Religious Wars in History
Religious wars have been fought throughout the history of humankind. But the most serious was the catholic-protestant war of 1522 to 1700. This was a series of wars in Europe that were often referred to as the wars of reformation. These wars were influenced by the religious changes during that period and the conflicts that rose due to this changes. This paper will review this wars and give out reasons why changes in religion make people want to fight, is belligerence inherent or perversion of what religion should be and finally how we can harness the power of religion in promoting world peace instead of violence.
Religious Beliefs and Partisan Emotions
Religious beliefs are often attached to partisan emotions and different views about other religions. Therefore people tend to believe that their religion and god is the true God and sees the other religion as an infiltration into otherwise pure society. This gives people the motivation to even go to war while trying to protect what they believe is the true religion.
Belligerence as a Perversion of Religion
Other people may argue that belligerence is an inherited behavior in religious commitments. But as for me, this behavior is a perversion of what religion should be. No religious teachings support violence and bloodshed be it Christianity, Muslim or Judaism. But individuals choose to create violence and uses religion and the religious teachings to support their actions. This corrupts the original teachings and thus ending up teaching people wrong messages that lead to war and violence.
Harnessing the Power of Religion for Peace
Therefore in harnessing the power of religion and directing it towards peaceful ends, we all need to stop perversion in churches, mosques, and temples. Misinterpretation of the religious teachings is the core reason for religious unrest, conflicts, and violence linked to religious grounds. Therefore the religious teachers should struggle to teach their followers what is right and interpret the message as it is written in the Holy books like the Bible and the Quran.
