Religion almost always forms divisions among societies, and that is one example demonstrated in this chapter. Other forces include education, ethnic backgrounds and economic situations among people. 4. Contrary to popular belief, throughout much of U.S. history, oppressed groups have used violence to achieve progress. What is the evidence to support this refutation of the myth of peaceful progress?
Life during the first crusade was miserable and evil. Political considerations were also very important. The first crusade was a great example for the other crusades, but the others didn’t follow the same path. They also gave Christians an opportunity to vent their anger against Jerusalem’s
- Religion; Religion is a very well know way for starting a war or a conflict. If people have different religious views, it can cause conflict between them as they believe in different gods or ways of life. An example of a Religious conflict is what is happening in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland conflict began because many Irish Catholics consider themselves to be the Irish nationals and want to be separate from Britain whereas others consider themselves to be British and have a political outlook on
Certainly these changes were massive, quite abrupt and differed drastically from the norm; however that does not necessarily make them bad. Except, that is how they are viewed by many historians today. The historian N.Reeves believes Akhenaten was unsuccessful, but more in his religion reforms. 'For ordinary folk, there is little doubt that Akhenaten's actions as king over time inflicted the greatest misery: the people were confused by the man's religious vision, frightened by the ruthless manner in which it was imposed and quite likely appalled by his personal behaviour.' Reeves believe that the changes would have confusing and scary for the common people.
The nature of political groups means they can actively do this and commit acts that MPs would not be seen to do because of the nature of their role. Pressure group activists have a lot more leeway in what they can do. However, this can be seen as detrimental, as it means pressure groups are unaccountable for the actions they do, and may cause severe damage or disruption. For example, the Occupy movement in London caused a lot of distress for those who were using the roads, and especially the church, due to the location of the protests. This level of disruption imposed onto many people may make people apathetic towards politics, and wish to distance them, making political participation drop.
Examples of Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society. Ethnocentrism is the belief of superiority is one's personal ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences. Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice is related to problems of both racism and prejudice. While many people may recognize the problems, they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and everyday at both the local and political levels.
Therefore, it can be said that religion can be used as a form of cultural defence against the rapidly increasing West. The use of religion as a cultural defence is very evident in modern times with the rise of Fundamentalism. Those from ethnic minorities opposing Western values so much that they are willing to kill others and themselves to prove this. The clash of civilisations has been evident between Islam and the West for hundreds of years but became known throughout the world after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Fundamentalists are using religion to defend their culture in a negative way and have thus created a stigma for ethnic minorities.
It is also because the words express the deeply held views of a wide swath of conservative Christianity. Buchanan’s speech epitomizes the Religious Right’s general view of the “culture war”—as a “religious war”3 that manifests itself on many “cultural” fronts, most urgently abortion, homosexuality (especially, now, marriage equality), education privatization, and curriculum content of the public schools. So the culture war is not simply conflict over abortion or gay marriage. It is a one sided war of aggression against the civil rights advances of women and minorities and the rights of individual conscience that we generally discuss under the rubric of religious pluralism and of separation of church and state. For these political aggressors, war is not merely a metaphor or the equivalent of a sports analogy.
There were several consequences that developed due to the rise of religious fundamentalism that proved to be detrimental on both the regional and global scale. On the regional scale, the rise of religious fundamentalists that were known for their violent nature created political instability and the rise of authoritarian regimes in response as extremists threatened the secular foundations of independent states. Making matters worse, the extremist stance and violent methods that the religious fundamentalists adopted translated into the constant disruptions of peace processes which led to the protraction of regional conflicts. While not all religious fundamentalists had a global outreach, those groups that did have the international network played a critical role in the rise of global terrorism and the undermining of international law due to their illegal and brutal actions. Evidently, the impacts of the rise of religious fundamentalism was undeniably significant and detrimental on both a regional and global level.
The development of religious fundamentalism caused many conflicts, some minor and others major. The Taliban which is one of the Mujahedeen groups that formed during the war are a religious dictatorship that believes they have the only right in interpreting the Holy book of Muslims. The Taliban believed in getting rid of anyone who had a different religious view including more scientific beliefs. Severe punishment including death was enforced upon those who did not follow the Taliban’s rules. The Taliban was also the cause for why women weren’t allowed to be educated thus leading to the Malala Yousafzai incident.