Religion and Violence

Religion and Violence
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Most religions claim that they are nonviolent and that their teachings seek to promote peace. They claim that God wants people to be loving and live peacefully. They spell out repercussions for engaging in violence or causing violence while on the other hand they promise many rewards for the people who pursue and cultivate peace. Two of the main religions (Christianity, Islam and Buddhism) in the world have been involved in wars that are documented in their religious readings. Some wars have been between the religions and other cases between members of the same religion. On the surface their believers claim they represent peace and they preach it to their believers, however, in many instances through the readings, they advocate for violence. However, in the case of Christianity and Islam, the same cannot be said about them. Muslims and Christians have in many instances throughout their history been involved wars and other forms of violence in the name of their supreme deity. It seems paradoxical why a God who either wants violence and extermination of a person or some people would also instruct the same people to be tolerant to the views of their enemies, not to seek revenge, to pray for them etc. Conversely, why would a peaceful God who calls for his people to exercise love, tolerance, understanding and even pray for their enemies want to also inflict pain and even kill other people on their behalf or even instruct the same people to inflict pain or kill other people? It is not only Christianity; Islam also has a similar issue. Islam claims to be the religion of peace and while no one can dispute their claim, it is also paradoxical that the Quran calls for and encourages violence against other people. The Quran encourages Muslims to declare Jihad on enemies of Islam and be willing to spend themselves and their wealth for that course. The question remains, why would these two big religions not preach and remain steadfast to one set of principles in relation to enemies of their religion, their God, their communities or themselves. Why do they give conflicting guidelines on how to handle the enemies and people who are different from us or hold different set of beliefs? The overarching question is, why does the supreme deity allow and participate in wars and or help his people involved in violence while he explicitly instructs them to be peaceful, tolerant, forgiving and love their enemies?
Christianity
For Christians, the basis of their faith in the bible and it gives explicit instructions that all Christians should live in peace with one another and even show love and tolerance to non-Christians. Jesus, an emissary from God also teaches Christians that they should always be tolerant and love their enemies. Jesus advocated for love and tolerance to prevail at all times and exemplified that Christians should exemplify the same even in their most trying moments. In Jesus’ most difficult moments, he sought God’s directions when he was tormented and killed by crucifixion and yet at those hard moments, he preached peace. He prayed that his tormentors be forgiven (Luke 23:24). Jesus also told his followers that they should also pray for...