Like Jews, Muslims steer clear of anything with an oink. - Quora. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. However, the answer is no in the sense that religion is often simply an excuse for [69] Unable to reach a decision, Emperor Kinmei (r. 539571) maintained Shinto as the royal religion, but allowed the Soga to erect a temple for the statue of Buddha. But understood within the symbolic world of the ancient writers of Numbers, the story of the war against the Midianites is a kind of dress rehearsal that builds confidence and hope in anticipation of the actual conquest of Canaan that lay ahead. [9] Repgen therefore concluded: wars should only be termed [religious wars], in so far as at least one of the belligerents lays claim to 'religion', a religious law, in order to justify his warfare and to substantiate publicly why his use of military force against a political authority should be a bellum iustum.[9]. [13] The modern word religion comes from the Latin word religio which, in the ancient and medieval world, was understood as an individual virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge. In 1579 Alessandro Farnese, duke di Parma, succeeded in recovering the allegiance of the Catholic provinces, while the Protestant north declared its independence. They know that what they have done is right because their god tells them so. before the collapse of the Caliphate and the emergence of the various later Islamic empires. A comparison with the claimed 120 yields a surprising list of 43 religious wars NOT included under the Religious Wars rubric , including : Arab Israeli Wars This happened many times throughout history, beginning with Muhammad's battles against the polytheist Arabs including the Battle of Badr (624), and battles in Uhud (625), Khandaq (627), Mecca (630) and Hunayn (630). I've been guilty of claiming religion is the source of the world's evils, but it's a careless comment. In other words, even when threatened, seeking peace must be the first course of action. However, religion did often serve as the motivating and integrating factor for justifying military attacks that were actually nationalistic in nature. [13], It was in the 19th century that the terms "Buddhism", "Hinduism", "Taoism", and "Confucianism" first emerged. [74] However, in some cases it may be argued that they hid their pro-Anglican and anti-Catholic motives behind legal parlance, for example by emphasising that the Church of England was the legally established religion: 'Seen in this light, the defenses of Parliament's war, with their apparent legal-constitutional thrust, are not at all ways of saying that the struggle was not religious. [65] Winkler Prins/Encarta (2002) described the Hussites as a 'movement which developed from a religious denomination to a nationalist faction, opposed to German and Papal influence; in the bloody Hussite Wars (14191438), they managed to resist.' is a myth. July 6, 2023. Yale theologian Miroslav Volf argues that as far as Christianity goes, it will only be violent if it is stripped of its content thinned out - and infused with a different set of values. The riots against Igbo in the north in 1966 were said to have been inspired by radio reports of mistreatment of Muslims in the south. Well, yes, we do need to name more, because while clearly there were wars that had religion as the prime cause, an objective look at history reveals that those killed in the name of religion have, in fact, been a tiny fraction in the bloody history of human conflict. [109] Some Hui criticize Uyghur separatism, and generally do not want to get involved in conflicts in other countries over Islam for fear of being perceived as radical. The Vietnam War? '[80] Ian Morris (1994) stated that 'the uprising in 1821 was mainly a religious war', but that philhellene Western volunteers joined the war for quite different reasons, namely to 'regenerate' Greece and thereby Europe, motivated by Romantic ideas about European history and civilisation, and Orientalist views of Ottoman culture. As he envisioned a future where the world is perfected by the conscious acts of human beings, the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah wrote, "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." July 6, 2023. The intervention of the European Cristvo da Gama attempted to help to prevent this outcome, but he was killed by al-Ghazi. The definition of 'religious war' and the applicability of religion to war have a strong influence on how many wars may be properly labelled 'religious wars', and thus how prevalent religious wars have been as opposed to other wars. A 12-year truce was negotiated in 1609, and when the campaign began again it merged into the general conflict of the Thirty Years War, which, like the other wars of religion of this period, was fought mainly for confessional security and political gain. As 14 year-old Malala Yousafzai sat on a bus in the grounds of her school in Pakistan's Swat Valley, a gunman shot her in the head. It is from these principles of natural rights and desiring to assimilate ourselves with our European Christian brethren, that we have embarked upon our war against the Turks. [113]:8:16, While Ba'athist Iraq has sometimes been described as a 'secular dictatorship' before the war, and therefore in ideological conflict with the Shia Islamic 'theocracy' which seized control of Iran in 1979,[113]:3:40 Iraq also launched the so-called Tawakalna ala Allah ("Trust in God") Operations (AprilJuly 1988) in the final stages of the war. [78], The Greek War of Independence (18211829) has sometimes been considered a religious war between Christians and Muslims, especially in its early phase. Take the Inquisition. It's a curious question that reflects both the vicious hatred of Muslims by many so-called new atheists but also a creepy utopian nightmare that is apparently idealised by them. It is often claimed that religion causes conflicts and war. Today we see a growing battle in the Middle East between Shi'ite and Sunni; a Jewish state unleashing militancy against Christian and Muslim Palestinians; and an anti-gay crusade led by some Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders that threatens the sanctity of life itself. "[58], The Crusades against Muslim expansion in the 11th century were recognized as a "holy war" or a bellum sacrum by later writers in the 17th century. Beyond the initial damage caused by the munitions upon impact, many bomblets fail to detonate immediately. The Crusades, The Inquisition, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, 9/11. In France, the Edict of Nantes in 1598 embraced the provisions of previous treaties and accorded the Protestant Huguenots toleration within the state, together with the political and military means of defending the privileges that they had exacted. To be sure, the institution is dysfunctional, but wishing for its disintegration reflects a savagery that will only inflame, not reduce tensions. July 6, 2023. Sudan is majority-Muslim and South Sudan is majority-Christian.[122][123][124][125]. It has been argued that the antecedents of the war can be traced back to the conflicts and political compromises reached after the end of Lebanon's administration by the Ottoman Empire. Although the political power each of the clans could wield over the royal family was also an important factor, and was arguably a strategic reason for the Soga to adopt and promote Buddhism as a means to increase their authority, the religious beliefs from both doctrines, as well as religious explanations from events that happened after the arrival of Buddhism, were also causes of the conflict that escalated to war. [81], The IsraeliPalestinian conflict can primarily be viewed as an ethnic conflict between two parties where one party is most often portrayed as a singular ethno-religious group which only consists of the Jewish majority and ignores non-Jewish minority Israeli citizens who support the existence of a State of Israel to varying degrees, especially the Druze and the Circassians who, for example, volunteer to serve in the IDF, participate in combat and are represented in the Israeli parliament in greater percentages than Israeli Jews are[82][83] as well as Israeli Arabs, Samaritans,[84] various other Christians, and Negev Bedouin;[85] the other party is sometimes presented as an ethnic group which is multi-religious (although most numerously consisting of Muslims, then Christians, then other religious groups up to and including Samaritans and even Jews). '[41] He mentioned the Maccabean Revolt (167160 BCE), the First JewishRoman War (6673 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132136 CE) as three examples of a "holy war" or "Commanded War" (Hebrew: Milkhemet Mitzvah) in the eyes of Rabbinic Judaism at the time. October 1, 2021 SHARE PexelsPixabay Does religion cause war? His desire to perpetuate French weakness through civil war led him at one point to negotiate with the Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre (afterward Henry IV of France). [37], The Muslim conquests were a military expansion on an unprecedented scale, beginning in the lifetime of Muhammad and spanning the centuries, down to the Ottoman wars in Europe. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. (See also war; law of war; military technology; collective violence.) This includes Christianity. Atheism, simply lack of belief in a god, has not yet proved compelling enough to motivate murder. Atheists are no more or less capable of evil than anyone else, but it seems that murder, particularly mass murder and war, is a sin of commission. And the Mongol Asian rampage, which is thought to have killed nearly 30 million people, had no religious component whatsoever. The two most destructive wars in history, World Wars I and II both had nothing to do with religion. But the 20th century is filled with examples, namely Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's China, that didn't need God as an excuse to commit genocide against a state's own people. If religion cant be blamed for most wars and violence, then [114] "Al Anfal" literally means the spoils (of war) and was used to describe the military campaign of extermination and looting commanded by Ali Hassan al-Majid (also known as "Chemical Ali"). [citation needed], In 1936, after Sheng Shicai expelled 20,000 Kazakhs from Xinjiang to Qinghai, the Hui led by General Ma Bufang massacred their fellow Muslims, the Kazakhs, until there were only 135 of them left. Such data are not supportive of the claims of Kimball et al. [16] In Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as "religion", also means law. Clearly there are those who have committed horrendous acts based on religious zeal, and we must be alert to these threats and respond forcefully. In his hilarious analysis of The 10 Commandments, George Carlin said to loud applause, "More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason," and many take this idea as an historical fact. It's estimated that over 160 million civilians were killed in genocides in the 20th century alone, with nearly 100 million killed by the Communist states of USSR and China. History simply does not support the hypothesis that religion is the major cause of conflict. Allah will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily Allah is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will). '[57] Similarly, a successful Carolingian campaign against the Pannonian Avars in the 790s led to their forced conversion to Christianity. It allows little doubt or questioning about the unknown. And contrary to Stout, the Civil War was not prolonged or made more intractable by religion, or at least not by religion alone. Cluster weapons have been used as far back as World War II and in more than three dozen conflicts since, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition. Each impact creates a fireball about as hot as the core of the sun, followed by a radioactive mushroom cloud. For more than six months, President Biden and his aides have been wrestling with one of the most vexing questions in the war in Ukraine: whether to risk letting Ukrainian WebThe Crusades were a war between Christians and Muslims which centered around the city of Jerusalem and the Holy places of Palestine- a religiously motivated war that lasted a total of 702 years. However, the militarization of the Palestinian refugee population, along with the arrival of the PLO guerrilla forces, sparked an arms race for the different Lebanese political factions. [36] In other words, just conduct within a war (jus in bello) is important in Vedic and epic literature such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. On the Arab side, the crushing defeat dealt a fatal blow to secular, revolutionary Arab nationalism, from which it [57], The Crusades are a prime example of wars whose religious elements have been extensively debated for centuries, with some groups of people in some periods emphasising, restoring or overstating the religious aspects, and other groups of people in some periods denying, nuancing or downplaying the religious aspects of the Crusades in favour of other factors. [according to whom?] In 1562, seven years after the Peace of Augsburg had established a truce in Germany on the basis of territorialism, France became the centre of religious wars which endured, with brief intermissions, for 36 years. Wars in the name of religion have been only a tiny fraction of the history of warfare. Lebanon was promised independence, which was achieved on 22 November 1943. Judaism has always taught that war may only be considered when there is a clear threat, and only after every other option has been exhausted. 13001200 bce [99], In a country where the Buddhist majority was estimated to be between 70 and 90 percent,[100][101][102][103][104] Diem ruled with a strong religious bias. Of course the Hebrew Bible chronicles many wars -- most notably Moses' conflicts in the desert and Joshua's conquest of the nations of Canaan -- and we may see these as examples of religiously sanctioned violence. In their recently published book, "Encyclopedia of Wars," authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare, and from their list of 1763 wars only 123 have been classified to involve a religious cause, accounting for less than 7 percent of all wars and less than 2 percent of all people killed in warfare. Some old Uyghurs in Kashgar remember that the Hui army at the Battle of Kashgar (1934) massacred 2,000 to 8,000 Uyghurs, which caused tension as more Hui moved into Kashgar from other parts of China. John Casimir of the Palatinate, the Calvinist champion of Protestantism in France and the Low Countries, maintained an understanding with the neighbouring princes of Lorraine, who led the ultra-Catholic Holy League in France. Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. The US last used Spanish, Savoyard, and papal troops supported the Catholic cause in France against Huguenots aided by Protestant princes in England and Germany. A confessional Parliament was created in which Muslims and Christians were given quotas of seats. [97] Officials estimated that 500 people were massacred in night-time raids by rampaging Muslim gangs. [98], During the rule of the Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam, the discrimination against the majority Buddhist population generated the growth of Buddhist institutions as they sought to participate in national politics and gain better treatment. . While all these ideas are true for a minority of the population, they do not describe normative religious beliefs and practices for the majority of believers. Yes Religion is among the reasons historically countries go to war, it is even a primary cause of some conflicts like the Crusades, Thirty Years' War, and the Lebanese [59][non-primary source needed], Jim Bradbury (2004) noted that the belligerents in the Reconquista were not all equally motivated by religion, and that a distinction should be made between 'secular rulers' on the one hand, and on the other hand Christian military orders which came from elsewhere (including the three main orders of Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller and Teutonic Knights), or were established inside Iberia (such as those of Santiago, Alcntara and Calatrava). Philip Benedict (2006) argued that Repgen's definition of 'religious war' was too narrow, because sometimes both legitimisation and motivation can established. According to Kalevi Holsti (1991, p.308, Table 12.2), who catalogued and categorised wars from 1648 to 1989 into 24 categories of 'issues that generated wars', 'protect[ion of] religious confrres' (co-religionists) was (one of) the primary cause(s) of 14% of all wars during 16481714, 11% during 17151814, 10% during 18151914, and 0% during 19181941 and 19451989. This is a very odd moment in our culture.". The Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi came close to extinguishing the ancient realm of Abyssinia, and forcibly converting all of its surviving subjects to Islam. [60] '[The Knights] were more committed to religious war than some of their secular counterparts, were opposed to treating with Muslims and carried out raids and even atrocities, such as decapitating Muslim prisoners. Yes in the sense that religion has been the given reason for much conflict. Cluster weapons have been used as far back as World War II and in more than three dozen conflicts since, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition. [26][pageneeded], While early empires could be described[according to whom?] Even the thirty years war, a war that was especially brutal and was one When Martin Luther King Jr confronted racism in the white church in the South he called on those churches not to become more secular, but more Christian. Many fight for patriotism: for country, tribe or race. Thus, religion was merged with national identity. It is understandable that these misconceptions persist, though, because they come from the loudest voices on the extremes, and like other polarizing positions in politics and culture are simplistic ideas that promote easy "us vs. them" thinking. [45] Olson (2012), who believed the war narrative to be a fictional story with a theological purpose, noted that the Israelite soldiers' actions in Numbers 31 closely followed the holy war regulations set out in Deuteronomy 20:14, although Moses' commandment to also kill the captive male children and non-virgin women was a marked departure from these regulations. My gentle, peaceable mate, wanting to avoid one of those conversations, said: "Mam, Yazzy doesn't like pork so don't give her any." [118] Notably, foreign Muslim volunteers came to Bosnia to wage jihad and were thus known as "Bosnian mujahideen". [20], In their 1997 Encyclopedia of Wars, authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod documented 1763 notable wars in world history, out of which 121 wars were in the "religious wars" category in the index. Beyond the initial damage caused by the munitions upon impact, many bomblets fail to detonate immediately. The vast majority of wars have been conducted in the pursuit of profits or power, or waged for territory or tribal supremacy, even if religion has been caught up in those pursuits. On the other side of the world, Anders Behring Breivik slaughtered 77 Norwegians. . In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to which religious, economic, ethnic or other aspects of a conflict are predominant in a given war. The historical evidence is quite clear: Religion is not the #1 cause of war. None of this is to excuse the undeniable barbarity unleashed by religionists over the centuries. that are not connected to a declared war) are not based on religion. However, both polities exhausted their resources and manpower in this conflict, allowing the northward migration of the Oromo into their present homelands to the north and west of Addis Ababa. In some years in the early post-war era, around half a million people died through direct violence in wars. Ukraine war: Why Russia's statements about Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are deeply worrying. In this extract from the book For God's Sake, one question is asked to four Australian writers with very different beliefs, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
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