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religion influence society
Conflict Between Christians And Muslims
impact on religion in ancient civilizations
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Organized Religion
Ever since man has chosen to write down his history, organized religion has been a prominent topic and has influenced and shaped all people’s lives. There have always been believers and non-believers. Since the beginning, non-believers have been persecuted by inquisitions, prosecuted by witch trials, and murdered by stoning and crucifying for even questioning the “truth” about a supreme being and supposed crimes against that being. Religion had a purpose in earlier times to explain life, but today science provides more concrete answers. Religious beliefs are old and outdated and people should trust the scientific facts that have been proven, not what has been indoctrinated into their heads since childhood.
Quarrels about organized religion have been the root of many problems in society. Non-believers of early religions were often killed because of their disbelief. The lucky ones lived through the torture or were exiled. Some groups went on crusades and killed other groups because they believed they were wrong. The followers of each believed their group was “right”. These problems have extended through the ages and into modern society. Religious crusades still exist, but the world looks at them differently. They are considered terrorist attacks or gang-related activity, but with the twist of religious freedom to justify the killing.
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Religion is one of the many factors that define an individual. So, any threat to a person’s beliefs is a threat to his or hers’ very being. The clash between Muslims and Christians is just one of the many groups with distinct differences and beliefs. Therefore, these differences in religion often influence political rivalries as well. Throughout history, someone observing world affairs may note that religion is a contentious issue; however, political tension emerges from this very issue in recent times. Doing so has labeled politics as the core of many conflicts worldwide. These battles between religions also inhibit agitation by one group against another, for gaining reputable land, wealth, and political power. Thus, politics is the primary
Religion has many classifications, such as tribal, classical, transcendental and cosmological, usually based on one's belief and understandings. Religion also has many definitions, usually based on one's experience. A particular definition that I found was Religion originates in an attempt to represent and order beliefs, feelings, imaginings and actions that arise in response to direct experience of the sacred and the spiritual (Connelly, 1986). Religion also has many characteristics such as rituals, symbols and myths which play in an important part in how religion is viewed. We will take a look on how the definition, classification and characteristics of religion and how it ties into our understanding of the universe and our relationship with it.
Svensson, I. (2007, December). Fighting with Faith: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 51, No. 6, pp 930-949. Sage Publication, Inc.
When discussing religion, conflict, and the nature of man, President Richard Nixon has been quoted as saying, “In the long term, we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious war.” When examining the countless massacres and other acts of man’s inhumanity to man that occurred during the Crusades, Nixon’s statement undoubtedly rings true. Occurring from 1095 to 1272, the Crusades triggered a progression of conflicts in which European Christians sought to regain control of the Levant from Muslim control, in addition to Europe’s response to the threatening expansion of Islam. It was during the Crusades that both groups
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
In different circumstances using violence on behalf of religion has aided a reformation, or the spreading of the gospel. Other times, millions of people have died due to resistance. Some situations call for violence and others do not. However, there is a failsafe way of determining whether violence should be used on behalf of religion, or not.
It is a common and oft-repeated opinion that religion, throughout history, has fueled and inspired many violent acts. Some, if not many, of the individuals who express this view carry it further, saying that the religions themselves are to blame, and that the religious beliefs inherent to them unduly divide human society. This view, however, unfortunately lacks a level of nuance and historical understanding worthy of the issue at hand. Two historical documents: Urban the II’s Call for the First Crusade and Massacre of Jews illustrate the many different forces and motivations at play in allegedly religiously-motivated violence in one of its most commonly cited examples: the Crusades. In both documents, religious language, justification, and professed understanding act in covert ways to cover the underlying beliefs, needs, and desires in the physical and social contexts of those active within them.
In the current news, the religious tensions between Christians and Muslim extremists are a recurring topic that sparks conversations between many people. The history behind this religious conflict goes back into the early 7th and 8th centuries during the times of the Byzantine and West European Empires. Although the conflicts between the two religions may have not been profound in the past, they were solidified due to the Crusades. Lasting from 1096 to 1204 CE, the Crusades were a prominent event in history and they had a significant impact on both the Byzantine and Western European Empires. These four expeditions involved the long distance travel across Europe, the loss of many innocent lives and the destruction of cities and important artifacts.The
At its core, religion and history are intrinsically intertwined. Religion is often humanity’s driving force while history is the record of what they do with it. However, different belief systems are a diverse as the people who believe them. When these different religions come into contact with each other, there’s bound to be conflict. Prominent examples of these conflicts are causing warfare, division within a single belief system, and societal issues. Religion has been a major dividing force throughout history and it still is today.
Throughout history, Europe has gone through plenty of significant changes that shape the way it is today. Like the rest of the world, many events such as revolutions, epidemics, raids, trades, revolts, and major innovations have brought as many benefits as well as detriments to Europe. One such example is the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages comprises a multitude of occurrence like the Bubonic Plague, the fall of Rome, the rise of religion, … Religious wars and uprisings have also been playing a crucial role in Europe’s history, not only in the claiming of territory, dominance over other religions, and the questioning of higher authority, but also in the spreading of cultural and religious diversity. The Crusade is a classic example of religious
The ongoing war in the Middle East has created much controversy in the eyes of western civilization. Like the youth movement of the 1960s, war tends to create tension between tradition and newly adapted lifestyles. Plus, for every war in history, there have always been problems for the citizens of either side. Therefore, war exhibits fundamentalism at it’s best, easily allowing different religions to protest the “apparent” atrocities of customary civilization. In turn, some of these protests ended up taking a more extremist route when dealing with such radical issues. As Karen Armstrong puts it, “Perhaps the most important factor to understand about this widespread religious militancy is its rootedness in a deep fear of annihilation. Every fundamentalist movement I have studied in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is convinced that modern secular society wants to wipe out religion-even in America. Fundamentalists, therefore, believe they are fighting for survival, and when people feel that their backs are to the wall, some can strike out violently.” (Karen Armstrong)
Suicide bombing has been linked with Islamic religion over the years and is considered the act of terrorism in the world. The acts of violence are unfortunate. Whether they are done by Muslims or not is controversial. The link of the vice with religion has been a major talking point over the years because of the continual attacks by Islamic extremists. Islam is a religion, and Muslims represent a following of that religion. The act of following Islam by Muslims could be sometimes imperfect, but that does not mean that Islam itself is to be blamed for that. The noble Quran is the most important book of the Islam faith. It is considered as the very word of God. The Quran contains dozens of passages that preach peace and tolerance, so all the violent attacks happen all over the world are not always related to Islam.
Starting from one of the very first holy wars, the Crusades are a prime example of this disuniting force of religion. Stemming from Pope Urban II’s rallying cry for soldiers to reclaim the Holy Land, this was a series of religious wars launched by Christian states of Europe against the Muslims. Thousands of men, both young and old, were motivated by promises of wealth, religious salvation, and chivalry to fight this religious battle against the Muslims. Despite the nobility, these wars had severe consequences between Christian and Islamic believers. In the article “The Crusades” by W. Robert Godfrey, he expresses, “Hundreds of thousands died, and the terrible massacre in Jerusalem by the crusaders has seriously damaged the reputation of Christianity among Muslims ever since.” This major event in history created tension between Christians and Muslim faiths. As one of the bloodiest wars in history, this conflict between the Muslims and the Christians represents how religion ruptures peace between two segregated sides.
In the world we are in today, every continent, city, and smallest village has some sort of belief set. Religious belief frequently has the most impact over societies with religion’s ability to mold social laws, boundaries, and sometimes hold entire sway over government systems. However, because religion is left to interpretation of its audiences, religion itself can only be as peaceful or as violent as its followers make it. When religious beliefs are paired with religious intolerance, and people willing to act on that intolerance, religious beliefs can take a turn towards violence, death, and destruction. Religious intolerance is being unwilling to tolerate another 's religious beliefs or practices
War and violence is a huge issue in the world today and is the cause of a lot of the problems and issues that have happened whether it was 1000 years ago or in the 21st century. There have been many pointless wars and acts of violence that have killed thousands of people over religion. For example, the Crusades, created by the Latin Roman Catholic Church, was a series of military expeditions intended to take control of the Holy Land from Muslim control. They were often pointlessly violent, sometimes even involving Christians fighting Christians. The main purpose of these battles was to access the shrines that were affiliated with Jesus’ life in hope to find the one containing the tomb of Christ. The Crusaders overpowered many cities on the Mediterranean coast, building castles across the Holy Land to protect their new territories. There were more than four Crusades, each containing the people participating in different acts of war for the Holy Land. The Crusades are considered a ‘religious war’ and are a prime example of how war causes religion to divide because the Christians were fighting to take control of the Holy Land from the M...