I wasn't raised to be religious; I can keep track of the number of times I've gone to church on one hand. So personally I never really understood the thrall religion has over people. I see the actions people take in the name of their religion, and it makes me wonder if religion isn't just a tool people use to justify their actions. This always seemed especially true in war. People seem to often use religion to justify the decision to go to war. In almost every war it seems that the brutality is justified and even glorified because it is believed to be for a higher power.
The Holocaust, the Crusades, and the Iranian Revolution are only a few of the many wars that have been justified by religion. Almost every religious group has at one point gone to war for their religion. In this current day and age no war gives proof to this quite like The War on Terror. These Muslim extremists have bombed building at the expense of their lives, beheaded innocents on the web, and terrorized towns all in the name of Islam.
Is it really fair to use religion as a security blanket to justify these horrific actions? How can it when these extremists make up only a very small portion of the Islamic people. The use of religion in war creates stereotypes that people apply to all followers of the religion.
It's difficult for me to find religion as a satisfying excuse for war because their is no physical proof that this is what the higher power's desire, yet people have and still continue to use religion as a just reason to go to war.
I agree with your point that religion has been used as a tool to justify all types of horrible actions but it does not necessarily mean that the religious community condemns these actions. With every group of people that do something horrible there is a group that opposes these actions. There are also so many different interpretations of religious books that can seem to justify war but can be seen as something completely different.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. Why should religion be justification? It seems like a paradox because religion is a method for people to find peace, and creating war out of a peaceful philosophy does not make sense!! I think in a lot of these situations one leader has used religion to control and convince a group of a certain idea in order to gain power, resulting in war. Religion can be peaceful or it can be consuming and dangerous.
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