God and Religion are the Reasons Used by Many politicians as a Motivation for War

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God and Religion are the Reasons Used by Many politicians as a Motivation for War
Introduction
The history of God and war is as long as humankind itself. From the times of the Old Testament when Prophet Elijah challenged Baal prophet is in a contest at Mt. Carmel through to the 30 years’ war and the crusades of the medieval times, God and religion have always been associated with war objectives. More recently, during the wars of the imperialist era, and World War, “God’s will” was used as a major driving factor for the wars. Various politicians such as Albert Beveridge used the idea of “it is God’s will” to manipulate the US Senate and the rest of America into embracing the idea of an American Empire by taking full control of the Philippines.
Similarly, in a 1950 speech, “Enemies from Within”, delivered in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy also alluded to the will of God, as the reason Americans should be the leaders of the war during the beginnings of the Cold War In a hilarious analysis of The Ten Commandments, George Carnie to a round of applause said “More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason.” Richard Dawkins has put it this way: “Religion causes war by generating certainty” (Martin 22). God and religion gave on many occasions been used as a driving factor to motivate people into war. Although to motivate people into war, hide behind the claim that it is to serve God’s purpose, I do not think this is true; I think most are simply serving their interests and implicating God and religion. This paper assesses various instances in which God and religion have been implicated as a driving factor to motivate war.
Senator Beveridge’s Speech during the Imperial Wars of the Philippines
In his 1900 speech, addressing the US Senate on the ongoing debate on whether the US should exercise imperial control over the Philippines, Senator Albert Beveridge (1862-1927) strongly urged the Senate and the rest of the government to embrace imperialism. According to Beveridge, it was their mission as a race, entrusted by God to spread civilization throughout the world and creating an American Empire was in line with that process. Beveridge asserts, “He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world. In Beveridge’s view, spreading civilization as tasked by God was supposed to be America’s sole mission, regardless of the means used to achieve this (Lundblade 2).
About the Filipino’s, Beveridge refers to them as a barbaric race, that has been influenced by the three centuries they had been in contact to a decadent race, about the Spanish. He says the Filipinos had lived through three hundred years of superstition in religion, dishonesty in their deals and disorderly habits. He, therefore, concludes that the Filipino is incapable of self-governance in his attempt to justify imperialism. With these, Beveridge goes on to urge the US President that delaying the war will only prolong it, as it was an inevitable one in his view (Braeman 355).
In his conclusion, Beveridge as...