At the extreme side, the September 11 attacks and various Islamist violence perpetrated against civilians in the last two decades is an example of how violence and conflict can be justified in religious terms. Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders often quote from the Qur'an and refer to the West as "Crusaders," emphasizing the religious significance of the struggle they conduct (Lincoln; Juergensmeyer). Historical circumstances may also dictate the totally pacifist manifestations of Islam. An example is Abdul Ghaffar Khan in India, also known as the "Frontier Gandhi," a close associate of Gandhi in non-violent struggle against British rule. Ghaffar Khan was not a minority figure but garnered the support of a hundred thousand official followers and even a greater number of sympathizers (Gandhi). "Violent ideas and images are not the monopoly of any single religion," Juergensmeyer explains. "Virtually every major religious tradition -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist -- has served as a resource for violent actors. Perhaps, it is not fair to label Osama bin Laden a Muslim terrorist or to characterize Timothy McVeigh a Christian one -- as if they were violent because of their Islamic and quasi-Christian beliefs" (xii). Religion, however, offers a moral provision for justifying wars and conflict just like it offers provisions for limited, "just" wars and pacifism. It is inaccurate therefore to make a categorical statement about the role of religion in war and peace. To suggest that religion is the root of all wars and conflict -- or, alternatively to claim that religion...
As I argued in this paper, any religion may be characterized by having a sense of duty to conduct a "holy war" against unbelievers or forces of evil. It may also serve as the basis of carrying out a "just war," envisioning the use of force as the last resort and to prevent greater loss of human life. And religion may motivate the adherents to become pacifists or embrace the tool of non-violence as the "weapon" of struggle in a conflict. Societies are constantly shaped by various external forces. Religion and its stance on war and peace therefore is likely to remain evolving, contradictory, dynamic, and controversial.
Hinduism and People Unlike most religions which ask their practitioners to prescribe to a designated set of behaviors wherein they shall all behave uniformly, Hinduism bears the motto that "People are different." Most religions begin from a dogma which is a written interpretation of what the creators of that religion state their God or Gods want from the followers of that religion. Because of this, the religions are slow to evolve
The worship of Mazu shares many elements with other types of Chinese folk religions. Mazu was based upon a historical figure and is said to play a protective role over the people in her region; in Mazu's case, she is said to protect fishermen (Lim 2010). She was worshipped for over 500 years in China, so that many elements of her worship are traditional parts of culture. However, the modern
Others say Omar "was chosen by God," Rashid writes. When interviewed by a journalist from Pakistan (Rahimullah Yousufzai) after taking control of Kabul, according to Rashid's book, Omar stated, "We had complete faith in God Almighty. We never forgot that. He can bless us with victory or plunge us into defeat." Omar was born around 1959 (albeit much of his life is carefully guarded in secrecy), he has only one eye,
Religious Field Search AHMADIS: THE OTHER FACE OF ISLAM For the purposes of this paper I visited the local Ahmaddiya Muslim Community or as they prefer to called Ahmadis. Ahmadis are a sub-sect of the Islamic Community. What attracted to me to study this community was that unlike the general image we have of the Islamic community, this community is non-violent and is considered heretical by the larger Islamic community for having
The municipality, for instance, tried time and again to upend or regulate Carnaval, the annual festival "of the flesh'; that precedes lent and that had deep African roots. The city's Chief of police, on another occasion, stated that "None has the right to discredit the setting in which they live by reviving African customs" (124). The Black middle class were complicit in this War on Blackness since they were seeking
How can God satisfy both participants in the conflict? Twain's moral is that the religious rhetoric used to justify war and the merging of patriotism and faith is always suspect. Each side believes that his or her cause and nation is just. During wartime, prayers 'cancel one another out' and show the hypocrisy of the inflated, one-sided view of warfare expressed in propaganda. It is easy to see Twain's message
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