Religious War

“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.

Throughout the ages there have been several main religions to include Christianity, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. There have been wars in the name of religion, as well as massacres for the same reason. However over the last century there has been a shift in ideology, a fracture in religious ideology that have caused multiple subgroups of the originals to form and prosper which have I believe came to be because of multiple wars.

have God on their side. An example of a Holy War is the Crusade. This

While some religions, like Christianity and Islam, may have defended war in time of defense, other such as Buddhism condemned war

Throughout history different religious groups had varying opinions of war. Some religions, such as Confucianism and Hinduism, supported war and respected men that served in their military. Whereas, other religions, like, Christianity and Buddhism, condemned war totally. After reading these religion-based documents three different groups emerged; those who supported war, those who tolerated war, and those who opposed war.

historiography studies, and classic literature to prove that war was about religion, caused by men

Both the Christians and Muslims claimed that what they were doing was morally right and ordained by God. They also believed that, by capturing Jerusalem, they would be able to further spread their respective religions, gain members, and promote sociological advancement, therefore carrying out “God's will.” Yet, at the same time, they were only pursuing their personal interests, given that the objective of these wars was to capture the city of Jerusalem. In simpler terms, both religions simply wanted the prestige and influence that came with possessing a city with significance in both the Muslim Quran and the Christian Bible. In any case, however, neither religion was ordained by God, or Allah for that

Honestly, modern society can learn a lot from The Crusades. We learned that war isn’t always the best solution. Here we are thousands of years later and there is still this war about religion

They were military campaigns fighting over control of the Holy Land, Jerusalem. Jerusalm is importnt to both Christians and Muslims.It is important for Chrisitians because it is the place where Jesus, founder of Christianity, spent most of his life preaching the gospel. It also is the place where he died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. That is why many Christians call Jerusalem, “The City of God.” Jerusalem also has significant meaning for many Muslims. It is the place where Islam founder, Mohammed, ascended into

Politics and religion in the world of today aren’t subjects that generally go hand in hand in our own society. This was not always the case however; in Europe the two were synonymous up until relatively recently, (recently meant in the loosest sense of the word,) and are still closely tied in foreign parts of the world, the most obvious example being the Middle East. The duos intimate relationship was exemplified during the late sixteenth century, extending into the seventeenth century, during a series of wars which would later on come to be called “the wars of religion.” But is this title completely appropriate? For wars claiming to be centered on religion, they seem to carry an awfully heavy load of political baggage. In fact, one

Verses 2:190-194 and 216-218 of the Quran reflect what Muslims believe constitutes a just war. A part of verse 191 says, “And kill them wherever you overtake them, and expel them from where they had expelled you.” The Quran even supports a just war in sacred places and sacred times of the year. Another part of verse 191 says, “But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there.” The first part of verse 194 mentions fighting during a sacred time when, “The sacred month for the sacred month; and sacrilege calls for retaliation.” It also addresses how it is a necessity for a Muslim to fight if there is persecution by verse 216 saying, “Fighting is ordained for you, even though you dislike it.” The rest of verse 216 says that the person who finds fighting unappealing must still fight. These people who do not like fighting do not know what is best for themselves, but God does according to verse 216.

The Just War Theory is a doctrine founded by Saint Augustine which has helped bring much discussion and debate to wars and the morality to fight in them. Wars and fights between people have gone on forever and are not perceived to stop anytime soon so it is important that some people thought about when and why they should ever fight. For many years Christians never part toke in this fighting due to teachings of the Bible and Jesus' teaching on 'turning the other cheek' and 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Saint Augustine would be one of the first to talk about how a Christian could be a soldier and serve God at the same time. Through this thought we would receive the Just War Theory which gave a set of requirements for someone to partake

The basis of all of these wars was religious disparity, so one would expect their beliefs to be far removed from one another. However, with the exception of a few, most of these religions have deep similarities in their principles. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all monotheistic religions, that is, they believe there is only one God. He is the foundation of all that exists; He is merciful and had endowed us with a set of rules for our guidance so that we are all noble and virtuous. These three religions deem that humans are the most supreme creatures on earth and that we are capable of both good and evil. When we extend our righteousness, we are doing what God intended; when we exploit our freedom and hurt others, we are going against the will of God. With God’s help, every being is able to turn away from evil and lead a worthy life. Moreover, these religions are also hopeful about the future. They believe in the

Religious conflicts take place when there is polarization in the name of religious identity to fight against each other on various issues such as the construction or demolition of a place of worship, matters concerning blasphemy, sacrilege, etc. Conflict occurs between or within religious groups. Inter religious conflict occurs between different religious groups whereas intra-religious conflict occurs within a particular religious group. Intra religious conflicts are common in almost all the major religions of the world. The conflict between the Catholicism and Protestantism in Christianity; Shia and Sunni in Islam; Hinayana, Theravada and Mahayana in Buddhism; Digambara and Swetambara in Jainism; Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Saktism and Smartism in Hinduism are a few in this regard. They fight with each other claiming that only their belief is genuine and what others believe is false. Inter religious conflicts occur between different religious groups due to various issues. The conflict between Christianity and Islam, between Islam and Hinduism, and between Sikhism and Islam are some

Every culture and society in the world has some form of religion. The most popular religions in the world today are Christianity, Buddhism, and the Muslim religions. Other religious sects exist amongst distinct groups. Every religion has some form of philosophy or ideology followed by members. One common thing about the existing religions is the presence of a supreme being. The Supreme Being exists in many names with different abilities depending on every religion. The purpose of humanity also differs from religion to religion. Members of a particular religion will always defend their religion as propagating peace and ensuring unity of the society. By extending love to other members of the religious society, followers act as ambassadors of peace to their religions. Despite all the efforts to defend depict religion as sources of peace, most wars in the world today are caused by religion. Religion is easily misinterpreted to serve the interest of people propagating in the society. It is easy to brainwash a population through religious ideologies (Richardson, 518). Brainwashing, great overreliance, and love for one’s religion create a barrier between individuals from different religions and societies. The barriers created by different religions create hatred making religion a source war and not peace within the society.