Religion: The Scapegoat of Conflicts, Part I: Introduction

INDEX

Part I: Introduction

Part II: The Axial Age Religions

Part III: Religion as a Casus Belli

Part IV: The Extremists

Part V: Conclusion

Conflict is a natural part of the social nature of humans, so much that there is little doubt that the course of the world's history is shaped by conflict. As a result, the historical events that are most thoroughly recorded in the books and internet are those of war.

Meanwhile, religion is another central belief in a human's nature as social beings. This belief is so sensitive and sacred, that when others violate it, a conflict is inevitable for most of the time. Most of the historical conflicts mentioned before brought with them the morals of a religion, pitting them against each other. Such was the frequency that religion became a highlighted point in a conflict, that in the minds of many people, the names of many religions are soiled, as the cause of war.

However, if we dig further, the place of religion in the human nature is actually to fill the human curiosity, to answer unanswered questions, to search for meaning for every action or phenomenon. This resulted in religion becoming a moral compass for people.

Violence, brought by conflict, is amoral. That fact should be agreed upon by everyone. Looking at the common goal of all religions, to bring peace based off morals, then, logically, religion and conflict are mutually exclusive. Religion could not be the root cause of war, however, it still plays a large factor in many conflicts--as a scapegoat.

Over the next few posts, I shall talk about this problem, using Hinduism and Buddhism as an example, two large religions that embodies the peace a religion should have, but still had their share of conflicts. First, we shall rewind to the Axial Age, where the basis of modern religions were laid out. After that, we seek the true reasons of war, where religion becomes justification for a conflict. Finally, we see the reason why currently many religions become scapegoats: their extremists and radicals.

___

This essay was made as a mid-term assessment for my World History class, on the chapter about Axial Age Religions. I made quite a long essay, where each part could be considered a stand-alone essay, that I decided to cut it up in my blog. Originally made in Indonesian, translated and edited.

Following through on what I said about religions being a sensitive matter, people feeling offended by this problem--most of all Hindus and Buddhists--should comment and we could discuss on what I should edit, or tear down this post. However, I would like to say, please do not let the truth be covered.