just to make a little statement beforehand, i’m not entirely sure of my religious standing right now, but i don’t beleive in any one religion, and i’m not really atheist. i guess i’m an agnostic right now.
religious wars have always been one to confuse me. it seems to me there isn’t really a huge reason behind the fighting (just like most any other war). from all i see it’s usually just a religion difference. i know that in palestine and such they’re fighting because of other clashes (revenge) and because they want the same homeland, but is there really a reason behind it? or this just like so many other wars, just because of a difference?
i personally believe that all religions are just a different way of getting to what you seek in life, maybe it’s finding your god or maybe it’s peaceand contentment. so i can only see it as killing another because they have a different way of doing something.
maybe some of my views here are bit unexperienced because i’m only 15, but these are my views nevertheless. what do you people think?
Well, personally I am an atheist, but I think here’s what’s causing your confusion:
Proponents of religious wars don’t share this view. They tend to believe that one religion or subdivision of a religion is the One True Faith, and that adherents of other religions are not just wrong but immoral or actively evil, and that it is justifiable or commanded by God to use force to overcome evil-doers (which might be cast in defensive terms: “use force to defend the One True Faith against the godless heathens who seek to destroy it”).
Well, generally wars are fought for profit. The key thing is that that profit doesn’t have to be strictly financial - it can be land, prestige or whatever.
In the case of a “pure” religious war, you wholeheartedly believe that it is your duty to spread the word, oiling the wheels of conversion with a little blood if necessary. Therefore, your profit is that you are furthering the will of your (the only) god, who no doubt will think you a good sort and admit you to paradise.
The dirty kind is where two (or more) evangelical type religions are co-located. Religion might then become the distinguishing factor between the groups, who otherwise look pretty much the same. Why religious differences are more dangerous than, say, language differences is that they can (do) tend to create an extremism that the other factors (such as the language difference) would not do.
For example, although there will still be extremists, you would expect people to be less vigilant in protecting their cultural practices (i.e. wearing lederhosen) than in protecting their religion. Note, there doesn’t have to be an actual threat to their religion. It’s just a convenient way of choosing “teams”, because people will always fight.
Hopefully someone more coherent will be along shortly :).
