Religion and Conflict

Yesterday in my History class, my teacher asked the class, "What caused all of the major wars in history?"

And, being the person I am, I blurted out, "Religion!".

Luckily everyone in the room was blurting out other answers and only the teacher heard me. His face twisted up for a second, I could tell he was making sense of it for moment, and then he says, "Do you think religion caused slavery, blah blah blah." I just gave him the answer he wanted to hear, "no".

But, I believe it did, along with the other problems he stated.

I think that the only good coming from religion is mental stability, thinking everything is predetermined. Other than that, nothing good has come of it, as far as I see. Gobble below and tell me your opinion.

Cheers!

In my opinion wars are fought because of human weakness, not religious weakness. Wars fought in the name of religion are actually perversions of that religion. At least in the case of Christians and Muslims. Their teachings are one of peace, not war. The message of religion is a powerful one, but it is human weakness that is the cause of war, not religion.

reply to post by helloblaine


Careful what you say in school my friend.. School is not there for you to learn the truth or to speak your mind..
You are there to repeat what you are told.. When you step out of line you will be punished or otherwise shunned..

Your teacher reminds me so much of a teacher I once had.. Lets just say I didn't do well in that class and got graded F!

While in my other classes I got mostly A and B+.
School is there to teach you how to wake up in the morning.. How to become a mindless slave that simply repeats what you are told..

If you can repeat and remember everything they tell you.. You will go far!

But once you start asking questions.. and using that mind of yours.. You will be outed as a trouble maker!!

Religion has its good points. As any moderate person of any religion are for the most part, good people..
Its those who take it to the extream sides that are dangerous..

You can find the postive in all this if you look deep enough with an open mind.. I happen to defend religion at times.. Then at other times I know it doesnt have all the answers.
Its really up to the person..
For all the truth I have found in this world.. There is one truth that I know.

The truth is.. No one will ever agree on any one said issue when dealing with religion. Its a personal quest. And once you start to impose your will upon others.. Is when things start getting bad..
Thats the only truth I have found.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by zysin5]

3 things for religious people to consider - How come their religion is either the common religion of their country or their parents . How can thier religion be the true one out of hundreds . And finally , if they were born somewhere else which religion would they have ? We are all lucky sperm , nothing else .

Longdog, I don't see how this ties into the topic of this thread... I'm sure there are other threads that have this type of debate taking place but this is thread discussing whether religion is responsible for war.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by ExistenceUnknown]

reply to post by helloblaine


There are many boxes that people reside in. Academia is one, along with religion. Rarely is it as cut and dried as we like to think.

Religion is the cause of wars but one first needs to define religion!

Religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe...a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects...something a person believes in and follows devotedly..."

Almost anything can fit into this definition, including atheism.

Once an individual leaves off labels...I am a Christian, I am an atheist, Buddhist, etc. then one may actually not be boxed, or considered religious in the true sense of the word.

You're right , mate ! Gettin carried away with myself ! Big soz !
Back to the thread - I don't think religion causes wars because I cannot accept that people really do "beleive"when left with their own thoughts . Nations or peoples get caught up in propaganda and kill out of a whipped up hatred . How can religion be responsible ? If there were no religion people would still fight .

Originally posted by MatrixProphet
reply to post by helloblaine

 

Religion is the cause of wars but one first needs to define religion!

Personally, I believe Religion means understand "God".

reply to post by helloblaine


There was but one war America was involved in that was not over religion, IMHO. the War of Northern Aggression, to you Yankees, the Civil War. It was fought over States rights alone. History will tell you it was over slavery, and that old Abe was a good leader, but then the winners write the history books, don't they?

Society is organized around the tension between aggressive psychopaths who need to enforce their will on others and the peaceable who do not. In school, you will be taught that the organizing principle for society is warfare, but this is not the whole story. Warfare between tribes is a way to deflect the tensions within tribes outward to an "other". The peaceful actually benefit from warfare between tribes, ultimately, since the aggressive ones who would cause chaos within a tribe are pushed to the boundary and hopefully killed by the other tribe.

This principle is true, and it is why we have a volunteer military force in the US. Keep those whose internal psychological arrangement seeks out heroic conquest under tight martial discipline, and kill them off as the opportunities make themselves available.

The European Renaissance might never have been made possible without the Crusades, since the Crusades helped to wick away lots of aggressive males to be lost in battle or to settle elsewhere.

Religion is a lot of things, but when it comes to warfare, it really is more of a facilitator than a causative factor. Those who are disposed to go to war will use religious justifications, but those justifications are not utlimately necessary.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by applebiter]

Personally, I believe Religion means understand "God".

Actually, I took the definition from Webster's.

As with most words, they can each have more than one meaning or definition.

reply to post by helloblaine


Political ideology and nationalism also cause warfare but organised religion certainly acts as a catalyst.
Far as I can see the only thing it has does for humanity as a whole is to separate it into warring cults.

Originally posted by autowrench
reply to post by helloblaine

 

There was but one war America was involved in that was not over religion, IMHO. the War of Northern Aggression, to you Yankees, the Civil War. It was fought over States rights alone. History will tell you it was over slavery, and that old Abe was a good leader, but then the winners write the history books, don't they?

I was actually taught what you just stated, in 7th grade by an amazing history teacher. Surprising isn't it? Haha

reply to post by helloblaine



I do not think it was every war but a good many of them, yes.

Many more become entangled when religion when you think how many wars have been justified by saying "God is on our side not thiers. "

I'm curious, what was the 'right' answer your teacher was looking for?

Haha, God is on BOTH of their sides, and someone is getting screwed.

Sooooo, apparently god isn't on everyone's side, hahaha.