Religion is the Cause of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Religion is the Cause of War - Essay Example They may have heard the news about religious wars and conflicts, and they themselves may have come to believe that religion is the reason behind civil war conflicts and even internationally known incidents like the 911 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Nevertheless, they may not exactly know why this is so or what exactly is going on in the minds of religious terrorists or those people who wage war and conflict in the name of religion or God. The paper is therefore intended for them in order to enlighten them and strengthen their belief in the idea that religion is indeed a significant and primary cause of war. The reasons in order to establish this thesis are to be presented as ideas of individual experts on the topic. The expected response is a greater awareness of the idea and development of a mind which is independent of religious influence. The less religion can get into one’s psyche, the less chances it will encourage one towards conflict. The point that the presentation is aiming at is that sociologically and psychologically, religion is a major cause of war. According to Jonathan Fox (2004), who is a lecturer of political studies in Bar-Ilan University in Maryland, and who was Ph.D. in Government and Politics, which he received from the University of Maryland, religion causes war because it is modernity that has triggered its role. Although many theorists thought that religion would disappear or would somehow dissolve into something insignificant because of the advent of modernization, religion has somehow even attained a stronger role in society more than ever. There are various reasons and evidence presented by Fox in order to establish his point. First, efforts at modernization have actually failed in many countries of the Third World where modernization was introduced. The western secular ideologies introduced by modernization have actually caused a backlash in these areas of the world. The reason for this is the strong religi ous culture of the Third World, which is mostly tribal in nature and mostly highly specific among natives, which means that they may not include an extremely large community of believers like Christians. Actually, tribal groups like those of African tribes and even some cults have members who are more loyal to their groups than those belonging to large religions like Christianity and Islam. This is something that proponents of modernization failed to see. Modernization has actually therefore failed to anticipate the role of traditional lifestyles, morals and community values. These things actually strengthen the community and religious spirit of the people who are members of these religious tribal groups. That is why the more these groups are threatened by modernization, the more religious they will tend to be and the more violent or defensive they may become in order to defend their identity. This means that anything that condemns or threatens the stability of these small religions is actually conflict. The more these religions are threatened, the more violent the members become and the more they tend to cause conflict and war. One last point that Fox (2004) emphasizes is that the newfound freedom that democracy has afforded the common individual when it comes to choosing his religion has actually made people increase in their religiosity. This means that people who have freely chosen their systems of faith actually have a greater reason for defending their religion for defending it means defending their choice, as choice often reflects one’