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

Are Saul and Paul the Same Person?

There has always been some confusion over whether Saul and Paul is the same person. The confusion begins in the Book of Acts. ● “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul . . . he brought him to Antioch . . . for a whole year they taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called ‘ Christians ’ in Antioch .” ( Acts 11:25-26 ) ● “ Then Agrippa said to Paul , `You almost persuade me to become a Christian .’” ( Acts 26:28) ● “ Then Saul , who also  is called   Paul . . . ” ( Acts 13:9a ) Based on the three verses above, we would assume they are references to the same person – but is he the Paul we read about in the Epistles? The name “ Saul ” doesn’t appear in the Epistles. In order to answer that question we must examine the stories of the “ conversion experiences ” of Saul in Acts and Paul in Galatians . Pay close attention to the time periods and places mentioned in both accounts. Saul’s experience is found in Acts 9 and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Multiple Levels of Wisdom Embedded in the Story of the Creation of the Second ADAM

At the time of Yahweh the god ’s making of earth and heaven, no bush of the field was yet on earth, no plant of the field had yet sprung up, because Yahweh the god had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was not an ADAM to till the ADAMAH (ground). (Genesis 2:4b-5) In this story Yahweh the god is doing everything – not the unnamed god . This is first appearance of Yahweh in the Hebrew Scriptures . The focus is on the lack of bushes and plants on the earth. There were no bushes and plants because of two reasons: ● Yahweh the god had not sent rain upon the earth. ● There was no ADAM to till the ADAMAH (ground). This provides us with two clues that the Second ADAM was created for a very different purpose that the First ADAM . 1. This ADAM ’s identity is linked to the ADAMAH ( ground ), not “ the image of Creator ”). 2. He was created to till the ADAMAH ( ground ), not be “ the Creator’s Co-Shepherd over all living things on earth .” ...
Post a Comment
Read more