fbpx
Wikipedia

Religious violence

July 25, 2023

Religious violence covers phenomena in which religion is either the subject or the object of violent behavior.[1] All the religions of the world contain narratives, symbols, and metaphors of violence and war.[2] Religious violence is violence that is motivated by, or in reaction to, religious precepts, texts, or the doctrines of a target or an attacker. It includes violence against religious institutions, people, objects, or events. Religious violence does not exclusively include acts which are committed by religious groups, instead, it includes acts which are committed against religious groups.

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns fought mainly between Roman Catholic Europe and Muslims. Shown here is a battle scene from the First Crusade.

"Violence" is a very broad concept which is difficult to define because it is used against both human and non-human objects.[3] Furthermore, the term can denote a wide variety of experiences such as blood shedding, physical harm, forcing against personal freedom, passionate conduct or language, or emotions such as fury and passion.[4][5]

"Religion" is a complex and problematic modern western concept.[6][7] Though there is no scholarly consensus over what a religion is,[8][6][7][5] today, religion is generally considered an abstraction which entails beliefs, doctrines, and sacred places. The link between religious belief and behavior is problematic. Decades of anthropological, sociological, and psychological research have all proven the falsehood of the assumption that behaviors directly follow from religious beliefs and values because people's religious ideas are fragmented, loosely connected, and context-dependent just like all other domains of culture and life.[9] In general, religions, ethical systems, and societies rarely promote violence as an end in itself since violence is universally undesirable.[3] At the same time, there is a universal tension between the general desire to avoid violence and the acceptance of justifiable uses of violence to prevent a "greater evil" that permeates all cultures.[3]

Religious violence, like all forms of violence, is a cultural process which is context-dependent and very complex.[10] Oversimplifications of "religion" and "violence" often lead to misguided understandings of causes for why some people commit acts of violence and why most people never commit such acts in the first place.[10] Violence is perpetrated for a wide variety of ideological reasons and religion is generally only one of many contributing social and political factors that can lead to unrest. Studies of supposed cases of religious violence often conclude that violence is strongly driven by ethnic animosities rather than by religious worldviews.[11] Due to the complex nature of religion and violence and the complex relationship which exists between them, it is normally unclear if religion is a significant cause of violence.[5]

History of the concept of religion

Main article: Definition of religion

Religion is a modern Western concept.[8] The compartmentalized concept of religion, where religious things were separated from worldly things, was not used before the 1500s.[6] Furthermore, parallel concepts are not found in many cultures and there is no equivalent term for "religion" in many languages.[6] Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition[12][13] and others rejecting the term entirely.[citation needed] Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.[14][8]

The modern concept of "religion" as an abstraction which entails distinct sets of beliefs or doctrines is a recent invention in the English language since such usage began with texts from the 17th century due to the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and more prevalent colonization or globalization in the age of exploration which involved contact with numerous foreign and indigenous cultures with non-European languages.[15][16]

Ancient sacred texts like the Bible and the Quran did not have a concept of religion in their original languages and neither did their authors or the cultures to which they belonged.[7][6] It was in the 19th century that the terms "Buddhism", "Hinduism", "Taoism", and "Confucianism" first emerged.[15][17]

There is no precise equivalent of "religion" in Hebrew, and Judaism does not draw clear distinctions between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.[18]

Definition of violence

Violence is difficult to define because the term is a complicated concept which broadly carries descriptive and evaluative components which range from harming non-human objects to human self-harm.[3] Ralph Tanner cites the definition of violence in the Oxford English Dictionary as "far beyond (the infliction of) pain and the shedding of blood." He argues that, although violence clearly encompasses injury to persons or property, it also includes "the forcible interference in personal freedom, violent or passionate conduct or language (and) finally passion or fury."[4] Similarly, Abhijit Nayak writes:

The word "violence" can be defined to extend far beyond pain and shedding blood. It carries the meaning of physical force, violent language, fury, and, more importantly, forcible interference.[19]

Terence Fretheim writes:

For many people, ... only physical violence truly qualifies as violence. But, certainly, violence is more than killing people, unless one includes all those words and actions that kill people slowly. The effect of limitation to a “killing fields” perspective is the widespread neglect of many other forms of violence. We must insist that violence also refers to that which is psychologically destructive, that which demeans, damages, or depersonalizes others. In view of these considerations, violence may be defined as follows: any action, verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, physical or psychical, active or passive, public or private, individual or institutional/societal, human or divine, in whatever degree of intensity, that abuses, violates, injures, or kills. Some of the most pervasive and most dangerous forms of violence are those that are often hidden from view (against women and children, especially); just beneath the surface in many of our homes, churches, and communities is abuse enough to freeze the blood. Moreover, many forms of systemic violence often slip past our attention because they are so much a part of the infrastructure of life (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism).[20]

Relationship between religion and violence

According to Steve Clarke, "currently available evidence does not allow us to determine whether religion is, or is not, a significant cause of violence." He lists multiple problems that make it impossible to establish a causal relationship such as difficulties in distinguishing motive/pretext and inability to verify if they would necessarily lead to any violent action, the lack of consensus of definitions of both violence and religion among scholars, and the inability to see if the presence of religion actually adds or subtracts from general levels of violence since no society without religion has ever existed to compare with.[5]

Charles Selengut characterizes the phrase "religion and violence" as "jarring", asserting that "religion is thought to be opposed to violence and a force for peace and reconciliation." He acknowledges, however, that "the history and scriptures of the world's religions tell stories of violence and war even as they speak of peace and love."[21]

According to Matthew Rowley, three hundred contributing causes of religious violence have been discussed by some scholars, however, he states that "violence in the name of God is a complex phenomenon and oversimplification further jeopardizes peace because it obscures many of the causal factors."[22] In another piece, Matthew Rowley lists 15 ways to address the complexity of violence, both secular and religious, and he also states that secular narratives of religious violence tend to be erroneous or exaggerated due to their over simplification of religious people, their oversimplification of religious people's beliefs, their thinking which is based on false dichotomies, and their ignorance of complex secular causes of supposed "religious violence". He also states that when one is discussing religious violence, he or she should also note that the overwhelming majority of religious people do not get inspired to engage in violence.[10]

Similarly, Ralph Tanner describes the combination of religion and violence as "uncomfortable", asserting that religious thinkers generally avoid the conjunction of the two and argue that religious violence is "only valid in certain circumstances which are invariably one-sided".[23]

Michael Jerryson argues that scholarship on religion and violence sometimes overlooks non-Abrahamic religions. This tendency leads to considerable problems, one of which is the support of faulty associations. For example, he finds a persistent global pattern of alignment in which religions such as Islam are viewed as causes of violence and religions such as Buddhism are viewed as causes of peace.[24]

In many instances of political violence, religion tends to play a central role. This is especially true of terrorism, in which acts of violence are committed against unarmed noncombatants in order to inspire fear and achieve political goals. Terrorism expert Martha Crenshaw suggests that religion is just a mask which is used by political movements which seek to draw attention to their causes and gain support. Crenshaw outlines two approaches when she observes religious violence in order to view its underlying mechanisms.[25] One approach, called the instrumental approach, sees religious violence as acting as a rational calculation to achieve some political end. Increasing the costs of performing such violence will help curb it. Crenshaw's alternate approach sees religious violence stemming from the organizational structure of religious communities, with the heads of these communities acting as political figureheads. Crenshaw suggests that threatening the internal stability of these organizations (perhaps by offering them a nonviolent alternative) will dissuade religious organizations from performing political violence. A third approach sees religious violence as the result of community dynamics rather than a religious duty.[26] Systems of meanings which are developed within these communities allow religious interpretations to justify violence, so acts like terrorism occur because people are part of communities of violence.[27] In this way, religious violence and terrorism are performances which are designed to inspire an emotional reaction from both those in the community and those outside of it.

Hector Avalos argues that religions cause violence over four scarce resources: access to divine will, knowledge, primarily through scripture; sacred space; group privileging; and salvation. Not all religions have or use these four resources. He believes that religious violence is particularly untenable because these resources are never verifiable and, unlike claims to scarce resources such as water or land, it cannot be adjudicated objectively.[28]

Regina Schwartz argues that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent because of an exclusivism that inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders.[29] Lawrence Wechsler asserts that Schwartz isn't just arguing that Abrahamic religions have a violent legacy, she is arguing that their legacy is genocidal in nature.[30]

Challenges to the view that religions are violent

Behavioral studies

Decades of research which was conducted by social scientists have established that "religious congruence" (the assumption that religious beliefs and values are tightly integrated in an individual's mind or that religious practices and behaviors follow directly from religious beliefs or that religious beliefs are chronologically linear and stable across different contexts) is actually rare. People's religious ideas are fragmented, loosely connected, and context-dependent, as in all other domains of culture and in life. The beliefs, affiliations, and behaviors of any individual are complex activities that have many sources including culture.[9]

Myth of religious violence

Others such as William Cavanaugh have argued that it is unreasonable to attempt to differentiate "religious violence" from "secular violence" by classifying them as separate categories of violence. Cavanaugh asserts that "the idea that religion has a tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of churches to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East." Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that there is a "myth of religious violence", basing his argument on the assertion that "attempts to separate religious and secular violence are incoherent". [31] Cavanaugh asserts:

  • Religion is not a universal and transhistorical phenomenon. What counts as "religious" or "secular" in any context is a function of configurations of power both in the West and lands colonized by the West. The distinctions of "Religious/Secular" and "Religious/Political" are modern Western inventions.
  • The invention of the concept of "religious violence" helps the West reinforce superiority of Western social orders to "nonsecular" social orders, namely Muslims at the time of publication.
  • The concept of "religious violence" can be and is used to legitimate violence against non-Western "Others".
  • Peace depends on a balanced view of violence and recognition that so-called secular ideologies and institutions can be just as prone to absolutism, divisiveness, and irrationality.

Jeffrey Russell argues that numerous cases of supposed acts of religious violence such as the Thirty Years War, the French Wars of Religion, the Protestant-Catholic conflict in Ireland, the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the Rwandan Civil War were all primarily motivated by social, political, and economic issues rather than religion.[32]

John Morreall and Tamara Sonn have argued that all cases of violence and war include social, political, and economic dimensions. Since there is no consensus on definitions of "religion" among scholars and since there is no way to isolate "religion" from the rest of the more likely motivational dimensions, it is incorrect to label any violent event as "religious".[33] They state that since dozens of examples exist from the European wars of religion that show that people from the same religions fought each other and that people from different religions became allies during these conflicts, the motivations for these conflicts were not about religion.[33] Jeffrey Burton Russell has argued that the fact that these wars of religion ended after rulers agreed to practice their religions in their own territories, means that the conflicts were more related to political control than about people's religious views.[32]

According to Karen Armstrong, so-called religious conflicts such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the European wars of religion, were all deeply political conflicts at their cores, rather than religious ones. Especially since people from different faiths constantly became allies and fought against each other in no consistent fashion. She states that the Western concept of the separation of church and state, which was first advocated by the Reformer Martin Luther, laid a foundation for viewing religion and society as being divided when in reality, religion and society were intermixed to the point that no one made such a distinction nor was there a defining cut between such experiences in the past. During the Enlightenment, religion began to be seen as an individualistic and private thing despite the fact that modern secular ideals like the equality of all human beings, intellectual and political liberty were things that were historically promoted in a religious idiom in the past.[34]

Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent, arguing "religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical." He asserts that "violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion" and that " virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary."[35][36] Moreover, he argues that religion "may be more a marker of the [conflicting] groups than an actual point of contention between them".[37] John Teehan takes a position that integrates the two opposing sides of this debate. He describes the traditional response in defense of religion as "draw(ing) a distinction between the religion and what is done in the name of that religion or its faithful." Teehan argues, "this approach to religious violence may be understandable but it is ultimately untenable and prevents us from gaining any useful insight into either religion or religious violence." He takes the position that "violence done in the name of religion is not a perversion of religious belief... but flows naturally from the moral logic inherent in many religious systems, particularly monotheistic religions...." However, Teehan acknowledges that "religions are also powerful sources of morality." He asserts, "religious morality and religious violence both spring from the same source, and this is the evolutionary psychology underlying religious ethics."[38]

Historians such as Jonathan Kirsch have made links between the European inquisitions, for example, and Stalin's persecutions in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, McCarthy blacklists, and other secular events as being the same type of phenomenon as the inquisitions.[39]

Others, such as Robert Pape, a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism, have made a case for secular motivations and reasons as being foundations of most suicide attacks that are oftentimes labeled as "religious".[40] Pape compiled the first complete database of every documented suicide bombing during 1980–2003. He argues that the news reports about suicide attacks are profoundly misleading — "There is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, or any one of the world's religions". After studying 315 suicide attacks carried out over the last two decades, he concludes that suicide bombers' actions stem fundamentally from political conflict, not religion.[40]

Secularism as a response

Byron Bland asserts that one of the most prominent reasons for the "rise of the secular in Western thought" was the reaction against the religious violence of the 16th and 17th centuries. He asserts that "(t)he secular was a way of living with the religious differences that had produced so much horror. Under secularity, political entities have a warrant to make decisions independent from the need to enforce particular versions of religious orthodoxy. Indeed, they may run counter to certain strongly held beliefs if made in the interest of common welfare. Thus, one of the important goals of the secular is to limit violence."[41] William T. Cavanaugh writes that what he calls "the myth of religious violence" as a reason for the rise of secular states may be traced to earlier philosophers, such as Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire.[42] Cavanaugh delivers a detailed critique of this idea in his 2009 book The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict.

Secular violence

See also: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Antireligious campaigns in China

Janet Jakobsen states that "just as religion and secularism are relationally defined terms - terms that depend on each other - so also the legitimization of violence through either religious or secular discourse is also relational."[43] She states that the idea that "religion kills" is used to legitimate secular violence, and that, similarly, the idea that "secularism kills" is used to legitimate religious violence.[43] According to John Carlson, critics who are skeptical of "religious violence" contend that excessive attention is often paid to acts of religious violence compared to acts of secular violence, and that this leads to a false essentializing of both religion as being prone to violence and the secular as being prone to peace.[44] According to Janet Jakobsen, secularism and modern secular states are much more violent than religion, and modern secular states in particular are usually the source of most of the world's violence.[45] Carlson states that by focusing on the destructive capacity of government, Jakobsen "essentializes another category - the secular state - even as she criticizes secular governments that essentialize religion's violent propensities".[44] Tanner states that secular regimes and leaders have used violence to promote their own agendas.[46] Violence committed by secular governments and people, including the anti-religious, have been documented including violence or persecutions focused on religious believers and those who believe in the supernatural.[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] In the 20th century, estimates state that over 25 million Christians died from secular antireligious violence worldwide.[55]

Religions have been persecuted more in the past 100 years than at any other time in history.[56] According to Geoffrey Blainey, atrocities have occurred under all ideologies, including in nations which were strongly secular such as the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia.[57] Talal Asad, an anthropologist, states that equating institutional religion with violence and fanaticism is incorrect and that devastating cruelties and atrocities done by non-religious institutions in the 20th century should not be overlooked. He also states that nationalism has been argued as being a secularized religion.[58]

Abrahamic religions

 
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Protestants in 1572

Hector Avalos argues that, because religions claim to have divine favor for themselves, both over and against other groups, this sense of self-righteousness leads to violence because conflicting claims of superiority, based on unverifiable appeals to God, cannot be objectively adjudicated.[59]

Similarly, Eric Hickey writes, "the history of religious violence in the West is as long as the historical record of its three major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with their mutual antagonisms and their struggles to adapt and survive despite the secular forces that threaten their continued existence."[60]

Regina Schwartz argues that all monotheistic religions, including Christianity, are inherently violent because of their exclusivism which inevitably fosters violence against those who are considered outsiders.[29] Lawrence Wechsler asserts that Schwartz isn't just arguing that Abrahamic religions have a violent legacy, instead, she is arguing that their legacy is actually genocidal in nature.[61]

Christianity

Main article: Christianity and violence
See also: History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance, Sectarian violence among Christians, Crusades, Inquisition, Persecution of Christians by Christians, and Christian terrorism
 
I Believe in the Sword and Almighty God (1914) by Boardman Robinson.

Before the 11th century, Christians had not developed the doctrine of "Holy war", the belief that fighting itself might be considered a penitential and spiritually meritorious act.[62][63] Throughout the Middle Ages, force could not be used to propagate religion.[64] For the first three centuries of Christianity, the Church taught the pacifism of Jesus and notable church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian of Carthage even went as far as arguing against joining the military or using any form of violence against aggressors.[63] In the 4th century, St. Augustine developed a "Just War" concept, whereby limited uses of war would be considered acceptable in order to preserve the peace and retain orthodoxy if it was waged: for defensive purposes, ordered by an authority, had honorable intentions, and produced minimal harm. However, the criteria he used was already developed by Roman thinkers in the past and "Augustine's perspective was not based on the New Testament."[63] St. Augustine's "Just War" concept was widely accepted, however, warfare was not regarded as virtuous in any way.[62] Expression of concern for the salvation of those who killed enemies in battle, regardless of the cause for which they fought, was common.[62] In the medieval period which began after the fall of Rome, there were increases in the level of violence due to political instability. By the 11th century, the Church condemned this violence and warring by introducing: the "Peace of God" which prohibited attacks on clergy, pilgrims, townspeople, peasants and property; the "Truce of God" which banned warfare on Sundays, Fridays, Lent, and Easter; and it imposed heavy penances on soldiers for killing and injuring others because it believed that the shedding of other people's blood was the same as shedding the blood of Christ.[63]

During the 9th and 10th centuries, multiple invasions occurred in some regions in Europe and these invasions lead them to form their own armies in order to defend themselves and by the 11th century, this slowly lead to the emergence of the Crusades, the concept of "holy war", and terminology such as "enemies of God".[62] By the time of the Crusades, "Despite all the violence during this period, the majority of Christians were not active participants but were more often its victims" and groups which used nonviolent means to peacefully dialogue with Muslims were established, like the Franciscans.[63]

Today, the relationship between Christianity and violence is the subject of controversy because one view advocates the belief that Christianity advocates peace, love and compassion despite the fact that in certain instances, its adherents have also resorted to violence.[29][59][65] Peace, compassion and forgiveness of wrongs done by others are key elements of Christian teaching. However, Christians have struggled since the days of the Church fathers with the question of when the use of force is justified (e.g. the Just war theory of Saint Augustine). Such debates have led to concepts such as just war theory. Throughout history, certain teachings from the Old Testament, the New Testament and Christian theology have been used to justify the use of force against heretics, sinners and external enemies. Heitman and Hagan identify the Inquisitions, Crusades, wars of religion, and antisemitism as being "among the most notorious examples of Christian violence".[66] To this list, Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver adds "warrior popes, support of capital punishment, corporal punishment under the guise of 'spare the rod spoil the child,' justifications of slavery, world-wide colonialism under the guise of converting people to Christianity, the systemic violence against women who are subjected to the rule of men."[improper synthesis?] Weaver employs a broader definition of violence that extends the meaning of the word to cover "harm or damage", not just physical violence per se. Thus, under his definition, Christian violence includes "forms of systemic violence such as poverty, racism, and sexism".[67]

Christian theologians point to a strong doctrinal and historical imperative against violence that exists within Christianity, particularly Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which taught nonviolence and "love of enemies". For example, Weaver asserts that Jesus' pacifism was "preserved in the justifiable war doctrine which declares that all war is sin even when it is occasionally declared to be a necessary evil, and in the prohibition of fighting by monastics and clergy as well as in a persistent tradition of Christian pacifism".[68]

 
Between 1420 and 1431 the Hussite heretics fended off 5 anti-Hussite Crusades ordered by the Pope.

Many authors highlight the ironical contradiction between Christianity's claims to be centered on "love and peace" while, at the same time, harboring a "violent side". For example, Mark Juergensmeyer argues: "that despite its central tenets of love and peace, Christianity—like most traditions—has always had a violent side. The bloody history of the tradition has provided images as disturbing as those provided by Islam, and violent conflict is vividly portrayed in the Bible. This history and these biblical images have provided the raw material for theologically justifying the violence of contemporary Christian groups. For example, attacks on abortion clinics have been viewed not only as assaults on a practice that Christians regard as immoral, but also as skirmishes in a grand confrontation between forces of evil and good that has social and political implications.",[69]: 19–20  sometimes referred to as spiritual warfare. The statement attributed to Jesus "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword" has been interpreted by some as a call to arms to Christians.[69]

Maurice Bloch also argues that the Christian faith fosters violence because the Christian faith is a religion, and religions are violent by their very nature; moreover, he argues that religion and politics are two sides of the same coin—power.[70] Others have argued that religion and the exercise of force are deeply intertwined, but they have also stated that religion may pacify, as well as channel and heighten violent impulses [71]

 
Forward with God! (1915) by Boardman Robinson.

In response to the view that Christianity and violence are intertwined, Miroslav Volf and J. Denny Weaver reject charges that Christianity is a violent religion, arguing that certain aspects of Christianity might be misused to support violence but that a genuine interpretation of its core elements would not sanction human violence but would instead resist it. Among the examples that are commonly used to argue that Christianity is a violent religion, J. Denny Weaver lists "(the) Crusades, the multiple blessings of wars, warrior popes, support of capital punishment, corporal punishment under the guise of 'spare the rod and spoil the child,' justifications of slavery, world-wide colonialism in the name of converting people to Christianity, the systemic violence against women who are subjected to the rule of men." Weaver characterizes the counter-argument as focusing on "Jesus, the beginning point of Christian faith,... whose Sermon on the Mount taught nonviolence and love of enemies,; who nonviolently faced his death at the hands of his accusers; whose nonviolent teaching inspired the first centuries of pacifist Christian history and was subsequently preserved in the justifiable war doctrine that declares that all war is sin even when it is occasionally declared to be a necessary evil, and in the prohibition of fighting by monastics and clergy as well as in a persistent tradition of Christian pacifism."[67]

Miroslav Volf acknowledges the fact that "many contemporaries see religion as a pernicious social ill that needs aggressive treatment rather than medicine from which a cure is expected." However, Volf contests the claim that "(the) Christian faith, as one of the major world religions, predominantly fosters violence." Instead of this negative assessment, Volf argues that Christianity "should be seen as a contributor to more peaceful social environments."[72] Volf examines the question of whether or not Christianity fosters violence, and he has identified four main arguments which claim that it does: that religion by its nature is violent, which occurs when people try to act as "soldiers of God"; that monotheism entails violence, because a claim of universal truth divides people into "us versus them"; that creation, as in the Book of Genesis, is an act of violence; and the argument that the intervention of a "new creation", as in the Second Coming, generates violence.[65] Writing about the latter, Volf says: "Beginning at least with Constantine's conversion, the followers of the Crucified have perpetrated gruesome acts of violence under the sign of the cross. Over the centuries, the seasons of Lent and Holy Week were, for the Jews, times of fear and trepidation; Christians have perpetrated some of the worst pogroms as they remembered the crucifixion of Christ, for which they blamed the Jews. Muslims also associate the cross with violence; crusaders' rampages were undertaken under the sign of the cross."[73] In each case, Volf concluded that the Christian faith was misused in order to justify violence. Volf argues that "thin" readings of Christianity might be used mischievously to support the use of violence. He counters, however, by asserting that "thick" readings of Christianity's core elements will not sanction human violence, instead, they will resist it.[74]

Volf asserts that Christian churches suffer from a "confusion of loyalties". He asserts that "rather than the character of the Christian faith itself, a better explanation as to why Christian churches are either impotent in the face of violent conflicts or are active participants in them is derived from the proclivities of its adherents which are at odds with the character of the Christian faith." Volf observes that "(although) they are explicitly giving ultimate allegiance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, many Christians in fact seem to have an overriding commitment to their respective cultures and ethnic groups."[75]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Main article: Mormonism and violence
Further information: Blood atonement

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an early history of violence. It was motivated by Anti-Mormonism and began with the religious persecution of the Church by well respected citizens, law enforcement, and government officials. Ultimately, this persecution lead to several historically well-known acts of violence. These ranged from attacks on early members, such as the Haun's Mill massacre following the Mormon Extermination Order to one of the most controversial and well-known cases of retaliation violence, the Mountain Meadows massacre. This was the result of an unprovoked response to religious persecution whereby an innocent party which was traveling through Church occupied territory was attacked on 11 September 1857.

Islam

Main article: Islam and violence
See also: Islamic terrorism, Islamism, Jihad, and Mujahideen
 
Sketch by an eye-witness of the massacre of Armenians in Sasun in 1894

Islam has been associated with violence in a variety of contexts, especially in the context of Jihad. In Arabic, the word jihād translates into English as "struggle". Jihad appears in the Qur'an and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)".[76][77] The context of the word can be seen in its usage in Arabic translations of the New Testament such as in 2 Timothy 4:7 where St. Paul expresses keeping the faith after many struggles.[78] A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status.[79] In Twelver Shi'a Islam, however, Jihad is one of the ten Practices of the Religion. For some the Quran seem to endorse unequivocally to violence.[80] On the other hand, some scholars argue that such verses of the Quran are interpreted out of context.[81][82]

According to a study from Gallup, most Muslims understand the word "Jihad" to mean individual struggle, not something violent or militaristic.[78] Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war.[83] The prominent British orientalist Bernard Lewis argues that in the Qur'an and the hadith jihad implies warfare in the large majority of cases.[84] In a commentary of the hadith Sahih Muslim, entitled al-Minhaj, the medieval Islamic scholar Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi stated that "one of the collective duties of the community as a whole (fard kifaya) is to lodge a valid protest, to solve problems of religion, to have knowledge of Divine Law, to command what is right and forbid wrong conduct".[85]

 
Indonesian military forces evacuate refugees from Ambon during the Maluku sectarian conflict in 1999

According to Irfan Omar, Islam has a history of nonviolence and negotiation when dealing with conflicts: for instance, early Muslims experienced 83 conflicts with non-Muslims and only 4 of these ended up in armed conflict.[78]

Terrorism and Islam

See also: Islamic terrorism

In western societies the term jihad is often translated as "holy war".[86][87] Scholars of Islamic studies often stress the fact that these two terms are not synonymous.[88] Muslim authors, in particular, tend to reject such an approach, stressing the non-militant connotations of the word.[89][90]

Islamic terrorism refers to terrorism that is engaged in by Muslim groups[citation needed] or individuals who are motivated by either politics, religion or both. Terrorist acts have included airline hijacking, kidnapping, assassination, suicide bombing, and mass murder.[91][92][93]

The tension reached a climax on 11 September 2001 when Islamic terrorists flew hijacked commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The "War on Terror" has triggered anti-Muslim sentiments within most western countries and throughout the rest of the world. Al-Qaeda is one of the most well-known Islamic extremist groups, created by Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. Al-Qaeda's goal is to spread the "purest" form of Islam and Islamic law. Based on his interpretation of the Quran, bin Laden needed to do "good" by inflicting terror upon millions of people. Following the terrorist attacks on 11 September, bin Laden praised the suicide bombers in his statement: "the great action you did which was first and foremost by the grace of Allah. This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad." In contrast, echoing the overwhelming majority of people who interpreted these events, President Bush said on 11 September, "Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. ... And freedom will be defended. Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."[94]

 
Wounded people following a bomb attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria, in April 2014

Controversies surrounding the subject include disagreements over whether terrorist acts are self-defense or aggression, national self-determination or Islamic supremacy; whether Islam can ever condone the targeting of non-combatants; whether some attacks described as Islamic terrorism are merely terrorist acts committed by Muslims or terrorist acts motivated by nationalism; whether Wahhabism are at the root of Islamic terrorism, or simply one cause of it; how much support for Islamic terrorism exists in the Muslim world[95] and whether support of terrorism is only a temporary phenomenon, a "bubble", now fading away.[96]

Judaism

Main articles: Judaism and violence, Jewish religious terrorism, and Milkhemet Mitzvah

As the religion of the Jews, who are also known as Israelites, Judaism is based on the Torah and the Tanakh, which is also referred to as the Hebrew Bible, and it guides its adherents on how to live, die, and fight via the 613 commandments which are referred to as the 613 Mitzvahs, the most famous of which are the Ten Commandments, one of which is the commandment You shall not murder.

The Torah also lists instances and circumstances which require its adherents to go to war and kill their enemies. Such a war is usually referred to as a Milkhemet Mitzvah, a "compulsory war" which is obligated by the Torah or God, or a Milkhemet Reshut a "voluntary war".

Criticism

Burggraeve and Vervenne describe the Old Testament as being full of violence and they also cite it as evidence for the existence of both a violent society and a violent god. They write that, "(i)n numerous Old Testament texts the power and glory of Israel's God is described in the language of violence." They assert that more than one thousand passages refer to Yahweh as acting violently or supporting the violence of humans and they also assert that more than one hundred passages involve divine commands to kill humans.[97]

On the basis of these passages in the Old Testament, some Christian churches and theologians argue that Judaism is a violent religion and the god of Israel is a violent god. Reuven Firestone asserts that these assertions are usually made in the context of claims that Christianity is a religion of peace and the god of Christianity is one who only expresses love.[98]

Other views

Some scholars such as Deborah Weissman readily acknowledge the fact that "normative Judaism is not pacifist" and "violence is condoned in the service of self-defense."However, the Talmud prohibits violence of any kind towards one's neighbour.[99] J. Patout Burns asserts that, although Judaism condones the use of violence in certain cases, Jewish tradition clearly posits the principle of minimization of violence. This principle can be stated as "(wherever) Jewish law allows violence to keep an evil from occurring, it mandates that the minimal amount of violence must be used in order to accomplish one's goal."[100]

The love and pursuit of peace, as well as laws which require the eradication of evil, sometimes by the use of violent means, co-exist in the Jewish tradition.[101][102][103][104]

The Hebrew Bible contains instances of religiously mandated wars[105][106][107] which often contain explicit instructions from God to the Israelites to exterminate other tribes, as in Deuteronomy 7:1–2 or Deuteronomy 20:16–18. Examples include the story of the Amalekites (Deuteronomy 25:17–19, 1 Samuel 15:1–6),[108] the story of the Midianites (Numbers 31:1–18),[109] and the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6:1–27).[110][111][112][113][114]

Judging biblical wars

The biblical wars of extermination have been characterized as "genocide" by several authorities,[115][116][117] because the Torah states that the Israelites annihilated entire ethnic groups or tribes: the Israelites killed all Amalekites, including men, women, and children (1 Samuel 15:1–20); the Israelites killed all men, women, and children in the battle of Jericho(Joshua 6:15–21), and the Israelites killed all men, women and children of several Canaanite tribes (Joshua 10:28–42).[118] However, some scholars[who?] believe that these accounts in the Torah are exaggerated or metaphorical.[citation needed]

Arab-Israeli conflict

During the Palestine-Israeli conflict, people use the Torah (Tanakh) as a way to murder Palestinians, but the IDF has said "That we don't condone the killing of innocent Palestinians".[119][120][121]

Palestinians as "Amalekites"

On several occasions, Palestinians have been associated with biblical antagonists, particularly with the Amalekites. For example, Rabbi Israel Hess has recommended that Palestinians be killed, based on biblical verses such as 1 Samuel 15.[122][123][124]

Other religions

 
The Thuggee was a secret cult of assassins whose members were both Hindus and Muslims.

Buddhism

Main articles: Buddhism and violence, Sōhei, 969 Movement, and Bodu Bala Sena

Hinduism

Main article: Saffron terror

Neo-paganism

In the United States and Europe, neo-pagan beliefs have been associated with many terrorist incidents. Although the majority of neo-pagans oppose violence and racism, folkish factions of Odinism, Wotanism, and Ásatrú emphasize their Nordic cultural heritage and idolize warriors.[125] For these reasons, a 1999 Federal Bureau of Investigation report on domestic terrorism which was titled Project Megiddo described Odinism as “[lending] itself to violence and [having] the potential to inspire its followers to violence.”[126] As of 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center has recognized at least two active neo-pagan hate groups in the United States.[127] Many white supremacists (especially those in prison) are converting to Odinism at increasing rates, citing the impurity of Christianity and the failure of previous groups to accomplish goals as the primary reasons for their conversion.[128][129] Similarities between Odinism and other extremist groups such as Christian Identity facilitate conversions.[130] The targets of neo-pagan violence are similar to those of white supremacist terrorists and nationalist terrorists, but an added target includes Christians and churches.

Sikhism

Main article: Sikh extremism

Notable incidents

Conflicts and wars

 
Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople by Gustave Doré (1832–1883)
Main article: Religious war

Some authors have stated that "religious" conflicts are not exclusively based on religious beliefs but should instead be seen as clashes of communities, identities, and interests that are secular-religious or at least very secular.[37][40]

Some have asserted that attacks are carried out by those with very strong religious convictions such as terrorists in the context of a global religious war.[135] Robert Pape, a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism argues that much of the modern Muslim suicide terrorism is secularly based.[40] Although the causes of terrorism are complex, it may be safe to assume that terrorists are partially reassured by their religious views that their god is on their side and that it will reward them in Heaven for punishing unbelievers.[136][137]

These conflicts are among the most difficult to resolve, particularly when both sides believe that God is on their side and that He has endorsed the moral righteousness of their claims.[136] One of the most infamous quotes which is associated with religious fanaticism was uttered in 1209 during the siege of Béziers, a Crusader asked the Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric how to tell Catholics from Cathars when the city was taken, to which Amalric replied: "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius", or "Kill them all; God will recognize his."[138]

Ritual violence

Further information: ritual slaughter, human sacrifice, and animal sacrifice

Ritual violence may be directed against victims (e.g., human and nonhuman animal sacrifice and ritual slaughter) or self-inflicted (religious self-flagellation).

According to the hunting hypothesis, created by Walter Burkert in Homo Necans, carnivorous behavior is considered a form of violence. Burkett suggests that the anthropological phenomenon of religion grew out of rituals that were connected with hunting and the associated feelings of guilt over the violence that hunting required.[139]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wellman, James; Tokuno, Kyoko (2004). "Is Religious Violence Inevitable?". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 43 (3): 291. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2004.00234.x.
  2. ^ Jones, James W. (2014). "Violence and Religion". In Leeming, David A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion (2nd ed.). Boston: Springer. pp. 1850–1853. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_849. ISBN 978-1-4614-6087-9.
  3. ^ a b c d Houben, Jan; van Kooji, Karel, eds. (1999). Violence Denied: Violence, Non-violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History. Leiden ; Boston ; Köln: Brill. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-9004113442.
  4. ^ a b Ralph E.S. Tanner (2007). Violence and Religion: Cross-cultural Opinions and Consequences. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 5–6. ISBN 9788180693762.
  5. ^ a b c d Clarke, Steve (2019). "28. Violence". In Oppy, Graham (ed.). A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy (First ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 421–424. ISBN 9781119119111.
  6. ^ a b c d e Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). 50 Great Myths of Religion. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 12–17. ISBN 9780470673508.
  7. ^ a b c Nongbri, Brent (2013). Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300154160.
  8. ^ a b c Fitzgerald, Timothy (2007). Discourse on Civility and Barbarity. Oxford University Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-19-530009-3.
  9. ^ a b Chaves, Mark (March 2010). "SSSR Presidential Address Rain Dances in the Dry Season: Overcoming the Religious Congruence Fallacy". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 49 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01489.x.
  10. ^ a b c Rowley, Matthew (2015). (PDF). Ethics in Brief. 21 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  11. ^ Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael, eds. (22 June 2015). "Introduction". Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 1. ISBN 9781118953426.
  12. ^ McKinnon, Andrew (2002). "Sociological definitions, language games, and the "essence" of religion". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. 14 (1): 61–83. doi:10.1163/157006802760198776. ISSN 0943-3058.
  13. ^ Josephson, Jason Ananda (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. University of Chicago Press. p. 257. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226412351.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-226-41234-4.
  14. ^ Engler, Steven; Miller, Dean (September 2006). "Daniel Dubuisson: The Western Construction of Religion". Religion. 36 (3): 119–178. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2006.08.001. ISSN 0048-721X. S2CID 145296143.
  15. ^ a b Harrison, Peter (2015). The Territories of Science and Religion. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226184487.
  16. ^ Harrison, Peter (1990). 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521892933.
  17. ^ Josephson, Jason Ananda (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226412344.
  18. ^ Edelheit, Hershel (19 September 2019). History of Zionism a handbook and dictionary. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-429-72104-5. OCLC 1289841198.
  19. ^ Nayak, Abhijit (July–October 2008). "Crusade Violence: Understanding and Overcoming the Impact of Mission Among Muslims". International Review of Mission. 97 (386–387): 273–291. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6631.2008.tb00645.x. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  20. ^ Freitheim, Terence (Winter 2004). "God and Violence in the Old Testament" (PDF). Word & World. 24 (1). Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  21. ^ Selengut, Charles (28 April 2008). Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7425-6084-0.
  22. ^ Rowley, Matthew (2014). "What Causes Religious Violence?". Journal of Religion and Violence. 2 (3): 361–402. doi:10.5840/jrv20153234.
  23. ^ Tanner, Ralph E. S. (2007). Violence and Religion: Cross-Cultural Opinions and Consequences. Concept Publishing Company. p. 1. ISBN 9788180693762.
  24. ^ Jerryson, Michael (6 May 2015). "Buddhists and Violence: Historical Continuity/Academic Incongruity". Religion Compass. 9 (5): 141–150, 141. doi:10.1111/rec3.12152.
  25. ^ Crenshaw, Martha (1 December 1987). "Theories of terrorism: Instrumental and organizational approaches". Journal of Strategic Studies. 10 (4): 13–31. doi:10.1080/01402398708437313. ISSN 0140-2390.
  26. ^ Ekici, S.; Ekici, A. (2009). Building Terrorism Resistant Communities: Together Against Terrorism. IOS Press. ISBN 9781607500063.
  27. ^ Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520240117.
  28. ^ Avalos, Hector (2005). Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.
  29. ^ a b c The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism By Regina M. Schwartz. University of Chicago Press. 1998.
  30. ^ Wechsler, Lawrence. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.
  31. ^ Cavanaugh, William (2009). The Myth of Religious Violence. Oxford University Press US. p. 4. ISBN 9780199736645.
  32. ^ a b Russell, Jeffrey Burton (2012). Exposing Myths about Christianity. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Books. pp. 56. ISBN 9780830834662.
  33. ^ a b Morreall, John; Sonn, Tamara (2013). "Myth 8. Religion Causes Violence". 50 Great Myths of Religion. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 39–44. ISBN 9780470673508.
  34. ^ Armstrong, Karen (24 September 2014). "The Myth of Religious Violence". The Guardian.
  35. ^ Eller, Jack David (2010). Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-218-6. As we have insisted previously, religion is not inherently and irredeemably violent; it certainly is not the essence and source of all violence.
  36. ^ Eller, Jack David (2010). Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-218-6. Religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical. Violence is one phenomenon in human (and natural existence), religion is another, and it is inevitable that the two would become intertwined. Religion is complex and modular, and violence is one of the modules—not universal, but recurring. As a conceptual and behavioral module, violence is by no means exclusive to religion. There are plenty of other groups, institutions, interests, and ideologies to promote violence. Violence is, therefore, neither essential to nor exclusive to religion. Nor is religious violence all alike... And virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary.
  37. ^ a b Eller, Jack David (2007). Introducing Anthropology of Religion. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-40896-7. When a pure or hybrid religious group and/or its interests are threatened, or merely blocked from achieving its interests by another group, conflict and violence may ensue. In such cases, although religion is part of the issue and religious groups form the competitors, or combatants, it would be simplistic or wrong to assume the religion is the "cause" of the trouble or that the parties are "fighting about religion". Religion in the circumstances may be more a marker of the groups than an actual point of contention between them.
  38. ^ Teehan, John (2010). In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 145–147. ISBN 9781444320701.
  39. ^ Kirsch, Jonathan (2009). The Grand Inquisitor's Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God. HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-173276-8.
  40. ^ a b c d Pape, Robert (2005). Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7338-9.
  41. ^ Bland, Byron (May 2003). (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2010.
  42. ^ Yerxa, Donald A. (9 April 2011). "The Myth of Religious Violence: An Interview with William Cavanaugh". Historically Speaking. 12 (2): 10–11. doi:10.1353/hsp.2011.0015. S2CID 162329393 – via Project MUSE.
  43. ^ a b Jakobsen, Janet (16 May 2011). "Gender in the Production of Religious and Secular Violence". In Murphy, Andrew (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 125. ISBN 9781405191319.
  44. ^ a b Carlson, John (2011). "1. Religion and Violence: Coming to Terms with Terms". In Murphy, Andrew (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 12. ISBN 978-1405191319.
  45. ^ Jakobsen, Janet (2004). "7. Is Secularism Less Violent Than Religion?". In Jakobsen, Janet; Castelli, Elizabeth (eds.). Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 53, 63. ISBN 978-1403965820.
  46. ^ Ralph E.S. Tanner (2011). "The Harmful Secular Ideologies". Ames Tribune.
  47. ^ Rummel, Rudolph J. (1994). Death By Government. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56000-927-6.
  48. ^ Rummel, Rudolph J. (1997). Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900. Lit Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8258-4010-5.
  49. ^ Froese, Paul (2008). The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25529-6.
  50. ^ Gabel, Paul (2005). And God Created Lenin: Marxism Vs. Religion in Russia, 1917–1929. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-306-7.
  51. ^ Kiernan, Ben (2008). The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14434-5.
  52. ^ Peris, Daniel (1998). Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-3485-3.
  53. ^ Bantjes, Adrian (1997). "Idolatry and Iconoclasm in Revolutionary Mexico: The De-Christianization. Campaigns, 1929–1940". Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos. 13 (1): 87–121. doi:10.2307/1051867. JSTOR 1051867.
  54. ^ Meisner, Maurice (1999). Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic. Free Press. ISBN 978-0-684-85635-3.
  55. ^ Nelson, James M. (27 February 2009). Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Springer. p. 427. ISBN 9780387875729. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  56. ^ O'Brien, Joanne; Palmer, Martin (2007). The Atlas of Religion. University of California Press. p. 63. ISBN 9780520249172. However, the violence has not only been from the religious side. In the last 100 years, the major religions have been more heavily persecuted than at any other time in history. And most of this has not been religion persecuting religion. It has been ideologies persecuting religion. This ranges from the Mexican socialist revolution in 1924 attacking the power, land holdings and ultimately the clergy and buildings of the Catholic Church, through the attacks on all faiths in the Soviet Union, the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis, the massive onslaught of the Chinese Cultural Revolution against all faiths in the 1960s and the assaults on the Baha'is in Iran from the 1970s onwards.
  57. ^ Geoffrey, Blainey (2016). A Short History of Christianity : Essentials of the Christian life. SPCK. p. 543. ISBN 978-0-281-07620-8. OCLC 1125110569.
  58. ^ Asad, Talal (2003). Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity (10. printing. ed.). Stanford University Press. pp. 100, 187–190. ISBN 978-0804747684.
  59. ^ a b Avalos, Hector (2005). Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.
  60. ^ Hickey, Eric W. (2003). Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime. SAGE. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-7619-2437-1.
  61. ^ Wechsler, Lawrence. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.
  62. ^ a b c d Peters, Edward (1998). "Introduction". The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials (2 ed.). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812216561.
  63. ^ a b c d e Duffey, Michael (22 June 2015). "2. Christianity: From Peacemaking to Violence to Home Again". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781118953426.
  64. ^ Johnson, James (2011). "21. Just War and Jihad of the Sword". In Murphy, Andrew R. (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405191319.
  65. ^ a b Volf, Miroslav (2008). "Christianity and Violence". In Hess, Richard S.; Martens, E.A. (eds.). War in the Bible and terrorism in the twenty-first century. Eisenbrauns. pp. 1–17. ISBN 978-1-57506-803-9. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  66. ^ International Encyclopedia of Violence Research, Volume 2. Springer. 2003. ISBN 9781402014666.
  67. ^ a b J. Denny Weaver (2001). "Violence in Christian Theology". Cross Currents. Retrieved 27 October 2010. I am using broad definitions of the terms "violence" and "nonviolence". "Violence" means harm or damage, which obviously includes the direct violence of killing -- in war, capital punishment, murder --but it also covers the range of forms of systemic violence such as poverty, racism, and sexism. "Nonviolence" also covers a spectrum of attitudes and actions, from the classic Mennonite idea of passive nonresistance through active nonviolence and nonviolent resistance that would include various kinds of social action, confrontations and the posing of alternatives that do not cause bodily harm or injury.
  68. ^ J. Denny Weaver (2001). "Violence in Christian Theology". Cross Currents. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  69. ^ a b Mark Juergensmeyer (2004). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24011-7.
  70. ^ Bloch, Maurice (1992). Prey into Hunter: The Politics of Religious Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  71. ^ McKinnon, Andrew (2014). "Religion and the Civilizing Process: The Pax Dei Movement and the Christianization of Violence in the Process of Feudalization". In Andrew McKinnon; Marta Trzebiatowska (eds.). Sociological Theory and the Question of Religion. Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective Series in Association with the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group. Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-6553-9.
  72. ^ Volf, Miroslav (2002). "Christianity and Violence". Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  73. ^ Volf 2008, p. 13
  74. ^ Volf, Miroslav (12 March 2002). "Christianity and violence". Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  75. ^ Volf, Miroslav (June 1998). "The Social Meaning of Reconciliation" (PDF). Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe. 18 (3). Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  76. ^ Wendy Doniger, ed. (1999). "Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions ; Wendy Doniger, consulting editor". Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0.,Jihad, p. 571
  77. ^ Josef W. Meri, ed. (2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96690-0. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help), Jihad, p. 419
  78. ^ a b c Omar, Irfan (22 June 2015). "1. Jihad and Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition". In Omar, Irfan; Duffey, Michael (eds.). Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781118953426.[page needed]
  79. ^ Esposito, John L. (2016). Islam : the straight path. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-063215-1. OCLC 935514239.
  80. ^ Harris, Sam (17 February 2006). "Who Are the Moderate Muslims?". HuffPost. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  81. ^ Sohail H. Hashmi, David Miller, Boundaries and Justice: Diverse Ethical Perspectives, Princeton University Press, p.197
  82. ^ Khaleel Muhammad, professor of religious studies at San Diego State University, states, regarding his discussion with the critic Robert Spencer, that "when I am told ... that Jihad only means war, or that I have to accept interpretations of the Quran that non-Muslims (with no good intentions or knowledge of Islam) seek to force upon me, I see a certain agendum developing: one that is based on hate, and I refuse to be part of such an intellectual crime.". Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
  83. ^ "Jihad". BBC. 3 August 2009.
  84. ^ Lewis, Bernard (1988). The Political Language of Islam. University of Chicago Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0226476926. Cf. Watt, William M. (1976). "Islamic Conceptions of the Holy War". In Murphy, Thomas P. (ed.). The Holy War. Ohio State University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0814202456.
  85. ^ Shaykh Hisham Kabbani; Shaykh Seraj Hendricks; Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks. "Jihad—A Misunderstood Concept from Islam". The Muslim Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2006.
  86. ^ "Libya's Gaddafi urges 'holy war' against Switzerland". BBC. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  87. ^ Peters, Rudolph (1977). Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam. Brill Academic Pub. p. 3. ISBN 978-9004048546.
  88. ^ Crone, Patricia (2005). Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh University. p. 363. ISBN 978-0748621941.
  89. ^ . Jordan: The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought. 2009. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013.
  90. ^ Peters, Rudolph (1979). Islam and Colonialism: The Doctrine of Jihad in Modern History. Mouton Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-9027933478.
  91. ^ "Captured Iraqi Terrorist Ramzi Hashem Abed: Zarqawi Participated in the Plot to Assassinate Baqer Al-Hakim. We Bombed Jalal Talabani's Headquarters, the Turkish Embassy, and the Red Cross, Took Drugs, Raped University Students Who "Collaborated with the Americans"". The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
  92. ^ "Abductions of and Assaults on Women". The Massacre in Mazar-I Sharif. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  93. ^ Youssef M. Ibrahim (14 April 1988). "Algeria to Permit Abortions for Rape Victims". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  94. ^ Michael E. Eidenmuller (14 January 2015). "George W. Bush - 9/11 Remarks at Barksdale Air Force Base delivered 11 September, 2001, Barksdale, Louisiana". American Rhetoric. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  95. ^ Tony Blair, "Speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council", . Archived from the original on 15 August 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  96. ^ Thomas L. Friedman (20 April 2003). "The Third Bubble". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  97. ^ Burggraeve, Roger; Vervenne, Marc (1991). Swords into Plowshares: Theological Reflections on Peace. Peeters Publishers. pp. 82, 109. ISBN 9789068313727.
  98. ^ Heft, James, ed. (2004). Beyond Violence: Religious Sources of Social Transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823223350.
  99. ^ "The Co-existence of Violence and Non-Violence in Judaism". Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  100. ^ Burns, J. Patout (1996). War and Its Discontents: Pacifism and Quietism in the Abrahamic Traditions. Georgetown University Press. p. 18.
  101. ^ Fighting the War and the Peace: Battlefield Ethics, Peace Talks, Treaties, and Pacifism in the Jewish Tradition. Michael J. Broyde, 1998, p. 1
  102. ^ Reuven Firestone (2004), "Judaism on Violence and Reconciliation: An examination of key sources" in Beyond Violence: Religious Sources of Social Transformation in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Fordham University Press, 2004, pp. 77, 81.
  103. ^ Goldsmith (Ed.), Emanuel S. (1991). Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Fordham University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8232-1310-8.
  104. ^ Spero, Shubert (1983). Morality, Halakha, and the Jewish Tradition. Ktav Publishing House, Inc. pp. 137–318. ISBN 978-0-87068-727-3.
  105. ^ Salaita, Steven George (2006). The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan. Syracuse University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8156-3109-5.
  106. ^ Lustick, Ian (1988). For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel. Council on Foreign Relations. pp. 131–132. ISBN 978-0-87609-036-7.
  107. ^ Armstrong, Karen (2007). The Bible: A Biography. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 211–216. ISBN 978-0-87113-969-6.
  108. ^ A. G. Hunter "Denominating Amalek: Racist stereotyping in the Bible and the Justification of Discrimination", in Sanctified Aggression: Legacies of Biblical and Post-Biblical Vocabularies of Violence, Jonneke Bekkenkamp, Yvonne Sherwood (Eds.). 2003, Continuum Internatio Publishing Group, pp. 92–108
  109. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-618-68000-9.
  110. ^ Ehrlich, Carl. S. (1999). "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide". In Targarona, Judit; Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (eds.). Jewish studies at the turn of the twentieth century : proceedings of the 6th EAJS congress, Toledo, July 1998. Brill. pp. 117–124. ISBN 90-04-11558-7. OCLC 772544616.
  111. ^ Dawkins, Richard (19 May 2016). The God delusion. pp. 289–296. ISBN 978-1-78416-192-7. OCLC 956764823.
  112. ^ Hitchens, Christopher (2007). God is not great : how religion poisons everything. New York. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-446-57980-3. OCLC 70630426.
  113. ^ Selengut, Charles (12 January 2017). Sacred fury : understanding religious violence. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4422-7685-7. OCLC 960642045.
  114. ^ Cowles, C. S; Gard, Daniel; Longman, Tremper; Merrill, Eugene (June 2010). Show them no mercy : 4 views on God and Canaanite genocide. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-310-87376-1. OCLC 698775072.
  115. ^ Kravitz, Leonard, "What is Crime?", in Crime and Punishment in Jewish Law: Essays and Responsa, Editors Walter Jacob, Moshe Zemer Berghahn Books, 1999, p. 31
  116. ^ Cohn, Robert L, "Before Israel: The Canaanites as Other in Biblical Tradition", in The Other in Jewish Thought and History: Constructions of Jewish Culture and Identity, Laurence Jay Silberstein, (Ed.), NYU Press, 1994, pp. 76–77
  117. ^ Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity By Ra'anan S. Boustan, pp. 3–5
  118. ^ The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies, Donald Bloxham, A. Dirk Moses, p. 242
  119. ^ Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007) "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War" in Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Eyal Benvenistî, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (Eds.), Springer, p. 78: "... the Zionist movement, which claims to be secular, found it necessary to embrace the idea of 'the promised land' of Old Testament prophecy, to justify the confiscation of land and the expulsion of the Palestinians. For example, the speeches and letters of Chaim Weizman, the secular Zionist leader, are filled with references to the biblical origins of the Jewish claim to Palestine, which he often mixes liberally with more pragmatic and nationalistic claims. By the use of this premise, embraced in 1937, Zionists alleged that the Palestinians were usurpers in the Promised Land, and therefore their expulsion and death was justified. The Jewish-American writer Dan Kurzman, in his book Genesis 1948 ... describes the view of one of the Deir Yassin's killers: 'The Sternists followed the instructions of the Bible more rigidly than others. They honored the passage (Exodus 22:2): 'If a thief be found ...' This meant, of course, that killing a thief was not really murder. And were not the enemies of Zionism thieves, who wanted to steal from the Jews what God had granted them?'
  120. ^ Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. pp. 117–124.
  121. ^ Rights Council, Human (2019). "Report of the detailed findings of the independent international Commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" (PDF). Human Rights Council. 1 (7): 251 – via Fortieth session.
  122. ^ Masalha, Nur (2000). Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: The Politics of Expansion. Pluto Press. pp. 129–131. ISBN 978-0-7453-1615-4. Retrieved 25 July 2017. Frequently Jewish fundamentalists refer to the Palestinians as the 'Amalekites' ... of today.... According to the Old Testament, the Amalek ... were regarded as the Israelites' inveterate foe, whose 'annihilation' became a sacred duty and against whom war should be waged until their 'memory be blotted out' forever (Ex 17:16; Deut 25:17–19).... Some of the [modern] political messianics insist on giving the biblical commandment to 'blot out the memory of the Amalek' an actual contemporary relevance in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. In February 1980, Rabbi Israel Hess ... published an article [titled] 'The Genocide Commandment in the Torah' ... which ends with the following: 'The day is not far when we shall all be called to this holy war, this commandment of the annihilation of the Amalek'. Hess quotes the biblical commandment ... 'Do not spare him, but kill man and woman, baby and suckling, ox and sheep, camel, and donkey'.... In his book On the Lord's Side Danny Rubinstein has shown that this notion permeates the Gush Emunim movement's bulletins [one of which] carried an article ... which reads 'In every generation there is an Amalek.... The Amalekism of our generation finds expression in the deep Arab hatred towards our national revival ...'... Professor Uriel Tal ... conducted his study in the early 1980s ... and pointed out that the totalitarian political messianic stream refers to the Palestinian Arabs in three stages or degrees: ... [stage] (3) the implementation of the commandment of Amalek, as expressed in Rabbi Hess's article 'The Commandment of Genocide in the Torah', in other words 'annihilating' the Palestinian Arabs'
  123. ^ See also Hunter, p. 103
  124. ^ Ron, Geaves (19 October 2017). Islam and the West post 9/11. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-351-92608-9. OCLC 1012136127.
  125. ^ "odin.org (Wodanesdag Press)". odin.org. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  126. ^ a b "Megiddo Report" (PDF). United States Government Publishing Office. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1999. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  127. ^ "Active Hate Groups 2016". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2017.
  128. ^ "Viking Mythology Grows As Religion for Inmates". Fox News. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  129. ^ "The New Religion Of Choice For White Supremacists – ThinkProgress". ThinkProgress. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  130. ^ Vohryzek, Miki; Olson-Raymer, Gayle; Whamond, Jeffery O. (1 January 2001). Domestic Terrorism and Incident Management: Issues and Tactics. Charles C Thomas Publisher. ISBN 9780398083083.
  131. ^ "David Lane". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  132. ^ Miroslav, Vrzal (2016). "Pagan terrorism? Pagan motives for church burnings in the early 90s Norwegian black metal subculture". Masaryk University.
  133. ^ Moynihan, Michael; Søderlind, Didrik (2003). Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House. ISBN 9780922915941.
  134. ^ "Kan. killer follows neopagan Odinism". NY Daily News. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  135. ^ "bin Laden's 'letter to America'". Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  136. ^ a b Juergensmeyer, Mark (21 September 2001). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Updated edition. University of California Press.
  137. ^ . www.cbn.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2008.
  138. ^ . Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  139. ^ Burkert, Walter (1987). Homo necans : the anthropology of ancient Greek sacrificial ritual and myth. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05875-5. OCLC 83239158.

Further reading

Academic
  • Appleby, R. Scott (2000) The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  • Avalos, Hector (2005) Fighting Words: the Origins of Religious Violence. New York: Prometheus.
  • Buc, Philippe (2015) Holy War, Martyrdom and Terror: Christianity, Violence and the West. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Burkert, Walter. (1983). Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press
  • Crocket, Clayton (ed.) (2006) Religion and Violence in a Secular World: Toward a New Political Theology. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
  • Flood, Derek (2012) "The way of peace and grace". Sojourners. January 2012.
  • Girard, René. (1977) Violence et le Sacré (English Violence and the Sacred). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G. (ed.) (1987) Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, René Girard and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Jerryson, Michael. (2010) Buddhist Warfare. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Juergensmeyer, Mark, Kitts, Margo and Jerryson, Michael (ed.) (2013) The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Juergensmeyer, Mark; Kitts, Margo; Jerryson, Michael (ed.) (2016) Violence and the World's Religious Traditions: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Juergensmeyer, Mark. (2000) Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Kitts, Margo (2018) Elements of Ritual and Violence. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kitts, Margo (ed.) (2013–present) Journal of Religion and Violence, Charlottesville: Philosophy Documentation Center.
  • Kitts, Margo (ed.) (2018) Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation: Religious Perspectives on Suicide. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Pape, Robert (2005). Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Random House. ISBN 9781588364609.
  • Pedahzur, Ami and Weinberg, Leonard (eds.) (2004) Religious Fundamentalism and Political Extremism. New York: Routledge.
  • Regina M. Schwartz (1998). The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226742007.
  • Selengut, C. (2003) Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira
  • Stausberg, Michael (March 2021). Feldt, Laura; Valk, Ülo (eds.). "The Demise, Dissolution, and Elimination of Religions". Numen. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. 68 (2–3 - Special Issue: The Dissolution of Religions): 103–131. doi:10.1163/15685276-12341617. ISSN 1568-5276. LCCN 58046229.
  • Steffen, Lloyd. (2007) Holy War, Just War: Exploring the Moral Meaning of Religious Violence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Other
  • Nelson-Pallmeyer, Jack (2003) Is Religion Killing Us? Harrisburg: Trinity Press International ISBN 1-56338-408-6
  • Perry, Simon (2011). All Who Came Before. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-60899-659-9.
  • Stern, Jessica. (2004) Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. New York: Harper Perennial.

External links

  • Myth of Religious conflict in Africa

July 25, 2023
religious, violence, neutrality, this, article, disputed, relevant, discussion, found, talk, page, please, remove, this, message, until, conditions, june, 2022, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, this, article, unbalanced, towards, certain, viewpoin. The neutrality of this article is disputed Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met June 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints or discuss the issue on the talk page April 2021 Religious violence covers phenomena in which religion is either the subject or the object of violent behavior 1 All the religions of the world contain narratives symbols and metaphors of violence and war 2 Religious violence is violence that is motivated by or in reaction to religious precepts texts or the doctrines of a target or an attacker It includes violence against religious institutions people objects or events Religious violence does not exclusively include acts which are committed by religious groups instead it includes acts which are committed against religious groups The Crusades were a series of military campaigns fought mainly between Roman Catholic Europe and Muslims Shown here is a battle scene from the First Crusade Violence is a very broad concept which is difficult to define because it is used against both human and non human objects 3 Furthermore the term can denote a wide variety of experiences such as blood shedding physical harm forcing against personal freedom passionate conduct or language or emotions such as fury and passion 4 5 Religion is a complex and problematic modern western concept 6 7 Though there is no scholarly consensus over what a religion is 8 6 7 5 today religion is generally considered an abstraction which entails beliefs doctrines and sacred places The link between religious belief and behavior is problematic Decades of anthropological sociological and psychological research have all proven the falsehood of the assumption that behaviors directly follow from religious beliefs and values because people s religious ideas are fragmented loosely connected and context dependent just like all other domains of culture and life 9 In general religions ethical systems and societies rarely promote violence as an end in itself since violence is universally undesirable 3 At the same time there is a universal tension between the general desire to avoid violence and the acceptance of justifiable uses of violence to prevent a greater evil that permeates all cultures 3 Religious violence like all forms of violence is a cultural process which is context dependent and very complex 10 Oversimplifications of religion and violence often lead to misguided understandings of causes for why some people commit acts of violence and why most people never commit such acts in the first place 10 Violence is perpetrated for a wide variety of ideological reasons and religion is generally only one of many contributing social and political factors that can lead to unrest Studies of supposed cases of religious violence often conclude that violence is strongly driven by ethnic animosities rather than by religious worldviews 11 Due to the complex nature of religion and violence and the complex relationship which exists between them it is normally unclear if religion is a significant cause of violence 5 Contents 1 History of the concept of religion 2 Definition of violence 3 Relationship between religion and violence 4 Challenges to the view that religions are violent 4 1 Behavioral studies 4 2 Myth of religious violence 4 3 Secularism as a response 4 4 Secular violence 5 Abrahamic religions 5 1 Christianity 5 1 1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints 5 2 Islam 5 2 1 Terrorism and Islam 5 3 Judaism 5 3 1 Criticism 5 3 2 Other views 5 3 3 Judging biblical wars 5 3 4 Arab Israeli conflict 5 3 5 Palestinians as Amalekites 6 Other religions 6 1 Buddhism 6 2 Hinduism 6 3 Neo paganism 6 4 Sikhism 7 Notable incidents 8 Conflicts and wars 9 Ritual violence 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksHistory of the concept of religion EditMain article Definition of religion Religion is a modern Western concept 8 The compartmentalized concept of religion where religious things were separated from worldly things was not used before the 1500s 6 Furthermore parallel concepts are not found in many cultures and there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages 6 Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition with some giving up on the possibility of a definition 12 13 and others rejecting the term entirely citation needed Others argue that regardless of its definition it is not appropriate to apply it to non Western cultures 14 8 The modern concept of religion as an abstraction which entails distinct sets of beliefs or doctrines is a recent invention in the English language since such usage began with texts from the 17th century due to the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and more prevalent colonization or globalization in the age of exploration which involved contact with numerous foreign and indigenous cultures with non European languages 15 16 Ancient sacred texts like the Bible and the Quran did not have a concept of religion in their original languages and neither did their authors or the cultures to which they belonged 7 6 It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism Hinduism Taoism and Confucianism first emerged 15 17 There is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew and Judaism does not draw clear distinctions between religious national racial or ethnic identities 18 Definition of violence EditViolence is difficult to define because the term is a complicated concept which broadly carries descriptive and evaluative components which range from harming non human objects to human self harm 3 Ralph Tanner cites the definition of violence in the Oxford English Dictionary as far beyond the infliction of pain and the shedding of blood He argues that although violence clearly encompasses injury to persons or property it also includes the forcible interference in personal freedom violent or passionate conduct or language and finally passion or fury 4 Similarly Abhijit Nayak writes The word violence can be defined to extend far beyond pain and shedding blood It carries the meaning of physical force violent language fury and more importantly forcible interference 19 Terence Fretheim writes For many people only physical violence truly qualifies as violence But certainly violence is more than killing people unless one includes all those words and actions that kill people slowly The effect of limitation to a killing fields perspective is the widespread neglect of many other forms of violence We must insist that violence also refers to that which is psychologically destructive that which demeans damages or depersonalizes others In view of these considerations violence may be defined as follows any action verbal or nonverbal oral or written physical or psychical active or passive public or private individual or institutional societal human or divine in whatever degree of intensity that abuses violates injures or kills Some of the most pervasive and most dangerous forms of violence are those that are often hidden from view against women and children especially just beneath the surface in many of our homes churches and communities is abuse enough to freeze the blood Moreover many forms of systemic violence often slip past our attention because they are so much a part of the infrastructure of life e g racism sexism ageism 20 Relationship between religion and violence EditAccording to Steve Clarke currently available evidence does not allow us to determine whether religion is or is not a significant cause of violence He lists multiple problems that make it impossible to establish a causal relationship such as difficulties in distinguishing motive pretext and inability to verify if they would necessarily lead to any violent action the lack of consensus of definitions of both violence and religion among scholars and the inability to see if the presence of religion actually adds or subtracts from general levels of violence since no society without religion has ever existed to compare with 5 Charles Selengut characterizes the phrase religion and violence as jarring asserting that religion is thought to be opposed to violence and a force for peace and reconciliation He acknowledges however that the history and scriptures of the world s religions tell stories of violence and war even as they speak of peace and love 21 According to Matthew Rowley three hundred contributing causes of religious violence have been discussed by some scholars however he states that violence in the name of God is a complex phenomenon and oversimplification further jeopardizes peace because it obscures many of the causal factors 22 In another piece Matthew Rowley lists 15 ways to address the complexity of violence both secular and religious and he also states that secular narratives of religious violence tend to be erroneous or exaggerated due to their over simplification of religious people their oversimplification of religious people s beliefs their thinking which is based on false dichotomies and their ignorance of complex secular causes of supposed religious violence He also states that when one is discussing religious violence he or she should also note that the overwhelming majority of religious people do not get inspired to engage in violence 10 Similarly Ralph Tanner describes the combination of religion and violence as uncomfortable asserting that religious thinkers generally avoid the conjunction of the two and argue that religious violence is only valid in certain circumstances which are invariably one sided 23 Michael Jerryson argues that scholarship on religion and violence sometimes overlooks non Abrahamic religions This tendency leads to considerable problems one of which is the support of faulty associations For example he finds a persistent global pattern of alignment in which religions such as Islam are viewed as causes of violence and religions such as Buddhism are viewed as causes of peace 24 In many instances of political violence religion tends to play a central role This is especially true of terrorism in which acts of violence are committed against unarmed noncombatants in order to inspire fear and achieve political goals Terrorism expert Martha Crenshaw suggests that religion is just a mask which is used by political movements which seek to draw attention to their causes and gain support Crenshaw outlines two approaches when she observes religious violence in order to view its underlying mechanisms 25 One approach called the instrumental approach sees religious violence as acting as a rational calculation to achieve some political end Increasing the costs of performing such violence will help curb it Crenshaw s alternate approach sees religious violence stemming from the organizational structure of religious communities with the heads of these communities acting as political figureheads Crenshaw suggests that threatening the internal stability of these organizations perhaps by offering them a nonviolent alternative will dissuade religious organizations from performing political violence A third approach sees religious violence as the result of community dynamics rather than a religious duty 26 Systems of meanings which are developed within these communities allow religious interpretations to justify violence so acts like terrorism occur because people are part of communities of violence 27 In this way religious violence and terrorism are performances which are designed to inspire an emotional reaction from both those in the community and those outside of it Hector Avalos argues that religions cause violence over four scarce resources access to divine will knowledge primarily through scripture sacred space group privileging and salvation Not all religions have or use these four resources He believes that religious violence is particularly untenable because these resources are never verifiable and unlike claims to scarce resources such as water or land it cannot be adjudicated objectively 28 Regina Schwartz argues that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent because of an exclusivism that inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders 29 Lawrence Wechsler asserts that Schwartz isn t just arguing that Abrahamic religions have a violent legacy she is arguing that their legacy is genocidal in nature 30 Challenges to the view that religions are violent EditBehavioral studies Edit Decades of research which was conducted by social scientists have established that religious congruence the assumption that religious beliefs and values are tightly integrated in an individual s mind or that religious practices and behaviors follow directly from religious beliefs or that religious beliefs are chronologically linear and stable across different contexts is actually rare People s religious ideas are fragmented loosely connected and context dependent as in all other domains of culture and in life The beliefs affiliations and behaviors of any individual are complex activities that have many sources including culture 9 Myth of religious violence Edit Others such as William Cavanaugh have argued that it is unreasonable to attempt to differentiate religious violence from secular violence by classifying them as separate categories of violence Cavanaugh asserts that the idea that religion has a tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies and it underlies many of our institutions and policies from limits on the public role of churches to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom arguing that there is a myth of religious violence basing his argument on the assertion that attempts to separate religious and secular violence are incoherent 31 Cavanaugh asserts Religion is not a universal and transhistorical phenomenon What counts as religious or secular in any context is a function of configurations of power both in the West and lands colonized by the West The distinctions of Religious Secular and Religious Political are modern Western inventions The invention of the concept of religious violence helps the West reinforce superiority of Western social orders to nonsecular social orders namely Muslims at the time of publication The concept of religious violence can be and is used to legitimate violence against non Western Others Peace depends on a balanced view of violence and recognition that so called secular ideologies and institutions can be just as prone to absolutism divisiveness and irrationality Jeffrey Russell argues that numerous cases of supposed acts of religious violence such as the Thirty Years War the French Wars of Religion the Protestant Catholic conflict in Ireland the Sri Lankan Civil War and the Rwandan Civil War were all primarily motivated by social political and economic issues rather than religion 32 John Morreall and Tamara Sonn have argued that all cases of violence and war include social political and economic dimensions Since there is no consensus on definitions of religion among scholars and since there is no way to isolate religion from the rest of the more likely motivational dimensions it is incorrect to label any violent event as religious 33 They state that since dozens of examples exist from the European wars of religion that show that people from the same religions fought each other and that people from different religions became allies during these conflicts the motivations for these conflicts were not about religion 33 Jeffrey Burton Russell has argued that the fact that these wars of religion ended after rulers agreed to practice their religions in their own territories means that the conflicts were more related to political control than about people s religious views 32 According to Karen Armstrong so called religious conflicts such as the Crusades the Spanish Inquisition and the European wars of religion were all deeply political conflicts at their cores rather than religious ones Especially since people from different faiths constantly became allies and fought against each other in no consistent fashion She states that the Western concept of the separation of church and state which was first advocated by the Reformer Martin Luther laid a foundation for viewing religion and society as being divided when in reality religion and society were intermixed to the point that no one made such a distinction nor was there a defining cut between such experiences in the past During the Enlightenment religion began to be seen as an individualistic and private thing despite the fact that modern secular ideals like the equality of all human beings intellectual and political liberty were things that were historically promoted in a religious idiom in the past 34 Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent arguing religion and violence are clearly compatible but they are not identical He asserts that violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion and that virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary 35 36 Moreover he argues that religion may be more a marker of the conflicting groups than an actual point of contention between them 37 John Teehan takes a position that integrates the two opposing sides of this debate He describes the traditional response in defense of religion as draw ing a distinction between the religion and what is done in the name of that religion or its faithful Teehan argues this approach to religious violence may be understandable but it is ultimately untenable and prevents us from gaining any useful insight into either religion or religious violence He takes the position that violence done in the name of religion is not a perversion of religious belief but flows naturally from the moral logic inherent in many religious systems particularly monotheistic religions However Teehan acknowledges that religions are also powerful sources of morality He asserts religious morality and religious violence both spring from the same source and this is the evolutionary psychology underlying religious ethics 38 Historians such as Jonathan Kirsch have made links between the European inquisitions for example and Stalin s persecutions in the Soviet Union Nazi Germany McCarthy blacklists and other secular events as being the same type of phenomenon as the inquisitions 39 Others such as Robert Pape a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism have made a case for secular motivations and reasons as being foundations of most suicide attacks that are oftentimes labeled as religious 40 Pape compiled the first complete database of every documented suicide bombing during 1980 2003 He argues that the news reports about suicide attacks are profoundly misleading There is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or any one of the world s religions After studying 315 suicide attacks carried out over the last two decades he concludes that suicide bombers actions stem fundamentally from political conflict not religion 40 Secularism as a response Edit Byron Bland asserts that one of the most prominent reasons for the rise of the secular in Western thought was the reaction against the religious violence of the 16th and 17th centuries He asserts that t he secular was a way of living with the religious differences that had produced so much horror Under secularity political entities have a warrant to make decisions independent from the need to enforce particular versions of religious orthodoxy Indeed they may run counter to certain strongly held beliefs if made in the interest of common welfare Thus one of the important goals of the secular is to limit violence 41 William T Cavanaugh writes that what he calls the myth of religious violence as a reason for the rise of secular states may be traced to earlier philosophers such as Spinoza Hobbes Locke Rousseau and Voltaire 42 Cavanaugh delivers a detailed critique of this idea in his 2009 book The Myth of Religious Violence Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict Secular violence Edit See also Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union and Antireligious campaigns in China Janet Jakobsen states that just as religion and secularism are relationally defined terms terms that depend on each other so also the legitimization of violence through either religious or secular discourse is also relational 43 She states that the idea that religion kills is used to legitimate secular violence and that similarly the idea that secularism kills is used to legitimate religious violence 43 According to John Carlson critics who are skeptical of religious violence contend that excessive attention is often paid to acts of religious violence compared to acts of secular violence and that this leads to a false essentializing of both religion as being prone to violence and the secular as being prone to peace 44 According to Janet Jakobsen secularism and modern secular states are much more violent than religion and modern secular states in particular are usually the source of most of the world s violence 45 Carlson states that by focusing on the destructive capacity of government Jakobsen essentializes another category the secular state even as she criticizes secular governments that essentialize religion s violent propensities 44 Tanner states that secular regimes and leaders have used violence to promote their own agendas 46 Violence committed by secular governments and people including the anti religious have been documented including violence or persecutions focused on religious believers and those who believe in the supernatural 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 In the 20th century estimates state that over 25 million Christians died from secular antireligious violence worldwide 55 Religions have been persecuted more in the past 100 years than at any other time in history 56 According to Geoffrey Blainey atrocities have occurred under all ideologies including in nations which were strongly secular such as the Soviet Union China and Cambodia 57 Talal Asad an anthropologist states that equating institutional religion with violence and fanaticism is incorrect and that devastating cruelties and atrocities done by non religious institutions in the 20th century should not be overlooked He also states that nationalism has been argued as being a secularized religion 58 Abrahamic religions Edit The St Bartholomew s Day massacre of French Protestants in 1572Hector Avalos argues that because religions claim to have divine favor for themselves both over and against other groups this sense of self righteousness leads to violence because conflicting claims of superiority based on unverifiable appeals to God cannot be objectively adjudicated 59 Similarly Eric Hickey writes the history of religious violence in the West is as long as the historical record of its three major religions Judaism Christianity and Islam with their mutual antagonisms and their struggles to adapt and survive despite the secular forces that threaten their continued existence 60 Regina Schwartz argues that all monotheistic religions including Christianity are inherently violent because of their exclusivism which inevitably fosters violence against those who are considered outsiders 29 Lawrence Wechsler asserts that Schwartz isn t just arguing that Abrahamic religions have a violent legacy instead she is arguing that their legacy is actually genocidal in nature 61 Christianity Edit Main article Christianity and violence See also History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance Sectarian violence among Christians Crusades Inquisition Persecution of Christians by Christians and Christian terrorism I Believe in the Sword and Almighty God 1914 by Boardman Robinson Before the 11th century Christians had not developed the doctrine of Holy war the belief that fighting itself might be considered a penitential and spiritually meritorious act 62 63 Throughout the Middle Ages force could not be used to propagate religion 64 For the first three centuries of Christianity the Church taught the pacifism of Jesus and notable church fathers such as Justin Martyr Tertullian Origen and Cyprian of Carthage even went as far as arguing against joining the military or using any form of violence against aggressors 63 In the 4th century St Augustine developed a Just War concept whereby limited uses of war would be considered acceptable in order to preserve the peace and retain orthodoxy if it was waged for defensive purposes ordered by an authority had honorable intentions and produced minimal harm However the criteria he used was already developed by Roman thinkers in the past and Augustine s perspective was not based on the New Testament 63 St Augustine s Just War concept was widely accepted however warfare was not regarded as virtuous in any way 62 Expression of concern for the salvation of those who killed enemies in battle regardless of the cause for which they fought was common 62 In the medieval period which began after the fall of Rome there were increases in the level of violence due to political instability By the 11th century the Church condemned this violence and warring by introducing the Peace of God which prohibited attacks on clergy pilgrims townspeople peasants and property the Truce of God which banned warfare on Sundays Fridays Lent and Easter and it imposed heavy penances on soldiers for killing and injuring others because it believed that the shedding of other people s blood was the same as shedding the blood of Christ 63 During the 9th and 10th centuries multiple invasions occurred in some regions in Europe and these invasions lead them to form their own armies in order to defend themselves and by the 11th century this slowly lead to the emergence of the Crusades the concept of holy war and terminology such as enemies of God 62 By the time of the Crusades Despite all the violence during this period the majority of Christians were not active participants but were more often its victims and groups which used nonviolent means to peacefully dialogue with Muslims were established like the Franciscans 63 Today the relationship between Christianity and violence is the subject of controversy because one view advocates the belief that Christianity advocates peace love and compassion despite the fact that in certain instances its adherents have also resorted to violence 29 59 65 Peace compassion and forgiveness of wrongs done by others are key elements of Christian teaching However Christians have struggled since the days of the Church fathers with the question of when the use of force is justified e g the Just war theory of Saint Augustine Such debates have led to concepts such as just war theory Throughout history certain teachings from the Old Testament the New Testament and Christian theology have been used to justify the use of force against heretics sinners and external enemies Heitman and Hagan identify the Inquisitions Crusades wars of religion and antisemitism as being among the most notorious examples of Christian violence 66 To this list Mennonite theologian J Denny Weaver adds warrior popes support of capital punishment corporal punishment under the guise of spare the rod spoil the child justifications of slavery world wide colonialism under the guise of converting people to Christianity the systemic violence against women who are subjected to the rule of men improper synthesis Weaver employs a broader definition of violence that extends the meaning of the word to cover harm or damage not just physical violence per se Thus under his definition Christian violence includes forms of systemic violence such as poverty racism and sexism 67 Christian theologians point to a strong doctrinal and historical imperative against violence that exists within Christianity particularly Jesus Sermon on the Mount which taught nonviolence and love of enemies For example Weaver asserts that Jesus pacifism was preserved in the justifiable war doctrine which declares that all war is sin even when it is occasionally declared to be a necessary evil and in the prohibition of fighting by monastics and clergy as well as in a persistent tradition of Christian pacifism 68 Between 1420 and 1431 the Hussite heretics fended off 5 anti Hussite Crusades ordered by the Pope Many authors highlight the ironical contradiction between Christianity s claims to be centered on love and peace while at the same time harboring a violent side For example Mark Juergensmeyer argues that despite its central tenets of love and peace Christianity like most traditions has always had a violent side The bloody history of the tradition has provided images as disturbing as those provided by Islam and violent conflict is vividly portrayed in the Bible This history and these biblical images have provided the raw material for theologically justifying the violence of contemporary Christian groups For example attacks on abortion clinics have been viewed not only as assaults on a practice that Christians regard as immoral but also as skirmishes in a grand confrontation between forces of evil and good that has social and political implications 69 19 20 sometimes referred to as spiritual warfare The statement attributed to Jesus I come not to bring peace but to bring a sword has been interpreted by some as a call to arms to Christians 69 Maurice Bloch also argues that the Christian faith fosters violence because the Christian faith is a religion and religions are violent by their very nature moreover he argues that religion and politics are two sides of the same coin power 70 Others have argued that religion and the exercise of force are deeply intertwined but they have also stated that religion may pacify as well as channel and heighten violent impulses 71 Forward with God 1915 by Boardman Robinson In response to the view that Christianity and violence are intertwined Miroslav Volf and J Denny Weaver reject charges that Christianity is a violent religion arguing that certain aspects of Christianity might be misused to support violence but that a genuine interpretation of its core elements would not sanction human violence but would instead resist it Among the examples that are commonly used to argue that Christianity is a violent religion J Denny Weaver lists the Crusades the multiple blessings of wars warrior popes support of capital punishment corporal punishment under the guise of spare the rod and spoil the child justifications of slavery world wide colonialism in the name of converting people to Christianity the systemic violence against women who are subjected to the rule of men Weaver characterizes the counter argument as focusing on Jesus the beginning point of Christian faith whose Sermon on the Mount taught nonviolence and love of enemies who nonviolently faced his death at the hands of his accusers whose nonviolent teaching inspired the first centuries of pacifist Christian history and was subsequently preserved in the justifiable war doctrine that declares that all war is sin even when it is occasionally declared to be a necessary evil and in the prohibition of fighting by monastics and clergy as well as in a persistent tradition of Christian pacifism 67 Miroslav Volf acknowledges the fact that many contemporaries see religion as a pernicious social ill that needs aggressive treatment rather than medicine from which a cure is expected However Volf contests the claim that the Christian faith as one of the major world religions predominantly fosters violence Instead of this negative assessment Volf argues that Christianity should be seen as a contributor to more peaceful social environments 72 Volf examines the question of whether or not Christianity fosters violence and he has identified four main arguments which claim that it does that religion by its nature is violent which occurs when people try to act as soldiers of God that monotheism entails violence because a claim of universal truth divides people into us versus them that creation as in the Book of Genesis is an act of violence and the argument that the intervention of a new creation as in the Second Coming generates violence 65 Writing about the latter Volf says Beginning at least with Constantine s conversion the followers of the Crucified have perpetrated gruesome acts of violence under the sign of the cross Over the centuries the seasons of Lent and Holy Week were for the Jews times of fear and trepidation Christians have perpetrated some of the worst pogroms as they remembered the crucifixion of Christ for which they blamed the Jews Muslims also associate the cross with violence crusaders rampages were undertaken under the sign of the cross 73 In each case Volf concluded that the Christian faith was misused in order to justify violence Volf argues that thin readings of Christianity might be used mischievously to support the use of violence He counters however by asserting that thick readings of Christianity s core elements will not sanction human violence instead they will resist it 74 Volf asserts that Christian churches suffer from a confusion of loyalties He asserts that rather than the character of the Christian faith itself a better explanation as to why Christian churches are either impotent in the face of violent conflicts or are active participants in them is derived from the proclivities of its adherents which are at odds with the character of the Christian faith Volf observes that although they are explicitly giving ultimate allegiance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ many Christians in fact seem to have an overriding commitment to their respective cultures and ethnic groups 75 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints Edit Main article Mormonism and violence Further information Blood atonement The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has an early history of violence It was motivated by Anti Mormonism and began with the religious persecution of the Church by well respected citizens law enforcement and government officials Ultimately this persecution lead to several historically well known acts of violence These ranged from attacks on early members such as the Haun s Mill massacre following the Mormon Extermination Order to one of the most controversial and well known cases of retaliation violence the Mountain Meadows massacre This was the result of an unprovoked response to religious persecution whereby an innocent party which was traveling through Church occupied territory was attacked on 11 September 1857 Islam Edit Main article Islam and violence See also Islamic terrorism Islamism Jihad and Mujahideen Sketch by an eye witness of the massacre of Armenians in Sasun in 1894Islam has been associated with violence in a variety of contexts especially in the context of Jihad In Arabic the word jihad translates into English as struggle Jihad appears in the Qur an and frequently in the idiomatic expression striving in the way of Allah al jihad fi sabil Allah 76 77 The context of the word can be seen in its usage in Arabic translations of the New Testament such as in 2 Timothy 4 7 where St Paul expresses keeping the faith after many struggles 78 A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid the plural is mujahideen Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam though it occupies no such official status 79 In Twelver Shi a Islam however Jihad is one of the ten Practices of the Religion For some the Quran seem to endorse unequivocally to violence 80 On the other hand some scholars argue that such verses of the Quran are interpreted out of context 81 82 According to a study from Gallup most Muslims understand the word Jihad to mean individual struggle not something violent or militaristic 78 Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles an internal struggle to maintain faith the struggle to improve the Muslim society or the struggle in a holy war 83 The prominent British orientalist Bernard Lewis argues that in the Qur an and the hadith jihad implies warfare in the large majority of cases 84 In a commentary of the hadith Sahih Muslim entitled al Minhaj the medieval Islamic scholar Yahya ibn Sharaf al Nawawi stated that one of the collective duties of the community as a whole fard kifaya is to lodge a valid protest to solve problems of religion to have knowledge of Divine Law to command what is right and forbid wrong conduct 85 Indonesian military forces evacuate refugees from Ambon during the Maluku sectarian conflict in 1999According to Irfan Omar Islam has a history of nonviolence and negotiation when dealing with conflicts for instance early Muslims experienced 83 conflicts with non Muslims and only 4 of these ended up in armed conflict 78 Terrorism and Islam Edit See also Islamic terrorism In western societies the term jihad is often translated as holy war 86 87 Scholars of Islamic studies often stress the fact that these two terms are not synonymous 88 Muslim authors in particular tend to reject such an approach stressing the non militant connotations of the word 89 90 Islamic terrorism refers to terrorism that is engaged in by Muslim groups citation needed or individuals who are motivated by either politics religion or both Terrorist acts have included airline hijacking kidnapping assassination suicide bombing and mass murder 91 92 93 The tension reached a climax on 11 September 2001 when Islamic terrorists flew hijacked commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D C The War on Terror has triggered anti Muslim sentiments within most western countries and throughout the rest of the world Al Qaeda is one of the most well known Islamic extremist groups created by Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden Al Qaeda s goal is to spread the purest form of Islam and Islamic law Based on his interpretation of the Quran bin Laden needed to do good by inflicting terror upon millions of people Following the terrorist attacks on 11 September bin Laden praised the suicide bombers in his statement the great action you did which was first and foremost by the grace of Allah This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad In contrast echoing the overwhelming majority of people who interpreted these events President Bush said on 11 September Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward And freedom will be defended Make no mistake the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts 94 Wounded people following a bomb attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria in April 2014Controversies surrounding the subject include disagreements over whether terrorist acts are self defense or aggression national self determination or Islamic supremacy whether Islam can ever condone the targeting of non combatants whether some attacks described as Islamic terrorism are merely terrorist acts committed by Muslims or terrorist acts motivated by nationalism whether Wahhabism are at the root of Islamic terrorism or simply one cause of it how much support for Islamic terrorism exists in the Muslim world 95 and whether support of terrorism is only a temporary phenomenon a bubble now fading away 96 Judaism Edit Main articles Judaism and violence Jewish religious terrorism and Milkhemet Mitzvah As the religion of the Jews who are also known as Israelites Judaism is based on the Torah and the Tanakh which is also referred to as the Hebrew Bible and it guides its adherents on how to live die and fight via the 613 commandments which are referred to as the 613 Mitzvahs the most famous of which are the Ten Commandments one of which is the commandment You shall not murder The Torah also lists instances and circumstances which require its adherents to go to war and kill their enemies Such a war is usually referred to as a Milkhemet Mitzvah a compulsory war which is obligated by the Torah or God or a Milkhemet Reshut a voluntary war Criticism Edit Burggraeve and Vervenne describe the Old Testament as being full of violence and they also cite it as evidence for the existence of both a violent society and a violent god They write that i n numerous Old Testament texts the power and glory of Israel s God is described in the language of violence They assert that more than one thousand passages refer to Yahweh as acting violently or supporting the violence of humans and they also assert that more than one hundred passages involve divine commands to kill humans 97 On the basis of these passages in the Old Testament some Christian churches and theologians argue that Judaism is a violent religion and the god of Israel is a violent god Reuven Firestone asserts that these assertions are usually made in the context of claims that Christianity is a religion of peace and the god of Christianity is one who only expresses love 98 Other views Edit Some scholars such as Deborah Weissman readily acknowledge the fact that normative Judaism is not pacifist and violence is condoned in the service of self defense However the Talmud prohibits violence of any kind towards one s neighbour 99 J Patout Burns asserts that although Judaism condones the use of violence in certain cases Jewish tradition clearly posits the principle of minimization of violence This principle can be stated as wherever Jewish law allows violence to keep an evil from occurring it mandates that the minimal amount of violence must be used in order to accomplish one s goal 100 The love and pursuit of peace as well as laws which require the eradication of evil sometimes by the use of violent means co exist in the Jewish tradition 101 102 103 104 The Hebrew Bible contains instances of religiously mandated wars 105 106 107 which often contain explicit instructions from God to the Israelites to exterminate other tribes as in Deuteronomy 7 1 2 or Deuteronomy 20 16 18 Examples include the story of the Amalekites Deuteronomy 25 17 19 1 Samuel 15 1 6 108 the story of the Midianites Numbers 31 1 18 109 and the battle of Jericho Joshua 6 1 27 110 111 112 113 114 Judging biblical wars Edit The biblical wars of extermination have been characterized as genocide by several authorities 115 116 117 because the Torah states that the Israelites annihilated entire ethnic groups or tribes the Israelites killed all Amalekites including men women and children 1 Samuel 15 1 20 the Israelites killed all men women and children in the battle of Jericho Joshua 6 15 21 and the Israelites killed all men women and children of several Canaanite tribes Joshua 10 28 42 118 However some scholars who believe that these accounts in the Torah are exaggerated or metaphorical citation needed Arab Israeli conflict Edit During the Palestine Israeli conflict people use the Torah Tanakh as a way to murder Palestinians but the IDF has said That we don t condone the killing of innocent Palestinians 119 120 121 Palestinians as Amalekites Edit On several occasions Palestinians have been associated with biblical antagonists particularly with the Amalekites For example Rabbi Israel Hess has recommended that Palestinians be killed based on biblical verses such as 1 Samuel 15 122 123 124 Other religions Edit The Thuggee was a secret cult of assassins whose members were both Hindus and Muslims This section needs expansion You can help by adding to it May 2015 Buddhism Edit Main articles Buddhism and violence Sōhei 969 Movement and Bodu Bala Sena Hinduism Edit Main article Saffron terror Neo paganism Edit In the United States and Europe neo pagan beliefs have been associated with many terrorist incidents Although the majority of neo pagans oppose violence and racism folkish factions of Odinism Wotanism and Asatru emphasize their Nordic cultural heritage and idolize warriors 125 For these reasons a 1999 Federal Bureau of Investigation report on domestic terrorism which was titled Project Megiddo described Odinism as lending itself to violence and having the potential to inspire its followers to violence 126 As of 2017 the Southern Poverty Law Center has recognized at least two active neo pagan hate groups in the United States 127 Many white supremacists especially those in prison are converting to Odinism at increasing rates citing the impurity of Christianity and the failure of previous groups to accomplish goals as the primary reasons for their conversion 128 129 Similarities between Odinism and other extremist groups such as Christian Identity facilitate conversions 130 The targets of neo pagan violence are similar to those of white supremacist terrorists and nationalist terrorists but an added target includes Christians and churches Sikhism Edit Main article Sikh extremismNotable incidents EditMurder of Alan Berg Defunct American white supremacist group the Order was founded by avid practitioners of Wotanism such as David Lane and Robert Jay Mathews 126 Lane was convicted of the 1984 murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg 131 Church burnings A wave of church burnings such as during the early Norwegian black metal scene in the 1990s has been cited as an act of neo pagan terrorism 132 The arsons coincided with a resurgence in the popularity of European black metal This genre of music featured the imagery and ideas of neo paganism Satanism and nationalism The targets were Christian churches and up to 28 churches were targeted during this period 133 Popular black metal musician Varg Vikernes a noted neo pagan and nationalist was convicted of three of these arsons and charged with a fourth attempt Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting Frazier Glenn Miller Jr shot and killed three people at a Kansas Jewish community center in 2014 Prior to becoming an Odinist Miller Jr was a member of the Ku Klux Klan 134 Conflicts and wars Edit Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople by Gustave Dore 1832 1883 Main article Religious war Some authors have stated that religious conflicts are not exclusively based on religious beliefs but should instead be seen as clashes of communities identities and interests that are secular religious or at least very secular 37 40 Some have asserted that attacks are carried out by those with very strong religious convictions such as terrorists in the context of a global religious war 135 Robert Pape a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism argues that much of the modern Muslim suicide terrorism is secularly based 40 Although the causes of terrorism are complex it may be safe to assume that terrorists are partially reassured by their religious views that their god is on their side and that it will reward them in Heaven for punishing unbelievers 136 137 These conflicts are among the most difficult to resolve particularly when both sides believe that God is on their side and that He has endorsed the moral righteousness of their claims 136 One of the most infamous quotes which is associated with religious fanaticism was uttered in 1209 during the siege of Beziers a Crusader asked the Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric how to tell Catholics from Cathars when the city was taken to which Amalric replied Caedite eos Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius or Kill them all God will recognize his 138 Ritual violence EditFurther information ritual slaughter human sacrifice and animal sacrifice Ritual violence may be directed against victims e g human and nonhuman animal sacrifice and ritual slaughter or self inflicted religious self flagellation According to the hunting hypothesis created by Walter Burkert in Homo Necans carnivorous behavior is considered a form of violence Burkett suggests that the anthropological phenomenon of religion grew out of rituals that were connected with hunting and the associated feelings of guilt over the violence that hunting required 139 See also EditAl Qaeda Antireligion Blood atonement Blood libel Boko Haram Criticism of religion Hundred Years War International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief Islamic State Pacifism and religion Peace in Islamic philosophy Religion and peacebuilding Religions for Peace Religious discrimination Religious fanaticism Religious intolerance Religious persecution Religious segregation Religious terrorism Religious war Sectarian violence Taiping Rebellion Taliban Witch huntReferences Edit Wellman James Tokuno Kyoko 2004 Is Religious Violence Inevitable Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43 3 291 doi 10 1111 j 1468 5906 2004 00234 x Jones James W 2014 Violence and Religion In Leeming David A ed Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion 2nd ed Boston Springer pp 1850 1853 doi 10 1007 978 1 4614 6086 2 849 ISBN 978 1 4614 6087 9 a b c d Houben Jan van Kooji Karel eds 1999 Violence Denied Violence Non violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History Leiden Boston Koln Brill pp 1 3 ISBN 978 9004113442 a b Ralph E S Tanner 2007 Violence and Religion Cross cultural Opinions and Consequences Concept Publishing Company pp 5 6 ISBN 9788180693762 a b c d Clarke Steve 2019 28 Violence In Oppy Graham ed A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy First ed Hoboken NJ Wiley Blackwell pp 421 424 ISBN 9781119119111 a b c d e Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 50 Great Myths of Religion Wiley Blackwell pp 12 17 ISBN 9780470673508 a b c Nongbri Brent 2013 Before Religion A History of a Modern Concept Yale University Press ISBN 978 0300154160 a b c Fitzgerald Timothy 2007 Discourse on Civility and Barbarity Oxford University Press pp 45 46 ISBN 978 0 19 530009 3 a b Chaves Mark March 2010 SSSR Presidential Address Rain Dances in the Dry Season Overcoming the Religious Congruence Fallacy Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49 1 1 14 doi 10 1111 j 1468 5906 2009 01489 x a b c Rowley Matthew 2015 How Should We Respond to Religious Violence Fifteen Ways To Critique Our Own Thoughts PDF Ethics in Brief 21 2 Archived from the original PDF on 20 February 2016 Retrieved 2 January 2016 Omar Irfan Duffey Michael eds 22 June 2015 Introduction Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions Wiley Blackwell p 1 ISBN 9781118953426 McKinnon Andrew 2002 Sociological definitions language games and the essence of religion Method amp Theory in the Study of Religion 14 1 61 83 doi 10 1163 157006802760198776 ISSN 0943 3058 Josephson Jason Ananda 2012 The Invention of Religion in Japan University of Chicago Press p 257 doi 10 7208 chicago 9780226412351 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 226 41234 4 Engler Steven Miller Dean September 2006 Daniel Dubuisson The Western Construction of Religion Religion 36 3 119 178 doi 10 1016 j religion 2006 08 001 ISSN 0048 721X S2CID 145296143 a b Harrison Peter 2015 The Territories of Science and Religion University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0226184487 Harrison Peter 1990 Religion and the Religions in the English Enlightenment Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0521892933 Josephson Jason Ananda 2012 The Invention of Religion in Japan University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0226412344 Edelheit Hershel 19 September 2019 History of Zionism a handbook and dictionary p 3 ISBN 978 0 429 72104 5 OCLC 1289841198 Nayak Abhijit July October 2008 Crusade Violence Understanding and Overcoming the Impact of Mission Among Muslims International Review of Mission 97 386 387 273 291 doi 10 1111 j 1758 6631 2008 tb00645 x Retrieved 23 November 2010 Freitheim Terence Winter 2004 God and Violence in the Old Testament PDF Word amp World 24 1 Retrieved 21 November 2010 Selengut Charles 28 April 2008 Sacred Fury Understanding Religious Violence p 1 ISBN 978 0 7425 6084 0 Rowley Matthew 2014 What Causes Religious Violence Journal of Religion and Violence 2 3 361 402 doi 10 5840 jrv20153234 Tanner Ralph E S 2007 Violence and Religion Cross Cultural Opinions and Consequences Concept Publishing Company p 1 ISBN 9788180693762 Jerryson Michael 6 May 2015 Buddhists and Violence Historical Continuity Academic Incongruity Religion Compass 9 5 141 150 141 doi 10 1111 rec3 12152 Crenshaw Martha 1 December 1987 Theories of terrorism Instrumental and organizational approaches Journal of Strategic Studies 10 4 13 31 doi 10 1080 01402398708437313 ISSN 0140 2390 Ekici S Ekici A 2009 Building Terrorism Resistant Communities Together Against Terrorism IOS Press ISBN 9781607500063 Juergensmeyer Mark 2003 Terror in the Mind of God The Global Rise of Religious Violence University of California Press ISBN 9780520240117 Avalos Hector 2005 Fighting Words The Origins of Religious Violence Amherst New York Prometheus Books a b c The Curse of Cain The Violent Legacy of Monotheism By Regina M Schwartz University of Chicago Press 1998 Wechsler Lawrence Mayhem and Monotheism PDF Archived from the original PDF on 20 July 2011 Cavanaugh William 2009 The Myth of Religious Violence Oxford University Press US p 4 ISBN 9780199736645 a b Russell Jeffrey Burton 2012 Exposing Myths about Christianity Downers Grove Ill IVP Books pp 56 ISBN 9780830834662 a b Morreall John Sonn Tamara 2013 Myth 8 Religion Causes Violence 50 Great Myths of Religion Wiley Blackwell pp 39 44 ISBN 9780470673508 Armstrong Karen 24 September 2014 The Myth of Religious Violence The Guardian Eller Jack David 2010 Cruel Creeds Virtuous Violence Religious Violence Across Culture and History Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 61614 218 6 As we have insisted previously religion is not inherently and irredeemably violent it certainly is not the essence and source of all violence Eller Jack David 2010 Cruel Creeds Virtuous Violence Religious Violence Across Culture and History Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 61614 218 6 Religion and violence are clearly compatible but they are not identical Violence is one phenomenon in human and natural existence religion is another and it is inevitable that the two would become intertwined Religion is complex and modular and violence is one of the modules not universal but recurring As a conceptual and behavioral module violence is by no means exclusive to religion There are plenty of other groups institutions interests and ideologies to promote violence Violence is therefore neither essential to nor exclusive to religion Nor is religious violence all alike And virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary a b Eller Jack David 2007 Introducing Anthropology of Religion Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 40896 7 When a pure or hybrid religious group and or its interests are threatened or merely blocked from achieving its interests by another group conflict and violence may ensue In such cases although religion is part of the issue and religious groups form the competitors or combatants it would be simplistic or wrong to assume the religion is the cause of the trouble or that the parties are fighting about religion Religion in the circumstances may be more a marker of the groups than an actual point of contention between them Teehan John 2010 In the Name of God The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence John Wiley and Sons pp 145 147 ISBN 9781444320701 Kirsch Jonathan 2009 The Grand Inquisitor s Manual A History of Terror in the Name of God HarperOne ISBN 978 0 06 173276 8 a b c d Pape Robert 2005 Dying to Win The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism Random House ISBN 978 0 8129 7338 9 Bland Byron May 2003 Evil Enemies The Convergence of Religion and Politics PDF p 4 Archived from the original PDF on 2 December 2010 Yerxa Donald A 9 April 2011 The Myth of Religious Violence An Interview with William Cavanaugh Historically Speaking 12 2 10 11 doi 10 1353 hsp 2011 0015 S2CID 162329393 via Project MUSE a b Jakobsen Janet 16 May 2011 Gender in the Production of Religious and Secular Violence In Murphy Andrew ed The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence Wiley Blackwell p 125 ISBN 9781405191319 a b Carlson John 2011 1 Religion and Violence Coming to Terms with Terms In Murphy Andrew ed The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence Wiley Blackwell p 12 ISBN 978 1405191319 Jakobsen Janet 2004 7 Is Secularism Less Violent Than Religion In Jakobsen Janet Castelli Elizabeth eds Interventions Activists and Academics Respond to Violence Palgrave Macmillan pp 53 63 ISBN 978 1403965820 Ralph E S Tanner 2011 The Harmful Secular Ideologies Ames Tribune Rummel Rudolph J 1994 Death By Government Transaction Publishers ISBN 978 1 56000 927 6 Rummel Rudolph J 1997 Statistics of Democide Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900 Lit Verlag ISBN 978 3 8258 4010 5 Froese Paul 2008 The Plot to Kill God Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 25529 6 Gabel Paul 2005 And God Created Lenin Marxism Vs Religion in Russia 1917 1929 Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 59102 306 7 Kiernan Ben 2008 The Pol Pot Regime Race Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge 1975 79 Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 14434 5 Peris Daniel 1998 Storming the Heavens The Soviet League of the Militant Godless Cornell University Press ISBN 978 0 8014 3485 3 Bantjes Adrian 1997 Idolatry and Iconoclasm in Revolutionary Mexico The De Christianization Campaigns 1929 1940 Mexican Studies Estudios Mexicanos 13 1 87 121 doi 10 2307 1051867 JSTOR 1051867 Meisner Maurice 1999 Mao s China and After A History of the People s Republic Free Press ISBN 978 0 684 85635 3 Nelson James M 27 February 2009 Psychology Religion and Spirituality Springer p 427 ISBN 9780387875729 Retrieved 19 December 2012 O Brien Joanne Palmer Martin 2007 The Atlas of Religion University of California Press p 63 ISBN 9780520249172 However the violence has not only been from the religious side In the last 100 years the major religions have been more heavily persecuted than at any other time in history And most of this has not been religion persecuting religion It has been ideologies persecuting religion This ranges from the Mexican socialist revolution in 1924 attacking the power land holdings and ultimately the clergy and buildings of the Catholic Church through the attacks on all faiths in the Soviet Union the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis the massive onslaught of the Chinese Cultural Revolution against all faiths in the 1960s and the assaults on the Baha is in Iran from the 1970s onwards Geoffrey Blainey 2016 A Short History of Christianity Essentials of the Christian life SPCK p 543 ISBN 978 0 281 07620 8 OCLC 1125110569 Asad Talal 2003 Formations of the Secular Christianity Islam Modernity 10 printing ed Stanford University Press pp 100 187 190 ISBN 978 0804747684 a b Avalos Hector 2005 Fighting Words The Origins of Religious Violence Amherst New York Prometheus Books Hickey Eric W 2003 Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime SAGE p 217 ISBN 978 0 7619 2437 1 Wechsler Lawrence Mayhem and Monotheism PDF Archived from the original PDF on 20 July 2011 a b c d Peters Edward 1998 Introduction The First Crusade The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials 2 ed Philadelphia PA University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN 978 0812216561 a b c d e Duffey Michael 22 June 2015 2 Christianity From Peacemaking to Violence to Home Again In Omar Irfan Duffey Michael eds Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions Wiley Blackwell ISBN 9781118953426 Johnson James 2011 21 Just War and Jihad of the Sword In Murphy Andrew R ed The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1405191319 a b Volf Miroslav 2008 Christianity and Violence In Hess Richard S Martens E A eds War in the Bible and terrorism in the twenty first century Eisenbrauns pp 1 17 ISBN 978 1 57506 803 9 Retrieved 1 June 2010 International Encyclopedia of Violence Research Volume 2 Springer 2003 ISBN 9781402014666 a b J Denny Weaver 2001 Violence in Christian Theology Cross Currents Retrieved 27 October 2010 I am using broad definitions of the terms violence and nonviolence Violence means harm or damage which obviously includes the direct violence of killing in war capital punishment murder but it also covers the range of forms of systemic violence such as poverty racism and sexism Nonviolence also covers a spectrum of attitudes and actions from the classic Mennonite idea of passive nonresistance through active nonviolence and nonviolent resistance that would include various kinds of social action confrontations and the posing of alternatives that do not cause bodily harm or injury J Denny Weaver 2001 Violence in Christian Theology Cross Currents Retrieved 27 October 2010 a b Mark Juergensmeyer 2004 Terror in the Mind of God The Global Rise of Religious Violence University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 24011 7 Bloch Maurice 1992 Prey into Hunter The Politics of Religious Experience Cambridge Cambridge University Press McKinnon Andrew 2014 Religion and the Civilizing Process The Pax Dei Movement and the Christianization of Violence in the Process of Feudalization In Andrew McKinnon Marta Trzebiatowska eds Sociological Theory and the Question of Religion Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective Series in Association with the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Ashgate ISBN 978 1 4094 6553 9 Volf Miroslav 2002 Christianity and Violence Retrieved 27 October 2010 Volf 2008 p 13 Volf Miroslav 12 March 2002 Christianity and violence Retrieved 13 November 2010 Volf Miroslav June 1998 The Social Meaning of Reconciliation PDF Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 18 3 Retrieved 17 November 2010 Wendy Doniger ed 1999 Merriam Webster s encyclopedia of world religions Wendy Doniger consulting editor Merriam Webster s Encyclopedia of World Religions Merriam Webster ISBN 978 0 87779 044 0 Jihad p 571 Josef W Meri ed 2005 Medieval Islamic Civilization An Encyclopedia Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 96690 0 a href Template Cite encyclopedia html title Template Cite encyclopedia cite encyclopedia a Missing or empty title help Jihad p 419 a b c Omar Irfan 22 June 2015 1 Jihad and Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition In Omar Irfan Duffey Michael eds Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions Wiley Blackwell ISBN 9781118953426 page needed Esposito John L 2016 Islam the straight path p 93 ISBN 978 0 19 063215 1 OCLC 935514239 Harris Sam 17 February 2006 Who Are the Moderate Muslims HuffPost Retrieved 2 January 2023 Sohail H Hashmi David Miller Boundaries and Justice Diverse Ethical Perspectives Princeton University Press p 197 Khaleel Muhammad professor of religious studies at San Diego State University states regarding his discussion with the critic Robert Spencer that when I am told that Jihad only means war or that I have to accept interpretations of the Quran that non Muslims with no good intentions or knowledge of Islam seek to force upon me I see a certain agendum developing one that is based on hate and I refuse to be part of such an intellectual crime Khaleel Mohammed San Diego State University Religious Studies Department Archived from the original on 8 July 2008 Retrieved 13 October 2008 Jihad BBC 3 August 2009 Lewis Bernard 1988 The Political Language of Islam University of Chicago Press p 72 ISBN 978 0226476926 Cf Watt William M 1976 Islamic Conceptions of the Holy War In Murphy Thomas P ed The Holy War Ohio State University Press p 143 ISBN 978 0814202456 Shaykh Hisham Kabbani Shaykh Seraj Hendricks Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks Jihad A Misunderstood Concept from Islam The Muslim Magazine Retrieved 16 August 2006 Libya s Gaddafi urges holy war against Switzerland BBC 26 February 2010 Retrieved 2 January 2023 Peters Rudolph 1977 Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam Brill Academic Pub p 3 ISBN 978 9004048546 Crone Patricia 2005 Medieval Islamic Political Thought Edinburgh University p 363 ISBN 978 0748621941 Jihad and the Islamic Law of War Jordan The Royal Aal al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought 2009 Archived from the original on 18 August 2013 Peters Rudolph 1979 Islam and Colonialism The Doctrine of Jihad in Modern History Mouton Publishers p 118 ISBN 978 9027933478 Captured Iraqi Terrorist Ramzi Hashem Abed Zarqawi Participated in the Plot to Assassinate Baqer Al Hakim We Bombed Jalal Talabani s Headquarters the Turkish Embassy and the Red Cross Took Drugs Raped University Students Who Collaborated with the Americans The Middle East Media Research Institute MEMRI Abductions of and Assaults on Women The Massacre in Mazar I Sharif Human Rights Watch Retrieved 30 September 2012 Youssef M Ibrahim 14 April 1988 Algeria to Permit Abortions for Rape Victims The New York Times Retrieved 30 September 2012 Michael E Eidenmuller 14 January 2015 George W Bush 9 11 Remarks at Barksdale Air Force Base delivered 11 September 2001 Barksdale Louisiana American Rhetoric Retrieved 19 November 2015 Tony Blair Speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Archived from the original on 15 August 2006 Retrieved 12 November 2013 Thomas L Friedman 20 April 2003 The Third Bubble The New York Times Retrieved 30 September 2012 Burggraeve Roger Vervenne Marc 1991 Swords into Plowshares Theological Reflections on Peace Peeters Publishers pp 82 109 ISBN 9789068313727 Heft James ed 2004 Beyond Violence Religious Sources of Social Transformation in Judaism Christianity and Islam Fordham University Press ISBN 9780823223350 The Co existence of Violence and Non Violence in Judaism Retrieved 9 December 2010 Burns J Patout 1996 War and Its Discontents Pacifism and Quietism in the Abrahamic Traditions Georgetown University Press p 18 Fighting the War and the Peace Battlefield Ethics Peace Talks Treaties and Pacifism in the Jewish Tradition Michael J Broyde 1998 p 1 Reuven Firestone 2004 Judaism on Violence and Reconciliation An examination of key sources in Beyond Violence Religious Sources of Social Transformation in Judaism Christianity and Islam Fordham University Press 2004 pp 77 81 Goldsmith Ed Emanuel S 1991 Dynamic Judaism The Essential Writings of Mordecai M Kaplan Fordham University Press p 181 ISBN 978 0 8232 1310 8 Spero Shubert 1983 Morality Halakha and the Jewish Tradition Ktav Publishing House Inc pp 137 318 ISBN 978 0 87068 727 3 Salaita Steven George 2006 The Holy Land in Transit Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan Syracuse University Press p 54 ISBN 978 0 8156 3109 5 Lustick Ian 1988 For the Land and the Lord Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel Council on Foreign Relations pp 131 132 ISBN 978 0 87609 036 7 Armstrong Karen 2007 The Bible A Biography Atlantic Monthly Press pp 211 216 ISBN 978 0 87113 969 6 A G Hunter Denominating Amalek Racist stereotyping in the Bible and the Justification of Discrimination in Sanctified Aggression Legacies of Biblical and Post Biblical Vocabularies of Violence Jonneke Bekkenkamp Yvonne Sherwood Eds 2003 Continuum Internatio Publishing Group pp 92 108 Dawkins Richard 2006 The God Delusion Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 245 ISBN 978 0 618 68000 9 Ehrlich Carl S 1999 Joshua Judaism and Genocide In Targarona Judit Saenz Badillos Angel eds Jewish studies at the turn of the twentieth century proceedings of the 6th EAJS congress Toledo July 1998 Brill pp 117 124 ISBN 90 04 11558 7 OCLC 772544616 Dawkins Richard 19 May 2016 The God delusion pp 289 296 ISBN 978 1 78416 192 7 OCLC 956764823 Hitchens Christopher 2007 God is not great how religion poisons everything New York p 117 ISBN 978 0 446 57980 3 OCLC 70630426 Selengut Charles 12 January 2017 Sacred fury understanding religious violence p 20 ISBN 978 1 4422 7685 7 OCLC 960642045 Cowles C S Gard Daniel Longman Tremper Merrill Eugene June 2010 Show them no mercy 4 views on God and Canaanite genocide p 79 ISBN 978 0 310 87376 1 OCLC 698775072 Kravitz Leonard What is Crime in Crime and Punishment in Jewish Law Essays and Responsa Editors Walter Jacob Moshe Zemer Berghahn Books 1999 p 31 Cohn Robert L Before Israel The Canaanites as Other in Biblical Tradition in The Other in Jewish Thought and History Constructions of Jewish Culture and Identity Laurence Jay Silberstein Ed NYU Press 1994 pp 76 77 Violence Scripture and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity By Ra anan S Boustan pp 3 5 The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies Donald Bloxham A Dirk Moses p 242 Saleh Abdel Jawad 2007 Zionist Massacres the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War in Israel and the Palestinian Refugees Eyal Benvenisti Chaim Gans Sari Hanafi Eds Springer p 78 the Zionist movement which claims to be secular found it necessary to embrace the idea of the promised land of Old Testament prophecy to justify the confiscation of land and the expulsion of the Palestinians For example the speeches and letters of Chaim Weizman the secular Zionist leader are filled with references to the biblical origins of the Jewish claim to Palestine which he often mixes liberally with more pragmatic and nationalistic claims By the use of this premise embraced in 1937 Zionists alleged that the Palestinians were usurpers in the Promised Land and therefore their expulsion and death was justified The Jewish American writer Dan Kurzman in his book Genesis 1948 describes the view of one of the Deir Yassin s killers The Sternists followed the instructions of the Bible more rigidly than others They honored the passage Exodus 22 2 If a thief be found This meant of course that killing a thief was not really murder And were not the enemies of Zionism thieves who wanted to steal from the Jews what God had granted them Carl S Ehrlich 1999 Joshua Judaism and Genocide in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Judit Targarona Borras Angel Saenz Badillos Eds 1999 Brill pp 117 124 Rights Council Human 2019 Report of the detailed findings of the independent international Commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory PDF Human Rights Council 1 7 251 via Fortieth session Masalha Nur 2000 Imperial Israel and the Palestinians The Politics of Expansion Pluto Press pp 129 131 ISBN 978 0 7453 1615 4 Retrieved 25 July 2017 Frequently Jewish fundamentalists refer to the Palestinians as the Amalekites of today According to the Old Testament the Amalek were regarded as the Israelites inveterate foe whose annihilation became a sacred duty and against whom war should be waged until their memory be blotted out forever Ex 17 16 Deut 25 17 19 Some of the modern political messianics insist on giving the biblical commandment to blot out the memory of the Amalek an actual contemporary relevance in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians In February 1980 Rabbi Israel Hess published an article titled The Genocide Commandment in the Torah which ends with the following The day is not far when we shall all be called to this holy war this commandment of the annihilation of the Amalek Hess quotes the biblical commandment Do not spare him but kill man and woman baby and suckling ox and sheep camel and donkey In his book On the Lord s Side Danny Rubinstein has shown that this notion permeates the Gush Emunim movement s bulletins one of which carried an article which reads In every generation there is an Amalek The Amalekism of our generation finds expression in the deep Arab hatred towards our national revival Professor Uriel Tal conducted his study in the early 1980s and pointed out that the totalitarian political messianic stream refers to the Palestinian Arabs in three stages or degrees stage 3 the implementation of the commandment of Amalek as expressed in Rabbi Hess s article The Commandment of Genocide in the Torah in other words annihilating the Palestinian Arabs See also Hunter p 103 Ron Geaves 19 October 2017 Islam and the West post 9 11 p 30 ISBN 978 1 351 92608 9 OCLC 1012136127 odin org Wodanesdag Press odin org Retrieved 28 May 2017 a b Megiddo Report PDF United States Government Publishing Office Federal Bureau of Investigation 1999 Retrieved 1 June 2017 Active Hate Groups 2016 Southern Poverty Law Center 2017 Viking Mythology Grows As Religion for Inmates Fox News 24 July 2006 Retrieved 28 May 2017 The New Religion Of Choice For White Supremacists ThinkProgress ThinkProgress 13 November 2015 Retrieved 28 May 2017 Vohryzek Miki Olson Raymer Gayle Whamond Jeffery O 1 January 2001 Domestic Terrorism and Incident Management Issues and Tactics Charles C Thomas Publisher ISBN 9780398083083 David Lane Southern Poverty Law Center Retrieved 29 May 2017 Miroslav Vrzal 2016 Pagan terrorism Pagan motives for church burnings in the early 90s Norwegian black metal subculture Masaryk University Moynihan Michael Soderlind Didrik 2003 Lords of Chaos The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground Feral House ISBN 9780922915941 Kan killer follows neopagan Odinism NY Daily News Retrieved 29 May 2017 bin Laden s letter to America Retrieved 24 May 2007 a b Juergensmeyer Mark 21 September 2001 Terror in the Mind of God The Global Rise of Religious Violence Updated edition University of California Press Christian Jihad The Crusades and Killing in the Name of Christ by Craig von Buseck Spiritual Life on CBN com www cbn com Archived from the original on 9 July 2008 Kill Them All For The Lord Knoweth Them That Are His Steve Locks Reply 9 00 Archived from the original on 30 September 2007 Retrieved 18 August 2007 Burkert Walter 1987 Homo necans the anthropology of ancient Greek sacrificial ritual and myth University of California Press ISBN 0 520 05875 5 OCLC 83239158 Further reading EditAcademicAppleby R Scott 2000 The Ambivalence of the Sacred Religion Violence and Reconciliation Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Avalos Hector 2005 Fighting Words the Origins of Religious Violence New York Prometheus Buc Philippe 2015 Holy War Martyrdom and Terror Christianity Violence and the West Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press Burkert Walter 1983 Homo Necans The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth Berkeley University of California Press Crocket Clayton ed 2006 Religion and Violence in a Secular World Toward a New Political Theology Charlottesville University of Virginia Press Flood Derek 2012 The way of peace and grace Sojourners January 2012 Girard Rene 1977 Violence et le Sacre English Violence and the Sacred Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press Hamerton Kelly Robert G ed 1987 Violent Origins Walter Burkert Rene Girard and Jonathan Z Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation Stanford Stanford University Press Jerryson Michael 2010 Buddhist Warfare New York Oxford University Press Juergensmeyer Mark Kitts Margo and Jerryson Michael ed 2013 The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence New York Oxford University Press Juergensmeyer Mark Kitts Margo Jerryson Michael ed 2016 Violence and the World s Religious Traditions An Introduction New York Oxford University Press Juergensmeyer Mark 2000 Terror in the Mind of God The Global Rise of Religious Violence Berkeley University of California Press Kitts Margo 2018 Elements of Ritual and Violence Cambridge U K Cambridge University Press Kitts Margo ed 2013 present Journal of Religion and Violence Charlottesville Philosophy Documentation Center Kitts Margo ed 2018 Martyrdom Self Sacrifice and Self Immolation Religious Perspectives on Suicide New York Oxford University Press Pape Robert 2005 Dying to Win The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism Random House ISBN 9781588364609 Pedahzur Ami and Weinberg Leonard eds 2004 Religious Fundamentalism and Political Extremism New York Routledge Regina M Schwartz 1998 The Curse of Cain The Violent Legacy of Monotheism University of Chicago Press ISBN 9780226742007 Selengut C 2003 Sacred Fury Understanding Religious Violence Walnut Creek CA Altamira Stausberg Michael March 2021 Feldt Laura Valk Ulo eds The Demise Dissolution and Elimination of Religions Numen Leiden and Boston Brill Publishers 68 2 3 Special Issue The Dissolution of Religions 103 131 doi 10 1163 15685276 12341617 ISSN 1568 5276 LCCN 58046229 Steffen Lloyd 2007 Holy War Just War Exploring the Moral Meaning of Religious Violence Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers OtherNelson Pallmeyer Jack 2003 Is Religion Killing Us Harrisburg Trinity Press International ISBN 1 56338 408 6 Perry Simon 2011 All Who Came Before Eugene Oregon Wipf and Stock ISBN 978 1 60899 659 9 Stern Jessica 2004 Terror in the Name of God Why Religious Militants Kill New York Harper Perennial External links EditMyth of Religious conflict in Africa William T Cavanaugh Resources from Jesus Radicals Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Religious violence amp oldid 1163923741, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.