Religion and Religious Beliefs as Catalysts to Global Conflicts and Violence

Religious Conflict and Violence
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Religious Conflict and Violence
Religious conflicts have become common in the contemporary world. The conflicts are spurred using philosophical connotations of religion and then used to instigate violence towards certain groups of people. A pertinent problem when it comes to religious differences is intolerance to the beliefs of people from a different religious doctrine. Moreover, religious leaders, as well as political leaders, have used religion to spur violence, to realize their agendas. Therefore, it is not always that religious beliefs are the actual cause of many religious conflicts. As such, when religious doctrines are abused by leaders, religious conflicts and wars erupt. As a global society, it is pertinent that people understand how the leaders in various capacities tend to abuse their religious beliefs to instigate conflicts. Such an understanding will help religious followers avoid any manipulative practices from the leaders that often lead to religious conflicts. Arguably, religion and religious beliefs are a catalyst to global conflicts and violence, and establishing this link is critical to promote peace in the world today.
Religion and Conflicts
The key cause of religious conflicts is intolerance to the beliefs of another religion. The intolerance makes the followers of one religion think that they can exterminate the believers of another religion for they are not worthy of life or living in a given region. Brown (2017) indicates that religious groups often determine the development of conflicts in society because they give a stance on their position regarding a certain potential conflict. Such connotations often spur conflicts because everyone believes in their inherent rights to life and freedom.
Terrorism that has affected many regions across the globe is seen as a result of religious conflicts. Terrorism from the middle east, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, is often quoted citing the Holy Quran. Svensson and Nilsson (2018) explain that such quotes and Islamic claims are common vessels used to propagate hate and intolerance. They are made to believe that causing havoc and propelling conflict against other religions such as the Jews and Christians attracts holy rewards from Allah. As explained by Jakubowska, Korzeniowski, and Radkiewicz (2021), the perception of people towards a given situation that is based on their religious believes often determine if they will get aggravated and spur a conflict and even war. Such believes certainly propel conflicts, and the result is equal rebellion from the victimized religions, such as the Jews and the Christians across the globe.
Religions lines have often been used to develop socially discriminative practices. Such practices often create hatred across the involved religious groups and can easily end up in conflicts (Henne & Klocek, 2017). Muslims in regions such as Europe and the US have often complained of being discriminated against due to their religion, yet they believe in the American way of life and values. In many cases, the local Muslims have developed a resistance to the discriminative practices and evolved to become domestic terrorists (Ngari & Reva, 2017). Such cases ...