Religion- how many people will die in its name? Will the slaughters ever end? Religion is a very powerful thing, sometimes good, and sometimes bad. Wars over thoughts on religions have emerged over the years, making it a common thought in our world’s history. The occurrence of the Armenian genocide is just one of the many wars of beliefs.
In April 1915, the Ottoman government started a new movement against their Armenian peoples. This horrible act continued until 1923, when the Turks invaded the empire, taking control. In 1915, there was an estimated two million Armenians, and about one million had vanished by 1918, while thousands were homeless and refugees. (Adalian) By 1923, almost the whole Armenian population had vanished. At this time, the Turks who had invaded the Ottoman empire had conquered West Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe. (Adalian) The main place of government control for the empire was Istanbul (Constantinople), and the Turks practiced the Islamic religion, making them “martial people”. The Armenians, or Christians, were considered second class citizens, and were not guaranteed complete safety. (Adalian) Since the Armenians were not Muslims, they had to pay taxes, and were denied many privileges.
The Armenians had lived in the Middle East area for over three thousand years, spending hundreds of them before the Turks started to invade them. The mistreated Christians were very ashamed to be the first genocide of the 20th century, let alone have their rights taken. (“Armenian Genocide”) In this time, the Turks seemed invincible, but today, they seem like they could never win a single battle. Since they were so indomitable, they had all the of the unjustified Armenians under their thumbs, taking all their...
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...n genocide had a toll on the occurrence of the Holocaust, it is a well-known fact that Hitler did know about the manifestation of the Armenian genocide. (Kifner)
So, do you think religion has an effect on our world? Just think, without religion, maybe none of these wars would’ve happened, and some innocent people may have lived a long life. But, without religion, we wouldn’t be the same world as we are today.
Works Cited
“Armenian Genocide”. United Human Rights Council. Armenian Youth, Federation. N.p.. Web. 15 Nov 2013. http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/armenian_genocide.htm Kifner, John. N.p.. The New York Times Web. 21 Nov 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_armeniangenocide.html
Rouben Paul Adalian, Armenian Genocide . N.p.. Web. 18 Nov 2013. http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html
Travis, Middle East Quarterly, pp. 27-35
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
Willsher, Kim and Sam Jones. "Turkey Warns France over Armenian Genocide Law." The Guardian. The Guardian, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Nov. 2013
Anyone who believes that the Holocaust was not a form of genocide is misleading and to prevent it from happening again, people should do research. The Holocaust in fact was one of the largest cases of genocide, but this is the one where nearly 11 million people, not just Jews, were brutally murdered.
The. Gunter, Michael M. Armenian History and the Question of Genocide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print. The.
...he human depravity one can imagine. Even though Genocide did not begin with the Holocaust, Germany and Adolf Hitlers’ heartless desire for “Aryanization” came at the high cost of human violence, suffering and humiliation towards the Jewish race. These warning signs during the Holocaust, such as Anti-Semitism, Hitler Youth, Racial profiling, the Ghettos, Lodz, Crystal Night, Pogroms, and Deportation unraveled too late for the world to figure out what was going on and help prevent the horrors that came to pass. The lessons learned from all of this provide a better understanding of all the scars genocide leaves behind past and present. In spite the ongoing research in all of these areas today, we continue to learn new details and accounts. By exploring the various warning signs that pointed toward genocide, valuable knowledge was gained on how not to let it happen again.
Religion has always played a major role in the development of human society. This is the main reason why it has so often been used for unjust purposes. The concept of war is in complete opposition to what Islam and Christianity teach their followers. Still, by different means, religion was and is often brought into play to cater for the interests of powerful people.
On April 24, 1915 the Armenian genocide began. 1 million and 5 hundred-thousand people got killed because of Turkish government. Many of them got raped, enslaved and murdered. For instance, they drowned people in rivers, burned them alive, executed and etc. They also kidnapped children and sent to Turkish families. In many places, Turkish people rapped and used Armenian women as a slave. “The Armenians marched by Turkish soldiers” picture in “artvoice.com” website shows the Armenians nearby prison in Mezierh by armed Turkish soldiers. Also only 25% Armenians deported to the deserts of Syria and Iraq. After the war between Armenian and Turks, only 380’000 Armenian remained in the Ottoman Empire. In June 1915, 25 percent of the Armenian population was deported t...
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
The Armenian Genocide can be labelled as a very controversial topic. Many people argue that the massacre of Armenians was considered a genocide. On the other hand, an abundance of people along with the Turks deny the event to be a genocide even till this day. The Turkish government deliberately had an intent to isolate and destroy the Armenians. They had an organized plan to carry out the killings and the acts of the Turkish government can be considered as the destruction of Armenians, not just the killings of them. The mass murder of this specific group of people during World War One should be identified as a genocide not only in this course but around the world as well.
Works Cited "Armenian Genocide, The." The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
Hovannisian, Richard. "The Reality and Relevance of the Armenian Genocide." UCLA: Armenian Studies. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/centers/armenian/source109.html (accessed April 11, 2014).
Religion has made people blind, dumb and deaf to the reality. They have faith without reasoning which is blind. On the contrary, it has often made people to become bigots and fanatics. Bigotry and fanaticism have led to persecution, inhuman treatment and misery in the past.
So many of our principals and morals are based off of our religions that I’m not sure if people would be able to live without a religion. Going back to the idea I keep bringing up, people want an answer to those big questions and I am just not quite sure if people are just able to sit back and not give any thought to it. If there were no religions I believe the world would be sort of similar to today. It might be more violent and hostile with more differing views as there would be another thing that a person could not connect with others. There would be many disagreements, as every person believes their own thing. Religion just seems to be such an important part in lives today and factors into so many decisions that I just couldn’t see the world without
Print. The. Hymowitz, Sarah, and Amelia Parker. " Lessons - The Genocide Teaching Project - Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law." American University, Washington College of Law. American UniversityWashington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, 2011.
Religion has screwed us up for a long time and we'd be better off without it. By "us" I mean Americans living in the 21st century. Without religions we would have fewer labels separating us from each other and we wouldn't hate Jews or Catholics or Muslims. If we didn't have religions, we wouldn't have to convert anyone or "save" anyone. If we didn't have religions, people could no longer get caught up in the fine lines of religious rightousness or be trapped in a double-standard morality. And most importantly, we would be truly free of religious engendered guilt that never quite goes away.