By Akpeli Othuke Andrew
A review of the religious incited violence in the world for the past 100 years and the activities of some of the clergymen in the face of these violence, has led many to argue that religion is one of the principal cause of violence, strife, acrimony and wars in the world today. But to say that religion is the principal cause of violence, means that there will be fewer violence if religion do not exist. How true is this statement?
There are problem with religion in the world today can be meaningfully divided into three basic causes;
1. Division by Religion
2. Religion in Politics
3. An Explosive Mix of Religion
Division by Religion
There are several major religions in the world which are in constant rivalry for supremacy which in most cases had ended in strife, acrimony, violence and outright war. This has made it difficult to believe that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims will one day live together peacefully.
The disagreement between different religious groups to some extend can be understood based on the fact that the doctrines are not the same. But there is a sad reality which is the continuous fragmentations that exists within these major religious blocks. For example, Christendom has broken up into more than 30,000 denominations, Islam has also broken into several groups with conflicting beliefs. According to a Middle East news agency, a Muslim scholar, Moshen Hojjat, recently stated that, “disunity among Muslim is the root cause of problems in the Islamic world.” Other major religions such as Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism has also fragmented into many conflicting sects.
Religion in Politics
In today’s world, it is very common to observe the effect of religion in nearly every field of human endeavours including politics, military and economics. This has led to the straying of religion from its primary objective as a source of peace to experience some associated problems with politics, military and economics including violence. Due to the presence of severe religious groups in the world today and the fragmentations within the different religious groups, it is more likely to be a cause of war when religion and state authorities becomes closely intertwined. There the painful reality of inter- and intra-religious crisis experience in the world today.
An Explosive Mix of Religion
In many part of the world with severe and dense religious practice, it is regarded as a sign of patriotism and identity be it the mode of dressing or worship thereby leading to racial discrimination for those not in conformity to the generally accepted practice in that area.
This has made people to argue how religion can be regarded as a source of peace when it has become a yard-stick for the measurement of patriotism and national identity in part of the world and had led to several violent clashes between people believed to be ‘unbelievers’.
Does it make any sense to believe that an almighty, all-wise, loving creator would have anything to do with divisive and blood-guilty religions?
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