I'm making a shortcut here and I assume all wars have a religious motive in their essence. Maybe it's not even an assumption :-)
But imagine religion didn't exist. What would we hate each other about and use as an excuse to fight ?
Ive made a small list :
- Race : always a good one. You are black, i dont like you
- Region : I dont like people living in that area lets kill them. Maybe difficult with historical migration
- Social status. Maybe difficult to determine
- Football club. I like this one
- ...
You see easy to find some reasons :-) All of them as stupid as the current reason of most wars !
Aren't most wars actually about resources and power, even if in some cases they may be disguised as something "religious" for the layman?
I agree sometimes it is used as a distraction but that also means it is usefull for that purpose
Organized religion can indeed be useful for controlling power over people and resources.
Sadly there is and will probably always be a reason to start a fight, jealousy is in my opinion a big fight-starter.
Isn't jealousy more a reason for personal fighs instead for real wars ? Interesting thoughts :-)
I guess you're partly right, but you can't know for sure what is dragging us out to war, I bet in some cases there are jealousy involved, but if you would ask me to re-phrase myself I would say difference is another big reason to war, simply people not understanding each other.
I think that would be an awesome summary. It all comes down to difference and the ability to cope with this.
Very good question and so many different answers to that :)
Your article mentions excuses for wars of which I would say resources and control are additional ones. However, I think the fundamental reasons for any conflict whether it is a personal dispute (e.g. bar fight) or a world war are ego, fear and beliefs.
Of course religions are based entirely on beliefs, but so are many things. For example, there are people who so adamantly believe in man-mad climate change that they openly state that anyone with a conflicting view should be thrown in prison. Whether the science is true or not, isn't it crazy to imprison people for having a differing view? So even in science there is dogma.
If all of humanity works on growing their consciousness, mitigating their ego, fear and beliefs I would bet that this world would be a much more peaceful, prosperous and friendly place. I think we are slowly getting there, but we clearly have a lot more work ahead of us.
It is indeed strange that people don't see the added value of an opposite opinion. I learned the most from people disagreing with
Religion is a structure of belief. Since people have different views, it is inevitable that a conflict will arise. With the help of religion, we are able to find common perspective and get united in some way. It is a group of people that causes great conflicts not the essence of religion itself.
I don't agree that religion unites. Ok maybe within 1 religion but cross boarder it's a model that creates conflicts.
Humans will always find a reason to fight!
Amen to that :-)