine chose Christianity as the empire's official religion. The union of church and state may not have been as great a problem if freedom of speech had also existed. It seems weird to imagine a right that I have taken for granted all of my life not to be present. Pagans experience a loss of political rights and status. Anti-pagan and anti-Semitic preaching rallied everyone against the "outsiders." Those, such as the popes, that enjoyed high ranks in Christianity now enjoyed high ranks in the government. Those, such as the emperor, that enjoyed high ranks in the government now enjoyed high ranks in Christianity. The line

In the United States, we have Americans that are waiting and wanting to destroy anything that has to do with our country and our western way of life, all in the name of “jihad” or holy war. Just in the past year and almost 10 years after September 11, 2001, there has been upsurge in jihadist recruitment and

This is a sad example of how such a supreme and spiritual concept as the religion can be turned into a weapon for destruction. All this should not make us consider Islam a violent religion because its nature calls for love, not for war. Certain concepts and ideas are misinterpreted and as religion traditionally has strong influence over Muslims many people get a wrong impression of the essence of Islamic religion.

America wastes a lot of time trying to create a democracy completely absent of the moral expectations that our ancestors have put into place. Our founding fathers’ dream of establishing a country in which all people would be accepted has begun to fall. In our attempt to rid our country of a democracy contaminated with any belief in a supreme power, we have rid ourselves of many of our values and morals. Perhaps it is impossible for religion to dominate our political country, but we have misinterpreted the original intent of “separation of church and state” and taken this concept too far.

In my opinion however, I sincerely believe that the church (by extension, religion) should be separated from the secular state. This is especially important in heterogeneous societies where citizens

Most arguments against separation have to do with the fact that religion has a good effect on peoples’ conduct, and why would the state want to take away the good conduct? Religion tells you what is wrong and right and people want to go to heaven, not hell, so they usually try to do the right thing; to avoid the consequences, therefore a person’s conduct is better when he has a religion.

After the attack of 9/11 many American citizens sought out an answer to why one would hijack a plane and run it into the Twin Towers, killing millions. According to the Huffpost, Islam became the main reason for the attack and furthermore labeled religion as the inspiration for many terroristic attacks (Gibson, 1). According to many Muslims, however, the attacks are anti-Islamic because the Quran states not to harm civilians who are not involved with war and to avoid it at all possible times (PBS, 3). The conflict between Muslims and Americans is growing and many issues in the Middle East has become the focus for religious terrorism.

Throughout the current era in America, Islam, the third most practiced religion in the World, has been misunderstood and imprecisely defined in American culture, presenting a pressing issue for Muslim-Americans resulting in discrimination socioculturally. Americans are ignorant as to comprehend the definition of the Islamic term, Jihad, clouding their judgment into accepting the culture of Muslims living beside them. Merriam Dictionary defines jihad as a holy war waged as the religious duty in the name of Islam, but “just north of ten percent of Muslims worldwide support and sanction religiously motivated violence against civilians.” As a result, Americans have unlawfully punished the victims themselves for hate crimes and inhumane discrimination due to radicals taking the term far more literally than intended (Source 2 and 4). The word is translated into English as to strive, struggle or effort, but due to the misinterpretation of the scripture, wars are waged by eminent Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda. Efforts conducted by the Islamic Supreme Council of America to exemplify Jihad's intended translation are still in effect by educating and patient examination of the error of the poor definition to drive of naive Americans and extreme Muslims practitioners into peace. Jihad must be redefined in Western Culture to more efficiently accommodate to the religious explanation to a holy war within oneself as well as other Muslims, and not a declaration of war in

After the crisis of 9/11, the religion of Islam has raised a number of controversies. More specifically, the issue of Islam as a harmonious religion or not. In the last fifteen years, after 9/11, there has been multiple disputes among those believing Islam as a religion of peace, and those who believe otherwise. With any debate, numerous questions spring up to force the majority to believe their beliefs are the truth. Some of the questions or disagreements are as follows: What is Islam and what does it signify? Does Islam promote violence and terrorism? What is the Islamic view of terrorism? What does the Quran say about war? Is there anything in Islam that leads to suicide bombings or terrorism? Was America attacked by Muslims on 9/11? Where are the Muslim peacemakers? What is Jihad? Do Muslims support Al-Qaeda? Did Muslims support bin Laden when he was alive? In Islam, is it ever justifiable to kill innocent civilians? Why is there a considerable amount of conflict between Muslims and Jews? If Islam is considered to be a religion of peace, why is there a large group of conflict between Muslims? With various more questions to keep in mind, knowing additional facts about this controversy, can be of use to identify and make a stronger, more informed choice of Islam as a religion of peace or a religion of war.

Following the attacks on the Pentagon and Word Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, many Muslim Clerics praised the attacks and many denounced them as the work of extremists. So although there may be violent Muslims, Islam itself promotes a very peaceful practice and a loving and forgiving God.