Skip to main content

Religious difference and war: The sharp edge of sectarianism

WHENEVER conflict flares between groups of people who are divided by theology (often rather obscure points of theology), commentators will say: "Of course, it's not really about religion—the actual cause has to do with economics, or geopolitics, or just tribal identity..."

And the clever commentators have a point. In Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics do not fight  because they disagree over the pope or rosary beads; they fight because the former mostly want to remain part of the United Kingdom while the latter yearn (eventually, at least) to join the Irish republic. But that doesn't mean that religion is completely irrelevant. At least in the recent past, if Protestant firebrands wanted to whip up anti-Catholic sentiment, it was convenient to portray their adversaries as practitioners of an exotic and vaguely frightening cult, and their own side as a people mandated by God to maintain the truth in a hostile land. Even if religion is not the main cause of conflict, nothing keeps conflict on the boil like a dose of fiery religious rhetoric.

Read the complete article at -- http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2013/11/religious-difference-and-war


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did they lay their coats at Saul's feet?

The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew   sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the   sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Human Lives are Valued more than Religious Institutions and Rituals

Human lives are valued more than religious institutions and rituals by the unnamed god in the first account in Genesis . That message is repeated throughout the  Hebrew Scriptures  and the  teachings of Jesus  in the  Synoptic Gospels. Read the complete short articles at - https://mailchi.mp/2116c809b552/human-lives-are-valued-more-than-religious-institutions-and-rituals
Post a Comment
Read more

Which Jesus Model Are You Using?

  Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. Their linguistic models of Jesus are similar, but not identical. John’s content and linguistic model of Jesus, stand in stark contrast to those of the Synoptic Gospels. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/77dbb92ed693/which-jesus-model-are-you-using
Post a Comment
Read more