Religion and Conflict

In Roots of Contemporary Conflict today, we did an excercise where we divided into pairs and each pair came up with their top ten causes of conflict. We came up with lots of causes, from economic disparity to testosterone to power-hunger to the One Ring, but one of the causes we all had was religion.

I was thinking about why religion is such a cause of conflict. I've yet to encounter a religion that doesn't preach peace, kindness, charity and forgiveness, so why does religion cause such the opposite of what is preached? I guess it's partly human folly. I suppose religious people are so eager to preach their religion or save the world that they impose their religions on others with force that involves violence and conflict.

Today I learned that Napolean said that religion was the only thing keeping the poor from killing the rich. He was right. Religion, and the moral code represented in it, is an effective device for social control. It creates order and a reason for order rather than chaos. Religion and the passion that it inspires in people is powerful, and can be used for great good, as evidenced by countless religious charities and organizations that help people. When religious conflict occurs, religious zeal can turn to passion for the conflict, and many leaders have recognized this. Misled or malicious leaders lead their people into conflict with religion as the justification for a war fought not for God, but for men.

And that's what I thought about in Roots of Contemporary Conflict today.