Can Religion Be Used to Justify War
Religion is one of the most important aspects of a civilization, because it helps to form the structure, organization, and justifies the actions of the civilization. Religion has been be used politically to justify extreme political actions in civilizations including, Islam, Christianity, Judaism,and Daoism. Throughout history religion has been used to placate the people about war, and to justify war itself, however some used various other techniques to justify war.. All religions though did offer rewards to their followers. Another piece of writing that could offer another perspective on this could be the peaceful writing of the Buddhist monks who stressed personal happiness rather than material gain. Also the writing of Tao-Tzu for the Taoism religion which stressed peace and harmony rather than fighting. Three religions that used religion to justify war were Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The religion of Judaism told the people that the conquered city was to be devoted to the Lord. They then put the silver, gold, and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. By telling the people they were destroying the city for the Lord, it gave them the force they might not of had before. They took the responsibility upon themselves to remove the cities that went against their covenant with God. (Book of Joshua,Doc.2) In the Islam religion, there is an expectation put fourth that believers have a responsibility to fight for Allah and to aid the weak men, women, and children and those who are oppressed (Haji according to the Quran, Doc 4). Christians were responsible for either physically fighting or helping financially in the crusades. The exert from Pope Innocent III's fourth lateran council is calling for the conquest of the Holy land for religious reasons. He tells his soldiers that god is on their side and they have divine and apostolic blessing, which gives them the confidence to fight (Pope Innocent III, Doc 5). Another way