Throughout history, religion and war are often seen side by side, and some wars are fought as a result of religion. One of the best examples of these holy wars is the Crusades, where Catholics fought Muslims for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Lands. By the time Jerusalem was captured by Catholics at the end of the first Crusade, 60,000 died in Jerusalem alone. The deaths of innocent people was justified by the Church, who stated that it was ‘God’s will’ that they controlled Jerusalem. This justification of atrocities has persisted beyond the 11th Century all the way up until the present day, and is seen in organizations such as ISIS. This justification is also seen in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, where religion is used as an excuse
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However, the story does provide a good example of what this looks like, when the punishment given to Okonkwo and his clan members far exceeded the crime that was committed. When Enoch ‘kills’ an egwugwu, the remaining egwugwu go to Reverend Smith and say “...this [Church] which he built must be destroyed” (190). The egwugwu are later taken to the Deputy Commissioner, who decides that “...[egwugwu] will pay a fine of two hundred bags of cowries” (194) and then proceeds to “shave off all the hair on the men’s heads” and “not give [the men] any water to drink” (195). While what the men had done to the church may have been wrong, this humiliation of the men and the refusal to treat them like human beings by denying them basic necessities far surpasses this. The Deputy Commissioner has absolute power over the men in this instance and is able to instill fear into the hearts of their clan by holding them captive. By using this fear to his advantage, he raises the fine to two hundred and fifty bags of cowries for his own greed (197). This misuse of power can also been seen in the “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césaire, where it is stated that ‘humanity must not...allow...laziness of uncivilized people to leave idle indefinitely the wealth which God has confided to them”. This thought that God gives and takes wealth from
However, the story does provide a good example of what this looks like, when the punishment given to Okonkwo and his clan members far exceeded the crime that was committed. When Enoch ‘kills’ an egwugwu, the remaining egwugwu go to Reverend Smith and say “...this [Church] which he built must be destroyed” (190). The egwugwu are later taken to the Deputy Commissioner, who decides that “...[egwugwu] will pay a fine of two hundred bags of cowries” (194) and then proceeds to “shave off all the hair on the men’s heads” and “not give [the men] any water to drink” (195). While what the men had done to the church may have been wrong, this humiliation of the men and the refusal to treat them like human beings by denying them basic necessities far surpasses this. The Deputy Commissioner has absolute power over the men in this instance and is able to instill fear into the hearts of their clan by holding them captive. By using this fear to his advantage, he raises the fine to two hundred and fifty bags of cowries for his own greed (197). This misuse of power can also been seen in the “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césaire, where it is stated that ‘humanity must not...allow...laziness of uncivilized people to leave idle indefinitely the wealth which God has confided to them”. This thought that God gives and takes wealth from