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Some conflicts can legitimately be called religious violence and religious wars. However, sometimes it’s possible that nations use religious ideology in conjunction with the desire of the state, with political and economic motivations, to make violent military advances in the name of religion. However, from within and from without, it’s not always so easy to accurately assess motivations. In any case, historically, religion and warfare have a very close relationship at times.
The Crusades were a period in history that spanned from 1096 to 1192. It was a period marked by incredible violence and religious fervor. The word “crusade” comes from French. It meant taking up the cross in the hopes of a quick journey to heaven after death. The idea was that if you went on this heroic and valiant journey to recover Jerusalem for the Christian world, then you would go to heaven very quickly after dying.
The spiritual, if not emotional, appeal of this promise was the sort of propaganda that was used to recruit men to battle and to spearhead the project of gaining control of Jerusalem for Christianity. Both sides, Christians and Muslims, wanted more territory.
Many Christians had a genuine desire to conquer the Holy Land in and around Jerusalem. As the location of New Testament events, it was of central importance to the identity and mission of Christianity.
Muslims also desired expansion. This was also largely motivated by religion and the desire to spread the Islamic faith
It does seem possible to characterize the Crusades as having certain elements of genuine religious motivation, to some degree, isolated from political will.
It might be easier to identify the absence of genuine religious motivations in a more contemporary context. Take a look at the Bosnia-Herzegovina war of the 1990s. This war was officially recognized by the International War Crimes Tribunal, a special department set up under the United Nations as a response to the massacre of nearly 10,000 Bosnian Muslims. This was a form of ethnic cleansing. It’s not a new idea in the history of politics, nations, and religions.
While land and religious ideology might be sloganized by the perpetrators as justification, it’s almost unanimously regarded as the targeting of ethnic or religious groups for elimination from a particular area, either by death or forced relocation. Religion then is the target, not the impetus or a source of incentive.
Another term to understand in this context is terrorism. Terrorism often manifests as religious violence, but it’s also possible that religion is a mask for other kinds of motivations. However, this term is very difficult to define and depends on perspective.
Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY TED FAIRCHILD FOR SOPHIA LEARNING. Please see our Terms of Use.
