Does Religion Cause War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Does Religion Cause War - Research Paper Example Even though America was highly secular until recent times, it changed its secular face after 9/11 World Trade Center attack by Al Qaida. Christianity is slowly taking control of American politics now and the rise of the concept of Christian Right is clearly underlines above belief. The ongoing war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq are motivated culturally rather than politically which is evident from the words of American political leaders itself. In Palestine - Israeli conflict also, religion plays an important role. The conflicts between India and Pakistan also believed to be the clashes between Hindus and Muslims. In short, the involvement of religion in many of the ongoing wars is evident to everybody now. Even though political and religious leaders deny such religious involvement in wars, nobody can deny the fact that wars between similar communities are not occurring whereas wars between different communities or religion are going on now. This paper explores the extent of relig ious involvement in some of the ongoing wars.The importance of religion in human life cannot be denied under any circumstances because of the huge contributions it provided to the development of human life in different periods of time in the past. In fact religion is the only entity which forces the people to maintain certain morality and ethics in life. While science and technology stressed the importance of human life in this world, religions give more emphasize to the life after death. Majority of the religions describe our earthly life as only a temporary assignment. Moreover religions ask its believers to lead a peaceful and sin free life in this world to achieve permanent or eternal life after death. In short, religions were perceived as the symbols of peace and harmony in the past. However, the scenario has changed a lot in the recent past. â€Å"Since September 11, 2001, there has been a revival of the discussion of the just war theory by theologians, as well as political t heorists, social philosophers, and the like†(Ali, 2009, p.241). Many of the current sociologists, philosophers, politicians and psychologists are of the view that the major reason behind recent wars was cultural rather than political or economic. According to the prominent American political scientist of the modern era, Samuel Hutington, â€Å"the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict are cultural. The clash of civilizations is dominating current global politics† (Hutington,1993, p.22). In short, the involvement of religions in politics is causing major problems like wars, according to many scholars. III. Literature Review: a. The role of Christianity in causing wars According to Kyle (2007), American secularism is undergoing drastic changes in recent times. Many of the theologians and other religious leaders are of the view that America was established on Christian principles and that it is a Christian nation with a special mission. However, the concept of a Christian America has been hijacked by the secularists and feminists in recent times (Kyle, 2007). According to Ray Moore, president of Exodus Mandate, a South Carolina-based group which organizes home-schooling for Christian children, â€Å"