The issue of this essay is to discuss whether religions cause conflict or not. This is a very complex subject, since there can be many point of views, but after my research I can state that they do (not). In the first part of the essay, I will give arguments for/against and in the second one for/against.
Most religions are, or at least they say to be, pacific. Among Christianity’s values we can find forgiveness and generosity, which leads to believe that the religion is very peaceful and only cares about others’ wellbeing. Judaism’s values are more or less the same, the most important ones being charity and honesty. Islam’s most famous values are compassion and obedience. No one would think these three religions, the only monotheist and the …show more content…
The main issue is that Western powers use religion as an excuse to go to war. The causes of the called religion wars are mostly political and economic reasons. These countries want to enlarge their international influence and prove their military power. It could be considered that the main cause for all of the wars throughout history has not really been religion, but another reason. It could be possible that all these wars were not fought in the name of God, but in the name of a country, an empire or, sometimes, a person. The reigns wanted power and territories where they could spread it, and the only way to gain it was to invade other areas and force its citizens to behave how they wanted them to, especially, they made them believe in what they did. This is a mainly a matter of respect and tolerance. In the book Religion, Intolerance, and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation , there is a very good definition of tolerance: “An attitude of tolerance is only possible when some action or practice is objectionable to us, but we have overriding reasons to allow that action or practice to take place”. In other words, someone has the power to stop an action from occurring but permits it. Most times, the conflict with and between religions comes from a place of disrespect and intolerance. What would have happened if the Roman Catholic Church had not opposed to the conversion to Protestantism? Many wars and many deaths would have been
Most religions are, or at least they say to be, pacific. Among Christianity’s values we can find forgiveness and generosity, which leads to believe that the religion is very peaceful and only cares about others’ wellbeing. Judaism’s values are more or less the same, the most important ones being charity and honesty. Islam’s most famous values are compassion and obedience. No one would think these three religions, the only monotheist and the …show more content…
The main issue is that Western powers use religion as an excuse to go to war. The causes of the called religion wars are mostly political and economic reasons. These countries want to enlarge their international influence and prove their military power. It could be considered that the main cause for all of the wars throughout history has not really been religion, but another reason. It could be possible that all these wars were not fought in the name of God, but in the name of a country, an empire or, sometimes, a person. The reigns wanted power and territories where they could spread it, and the only way to gain it was to invade other areas and force its citizens to behave how they wanted them to, especially, they made them believe in what they did. This is a mainly a matter of respect and tolerance. In the book Religion, Intolerance, and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation , there is a very good definition of tolerance: “An attitude of tolerance is only possible when some action or practice is objectionable to us, but we have overriding reasons to allow that action or practice to take place”. In other words, someone has the power to stop an action from occurring but permits it. Most times, the conflict with and between religions comes from a place of disrespect and intolerance. What would have happened if the Roman Catholic Church had not opposed to the conversion to Protestantism? Many wars and many deaths would have been