Does Religion Cause Violence?



Does Religion Cause Violence?

Background about Religion and Violence

How do we describe religion — its basis, its development, and even its presence in the current scenario of society? This is an area under discussion which has engaged several people in different fields for quite a long time. At one time, the justifications were revolved around a theoretical, theological and spiritual background. But after 18th century, further naturalistic thinking occurred. Various theorists who challenged the earlier theories and examined religion from a new perspective, their critique and evaluation of religion, is perhaps among the viable and facts.

This topic has a link with the earliest conflict theories that how people of the past use their influence to gain power and authority. Now, in the current situation, the same thing is going on and various groups are using religion to get their motives.

The word violence is best described as it carries the meaning of physical torture, harsh language and forcible incidents. For a majority of people only physical violence is considered as violence, but violence is far more than just killing people, it is the act of disturbing the society norms and is disturbing the whole society and lead to the dissatisfaction in their lives. Religious persons use religion to dominate themselves in the society, and they do not care that their acts are creating violence in society. There are several theories about this relationship between violence and religion. Religious leaders believe that religion gives the lesson of love and peace so how it can be used for creating violence, but we have seen various examples in which religion was the basis for war, murders and even genocide.

Conflict Theory and Karl Max's View on Religion

Conflict Theory said that society is:

The effort for lead among the competing social groups, such as classes, genders, races and religions and these groups want their dominance among the society. When theorists look at the society, they look at the social dominance of sub groups through the control, power, and intimidation of leading groups. In the conflict theory, the most authoritative members of leading groups form the rules for achievement and opportunity in society, frequently refusing sub groups such achievements and opportunities; this ensures that the authoritative carry on to dominate influence, advantage, and power. Most of the conflict theorists counter this oppression and support for an equal social order. Marx's popular theories are on economics and culture. Marx in, said less about religion straightforwardly; the rationale is that his critique of religion structured one part of his overall theory of society.

According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice. Thus, troubles in religion are eventually problems in society. Religion is not the sickness, but simply a warning sign. He said religion is one of those social foundations which are based upon the material and economic realities in a society.

Karl Marx related the Conflict Theory of religion. He was an affirmed atheist and mocked those who clustered to religion to fill the emptiness ...