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Religion And War
The other day me and my daughter were reading history book of grade 7. It was about Jerusalem on which people of three religions have have their claim. Initially it was under Jews then Romans conquered it and after them Muslims concurred the place. My daughter asked why Muslims fought the wars to capture the place. That shows a normal mind would would find it difficult to justify war. I did not have anything to say so I kept quiet.
Also while reading Will Durant, he refers to Muslim expansionist wars along with all others that humanity has fought. Again the question arises why religion has to opt for war in the first place.
I’m still trying to understand the scheme of God in this world. It is told that God sent Messengers and as a result people who rejected them were punished sometime directly sometime by the followers of the religion. I wonder why there has to be punishment in the first place. Especially war in the name of religion doesn’t appear right. The history shows that wars in the name of religion has continued throughout.
Wouldn’t it had been better if only preachers were sent without requiring to punish the people. In this way a religion would have stayed clear of waging war and hence controversies.
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Religion And War
updated 3 years, 3 months ago
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Instead of judging things on the basis of what could be better, we should try to understand the wisdom behind them.
Please see if the following helps:
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In the name of Allah, the Protector.
As I see it.
This question or, perhaps, a perception of reality and history has a fallacy attached to it. The correlation/causation fallacy (if two things appear to be correlated that would mean that the one caused the other). The predominantly large reason for war is not religion. Data doesn’t prove that religion is the primary cause. The distortion or misrepresentation of data, for personal prejudices, is the source of maligning religion.
White has provided proof that only 11% of the world’s 100 worst atrocities are caused by religion.
https://apholt.com/2018/11/08/religion-and-the-100-worst-atrocities-in-history/
The list of wars, from my perspective, like WW1 and 2, Christians fighting Christians, Muslims fighting Muslims, Hindus fighting Hindus etc,
Mongolian invasion of the Muslim lands, British and French and Italian and Spanish expansions, the genocide of Native Americans etc. are just a small example of non-religion-based wars.
For war, there has to be an army, a leader and an opponent. The leader decides to go to war, and he or she would need people to fight. This leader will invoke the most common denominator in his/her land. It could be race, it could be nationalism, it could be culture, it could be religion etc. Religion is the collateral damage but none of the other reasons are ever abased! Did we realize that the most common cause of war is humanity itself! Did we banish humans or discredit them? It is not religion that is the most common cause of war rather it is humankind.
The other fallacy that is being committed is the bandwagon fallacy. It is so fashionable to blame religion that everybody jumps on this bandwagon. It is trendy.
The next issue to address would be the idea or concept of religion. Religion is not meditation. Religion will provide a way to live. And to live, there will be defence and also protection of the weak from the oppressors and hence war. This war is to deter aggression. Alliances of states go to war to stop injustice and genocide, as well.
And yes, of course, most of the time the reason for war is politics or economy.
Stay blessed, always.
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