The Essence of Religious Violence

Funny enough we have various radical groups that preach the respect for human life and yet they carry out atrocities that take or harm the lives of fellow human beings. A good example is an Islamic group which adheres to Jihad, “the holy war. ” The paper will also include the consequential approach to religious violence. Introduction Violence in religion has been a subject of interest for many scholars for a very long time. The significant features of violence in religion are old as the religion itself. To be specific, the paper will explore the conceptual, comparative, philosophical and sociological analysis of the essence of religious violence and brutality. My paper will be constructed in paragraphs which will be critically analyzing the themes, explanations, and justifications of religious violence.

The essence of religious violence will be discussed universally by analyzing the Islamic themes of religious violence which are common in all groups. At the very end, the paper will analyze the conceptual and theoretical analysis in an attempt to explain how consequentialists and deontologilogists justify religion violence. In writing this the paper, I will make reference to certain groups and movements which include Islamic groups and others. Haleem, emphasizes the fact that both Islamic radical groups as well as the Just war doctrines adopt the same concepts when it comes to justifying the religion based violence. Usually, the “moral algorithm” used by the radical Islamic groups to justify violence is the same “moral algorithm” used by western and non-western states when it comes to justifying the essence of religious violence and brutality (Haleem, 2012, pp.

Notably, the sociological justification of religious violence and brutality has received attention in the 20th century in an attempt to establish the significant features of religious violence. This can be better understood by studying human sciences. Usually, just like any other social group religion faces numerous organizational dilemmas. In regard to this, social theorists have opted to remain open when establishing the relationship between religion and violence and avoid specifying the specification and dynamics of sacred and profane. However, it should be noted that religion offers a seedbed for violence though is not an inherent cause of violence (Hall, 2013, pp. In explaining this sociological theory, there are certain terms that ought to arrive at a common understanding of the relationship between religion and violence.

To comparatively analyze the sociological perspective of the essence of religious violence, the paper will analyze the circumstances of violence in such a way that it will help to deduce the various domains in which cases of violence may arise. This analysis will assist the reader to understand which social circumstances or religious formations are likely to precipitate violence. This result to conflicts in any case the opponents seek to control the various religious groups. Thirdly, religion traffic can also breed religion violence in cases where a certain group tries to block the salvation, offers or blocks the blessings of a particular group. Therefore, for an individual to try to receive the blessings may incite self-directed violence in various forms which include martyrdom, asceticism, extremism as well as occasional fasting.

This also exceeds the possibility of engaging other parties in the conflicts through altruistic violence which includes the crusaders of holy war. Fourthly, religion is sometimes referred as “skin trade. These stipulations are similar to those included as the justification of violence and wars as it is in the internationally accepted Just War Doctrine. The consequential approach as a universal theme in justifying religion violence can be focused better by discussing the struggles for consequentialism and recognition. This is seen when different religions are seen trying to establish what is fundamentally right or wrong. The desire for recognition has been a common tendency among most human beings. In cases were the struggles for recognition are existential in their definition then it is said that there is morality consequentially.

To understand, the Jihad discourse in depth let’s focus on critically analyzing the Hegelian’s struggle for recognition and compare it with the notion of Ummah in the radical Islamist discourse. Hegelian approach on the struggle of recognition emphasizes on self-consciousness. Hegel argues that developing the right distinct consciousness takes various steps namely primordial consciousness to self-consciousness. As a result, each person develops a distinct consciousness which has to be respected and recognized. In this perspective, the notion of Ummah is a radical Islam discourse mentality or distinct “Muslim identity. Most of the religions have legitimized violence in various states in the name of upholding sacredness and avoiding profane. In extremes, religions may pursue the expansion of powers through jihad or crusade.

Consequently, religious missions that might be used to acquire new empires might invoke violence and fighting. Theocracy and casaropapism which also happen to be justifiers of religious violence have been common contributors to religion-based violence. At their extremes where a single religious affiliation is sanctioned as well as established by the state, a religion can be involved in religious fights and violence in a quest to maintain monopolistic status in a state. On the same note, it is believed that every religion in the business of protecting its sacred text and therefore are always patriotic to it (Philphot, 2013, pp. Due to this, they engage in activities, which according to them aim at safeguarding the supremacy of the religion irrespective of the consequences.

Margo notes that the unquestionable nature of religious ‘truths’ further promotes religious violence. He says that religion has been portrayed as a divine power, which can only be obeyed. Conclusion In conclusion, this term paper has discussed the essence of religious violence. sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2hxmm2N6jOgC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Hamas,+%E2%80%9CCharter+of+the+Islamic+Resistance+Movement+(HAMAS)+of+Palestine%E2%80%9D,+in+Roxanne++Euben+%26+Muhammad+Qasim+Zaman+(editors),+Princeton+Readings+in+Islamist+Thought:+Texts+and+contexts+from+al-Banna+to+Bin+Laden+(Princeton:+Princeton+University+Press,+&ots=9fjwuDbX7K&sig=CyNRI6mE7V-5Od0TsZ5_Sikvzkk#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books. google. com. sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5UsYuiIkZXoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA363&dq=John+Hall,+%E2%80%9CReligion+and+Violence+from+a+Sociological+Perspective%E2%80%9D,+in+Mark+Juergensmeyer,+Margo+Kitts+%26+Michael+Jerryson+(editors),+The+Oxford+Handbook+of+Religion+and+Violence++(Oxford:+Oxford+University+Press,+2013),+pp.