Is religion the real reason for many wars?

by Pole 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jeanniebeanz

  Rarely is religion a primary reason for war. It is usually because some neighboring country has something that another wants; land, resources, food, more beautiful women, whatever.

  Religion is one way to make people who usually would not think of murdering their neigobors follow the lead of those planning the war by de-humanizeing those being planned for the slaughter. Convince them that if the neighbor is not a believer that they are, evil, sinners, unworthy of life, have something that 'god' wants you to have because you are faithful, yada, yada, yada.

  Religion has been a tool of war, but not usually the reason one has started.

  Jean
• 

  Pole

  stillajwexelder,

  Yes - no question in my mind that religion is a major cause but not the only one

  Can you give me a few examples of modern (let's say 20th century) wars where religion was the major cause?

  Pole
• 

  stillajwexelder

  Can you give me a few examples of modern (let's say 20th century) wars where religion was the major cause?

  Northern Ireland - Protestant vs Catholic

  Twin Towers War on Terror - Fundamentalist Islam vs the West

  Arab -Israel war -- Islam (who in the words of the Koran view Jews as filthy pigs) vs Judaism/Zionism

  Kashmir Islam vs Hinduism

  East Timor Islam vs Christainity
• 

  upside/down

  Religion is the "opium" of the people.

  What general wouldn't want a bunch of doped up soldiers killing for him? The Nazi's actually gave "meth" to their blitzkrieg storm troopers (it must be true, I saw it on History channel lol).

  The Bible was right on this one - A harlot riding on the back of the beast. An excellent and fitting visual I feel. Some excellent reasoning on this thread. Why fight your own battles when you can coax someone into doing it for you?

  u/d
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  stillajwexelder

  Yep Karl Marx -Religion is the opium of the masses
• 

  onacruse

  Not to be pedantic and repetitive (though I have often been accused of being so! LOL ):

  Religion is just one way by which human beings interact (productively or otherwise) with each other; politics is another; military strength is another; economic forces are another...and, perhaps, psychological subterfuges are the most pertinent to this question.

  All things considered, imvho, the real reason for wars is PERSONAL survival.

  Otherwise, how could a mother or father, son or daughter, "live" with the death of one of their own blood family? I submit that, by default, they must assume that the death of that member of their family constituted a defense of their own survival.

  We find a way to live with what happens.

  And thank you God.
• 

  one

  within the past week or so i replied to a topic stating that poliiticians (could apply to any era) do not beleive in religion but utilize it, it is a tool to keep them in power, not the other way around.

  Politicians fully understand human nature, so not even atheist "states" (politicians) made an all out effort to eliminate religions, they did try to use other motivations and incentives to get cooperation from the people, trying to minimize the use (tool) of religion. Even those states find difficult (impossible?) and counterproductive to totally eliminate religions.
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  William Penwell

  Not religion on its own although they are the ones that have taught intolerance of others beliefs. I think even if religion is not around there still would be hate and distrust of others because of their differences. We as a human race have to all do our share to teach our children that there are difference between all of us and that we must live together accepting others differences. Can we all do that? Can we stop the distrust between others national and religious differences? That is the question that humans still have not answered to this day.

  Will
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  Pole

  Thanks sajwee,
  
  Most of the conflicts you've mentioned are primarily political. The original cause was always some political dispute over territorial issues. Then, one bastardized form of religion or another was used to sanctify these issues and to make people feel more confident about killing not only enemy soldiers but also civilians for otherwise poor reasons. Nationalism can be used in very much the same way, but it doesn't mean it's the major cause of the war.
  
  
  As for the Twin Towers attack, you know that it wasn't an attack against the entire West and that the "religious" issues involved would have had no significance had it not been for some aspects of the US foreign policy in the Middle East. This is no justification of the attack but I simply don't buy the propaganda used by many war-mongering politicians who couch the war on terrorism in religious terms thus making it totally irrational where it's not always so.
  
  
  
  
• 

  googlemagoogle

  Islam (who in the words of the Koran view Jews as filthy pigs)
  
  could you provide us with the verse that says so? never read that in the quran... it says that a hypocritical jew looks like an ass though...
  
  i think wars are rarely about religion. but religion is a great weapon in wars. it comes in handy to create a "we vs. them" ideology. and it's a great tool to make (naive) people want to die for a cause.
  
  religion makes good people do bad things.