Following Dr. Vesselin Popovski’s discussion on armed conflict and the United Nations, one thing that struck me was his question: Does religion cause wars? Do we fight in the name of God?
The present atrocities being committed in the Middle East by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/Sham (ISIL/ISIS), also called Da’esh, are without doubt a ghastly violation of the most fundamental human rights. These Islamic extremists, purportedly acting in the name of religion, had been carrying out forced conversions, mass beheadings, abductions and torture against non-Muslims, including Christians, Yezidis, Kurds, Turkmens, and Shabaks in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Libya.
The role of religion in conflict has long been debated within academic circles.
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Interestingly, these doctrines have entered the mainstream academic discourse in the form of the “Just War theory”, which is said to have been first systematically formulated by Saint Thomas Acquinas in his Summa Theologicae. Under this doctrine, the two elements of a just war are jus ad bellum (the conditions under which military force is justified), and jus in bello (the ethical and fair conduct of war). Jus ad bellum generally revolves around war: having a just cause and right intention, used only as a last resort, as declared by the proper authority, with a reasonable chance of success, and proportional to the means used. Obviously, there is some flexibility with regards to the interpretation of a just cause, and this has been abused by some warlords to extend a moral dimension to their cause, and thus, gain more support; this is analogous to warlords using a “grievance” narrative to mask their “greed” intentions.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Hussein stated that the Da’esh crisis was a deliberate failure to respect human rights, whether or not the motives of the perpetrators are purely religious. Professor Peter Murray of the University of East London adds that despite the Da’esh romanticized claims to its followers, the Islamic caliphate which they aim to restore is as much a political entity as it is a religious body. On the human rights perspective, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The perception of prisoner radicalization is an extrusive issue and as of recently, has quickly developed itself as a growing concern in the United States. Prisoner radicalization manifests within the enigmatic subgroups of prison inmate gangs and radical elucidations of religious values which overtime, stimulate the formulation principles based upon fanaticism, abhorrence and violence (Hamm, 2017). Currently, our government is unaware of the actual extent of the issue regarding terrorist’s impacts on prison inmates. However, many of the scholars and experts in prisoner radicalization through terrorist influence, believe that immediate attention needs to be focused in this area, further improving upon our understanding of the growing potential threat.
Another, more recent event that has significantly shaped prevailing ideologies and beliefs in responding to cultural and religious dimensions of perceived conflict was on Friday the 2nd of
Lui Moraes Mrs. Fossum English 10H Block Big Question Essay 2 June 2016 The End Throughout history and stories there are events and circumstances that people tend to look back upon. These events draw an interest from people because they are subject to scrutiny.
This powerful text, “When Religion Becomes Lethal: The Explosive Mix of Politics and Religion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” is the centerpiece for understanding the truth behind centuries of spiritual history and politics between three different denominations. Dr. Charles Kimball focuses solely on identifying the negatives within politics and religion as a whole, and how unconstructive the two can actually be. Kimball gave a huge amount of historical insight on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and how each of the religions came about. He also discusses their different relationships and different viewpoints that they have for one another. Lastly, Kimball uses his years of experience to offer a new and much broader way to think about
These human rights 'instruments', as they are called, have fixed how many rights apply to particular groups of human beings such as women or children. They have also come up with new ideas that were not part of the thinking of those who first drafted the Universal Declaration. The link between human rights and other pillars is clearly evident all the way through the UDHR. First, it allows, in the Preamble, that the credit of the unchallengeable rights of all people is the groundwork of freedom, justice and peace across the world. Secondly, it expands the UN Charter’s stated purpose of encouraging growth by giving economic, social and cultural rights the in the same degree of safety that an individual finds for civil and political rights (Marshall
The moral basis on which we have come to interpret the conflict becomes decidedly more complex and morally
Religion played a big role in the civil war. Both the north and the south believed that God was suporting them. They thought that whichever one won, meant that God wanted them to win. The blood shed was seen as a good thing on both sides. The north believed that the more blood was shed the more cleanse we will be of our sin.
These sacred contradictions were aggravated by religious hostilities and money related questions. Both sides guaranteed that they remained for the principle of law, yet war was by definition a matter of
Religion is the belief in a higher power. It is something people hold onto, hold hope for, and put all their faith in. Government is the representation of a nation and its people; it is meant to accurately represent its people and their models, and beliefs. Theocracy, a religion based government. This is a common question for many people and a struggle for many nations across the country.
Religion has created and resolved many conflicts in civilizations. Throughout world history, religion has played a huge role of different societies due to the conflict that it can cause in cities, countries and even full continents. As time goes by, maturity within each religion progresses. Each religion has become more forgiving with their rules and guidelines which is a drastic difference to how it used to be when old countries used religions to unite and decide government rulers. Religion is a crucial part of civilizations, it can have many different positive and negative effects on the way countries move on.
Ch. 9 8. Identify, define and discuss the four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing The four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. Retribution philosophy is defined as a philosophical that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime and that no other factors are to be considered during sentencing.
James Fearon in “Rationalist Explanations for War,” begins with the basic assumption that wars are costly and states should have a rational desire to avoid wars and seek peaceful agreements before the war breaks out (Fearon, 379). Fearon critiques many elements of international relations including neorealism and rational choice theories while supporting his thesis. However, Fearon does not provide a durable conceptual explanation of anarchy, and the discussion on why other theories fail to describe why states go to war over a possible agreement is deficient. Fearon claims that “it is not enough to say that under anarchy nothing stops states from using force, or that anarchy forces states to rely on self-help, which engenders mutual suspicion
Our academic disciplines, journals, movies, and our whole cultural system is highly affected by the inevitability of the conflict between 'Islam ' and 'West ' (Adib-Moghaddam, 2011). This " clash regime" is a cultural artifact which is positioned in different strata of society because it is made up by a system of interdependent discourses that disperse into society and form a powerful 'clash mentality (Adib-Moghadam, 2011, p.5). This clash regime has constituted a main part of today 's national and international political culture (Adiv-Moghaddam, 2011, p.5). Therefore, European culture gained its own strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient (Said, 1978). According to Macfie (2002), one of the convictions that is widely held in orientalism is the belief that Islam unlike other religions, is inherently violent its followers believe in the doctrine of Holy War or Jihad.
Religious groups have had vey bad effects on society; they caused a lot of harm to people and property. Firstly they cause death, injury and might even people for life. Some people would even get traumatized as a result of havocs caused by religious bodies. These people kill people a lot. For example a great number of people were killed in Nigeria when Boko Haram bombed the mosque one Friday.
War on Religion There is a belief among people that declares religion as the main cause of wars worldwide, and it has been the main cause of violence throughout the history of humanity. While we cannot deny that, some battles such as the crusades and the Lebanese civil war were based on religious faith, it is totally illogical to consider religion as the main cause of wars. Moreover, although there is also no disagreement that some extremist in Islam were behind 9/11, it is considered a misjudgment to say that all individuals in this religion convey the concept of violence and cruelty. The fact is non-religious incentives take the responsibility for almost all of humans’ wars. Lives lost during religious wars are nothing compared to those lost during non-religious wars.so why people believe that religion is the cause of wars, why they are wrong and do the extremist represent religions?