Religion and War
Religion has been, and will continue to be, a cause of war. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate how religion, but more precisely faith-based thinking, has been used to foment violence and cause war.
To understand the role that religion has played in sparking violence and causing nations, tribes, etc. To go to war, one must first understand what exactly war is. One of the best approaches to understanding war, and the components of war, was articulated by Carl Von Clausewitz in his seminal work On War.
In his book, Clausewitz defines his trinity model of war, also known as the "remarkable trinity." That is, Clausewitz argues that war consists of three distinct forces (1) primordial violence, hatred, and enmity; (2) the play of chance and probability; and (3) war's element of subordination to rational policy" (Bassford, 2011). Here one will notice the Hegelian dialectical format in play, we have a thesis, war is a combination of irrational forces such as enmity, hatred, violence, we have antithesis, war is a rational activity as it falls in accordance with coherent, logical policy, and a synthesis, war is non-rational (not irrational or rational), and is a product of chance and probability.
The result of this rather complicated analysis is an accurate rendering of war. War is a combination of tri-lateral forces -- the rational, irrational, and non-rational, - which create the chaotic and unpredictable reality of war. The key to understanding war is, or to developing a sensible theory of war, is to, as Clausewitz says, "maintain a balance between these three tendencies, like an object suspended between three magnets" (Clausewitz,...
Religion and Society Religion is defined as an organized collection of belief systems, views about the universe, or cultural systems that humans use to relate spiritual and moral values to their lives. Many religions have symbols, traditions, and histories that explain the origin of life, the way the universe works, and the moral, ethical and legal ways to organize human life (De Vries, ed., 2008). While the exact origin of religion
Examples where religion has become intersected with politics are present throughout the entire history, and in more recent years, include the debates on same sex marriages or on abortion. A more specific look at the relationship between politics and religion has revealed at least three points of intersection -- the role of churches, the evolution of human rights and the emergence and impacts of religious conflicts. In terms of the
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This means that there must be some correlation between religion and politics. Indeed Keddie (2003) asserts that there is an aversion to the word secular and that most countries that try to embrace this idea are not content. According to Carroll (2003) this inevitable link between religion and politics forces the question of whether or not the world would be better off without religion. The author asserts that misconceptions about
This time period also marked a great deal of expansion for different European nations. This expansion occurred through the conquering of certain territories. Machiavellian Leaders Machiavelli believed that great leaders had to possess certain attributes. He asserted that a "leader needs an analytical attitude without a sense of shame or guilt. Political calculation is required to control, rather than be victimized by events (Deluga, 2001)." In other words, a Machiavellian leader
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