Cause of Armed Conflict
In the aftermath of 911 and as an effect of the 'War on Terror', religion can be clearly seen as major cause of armed conflict. Such views, however, have fallen on fertile ground, following the massive debates about Samuel P. Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis, and the increased analytical attention to the interface between religion and conflict throughout most of the 1990s. Although few analysts will argue that religion is a more prominent factor in conflict now than before, the alteration of awareness is in itself a significant change. This reflects, as Oliver McTernan points out, the "opinion of a number of academics that have recognized in the midst of social, historical, political, cultural and economic factors the salience of religion also" (McTernan 2003: 87-88).
Religion may feed conflict when its normative system is considered to legitimize the use of violence. As Elise Boulding has pointed out, however, there is a duality in religious cultures as they entail notions of the "holy war" as well as the "peaceable kingdom" (Boulding 1986). We could add that in most religions there is a real tension between the two (see: Appleby 1996: 823). Hence, any attempt to explain the outbreak of violence exclusively with reference to the normative foundations of religion is deemed to failure, simply because the interpretation of these foundations is essentially contested. Nonetheless, the scriptures, narratives and rituals of a religion are often drawn upon to find legitimacy for warfare and the use of violence within a system of meaning of a higher order. The application of these resources may at times be dogmatic, and while dogmatism can in part serve as a vaccine against manipulation and misuse, it also feeds uncompromising attitudes once religion is drawn into the conflict.
To illustrate, the major differences between Protestants and Catholics in Northern
Ireland when it comes to their interpretations...
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