'Religion: is it a Force For Good in the Modern World? Essay\r'

'What is godliness, and good deal it forever be a force for safe? righteousness is a nonional series of nonions that profess mavin of the institution. For some passel, it set up help to answer questions approximately creation, life and death, and provides comfort and a system of belief in and worship of a supernatural antecedent or god. Religion in the West (mainly Christianity) is instanter not what it once was, and in the East (for pillow slip Islam) has be get along rather distorted due to fundamentalism. Nevertheless, closely of us would comparable to think that religion is a force for reasoned. The basic nature of most religions should make them so, only if when people abuse religions and use them as an excuse to make money, exert force play, or until now to wage war, they turn into a force for swingeing.\r\nThe Christianity of the ultimo has sometimes collectmed horrific to our eyes, but within the scope of the times for earthy anformer(a)(prenomi nal) a Christian it was a force for good. We can see now that Christianity was good in the sense that it helped to inspire many good things in education, the rule of law, and culture generally †many paintings and musical compositions were enthused by the Christian religion, because people treasured to have illustrations of their belief in the transcendent.\r\nThe Ten Commandments were and mollify are a good way for people and groups to control their behaviour and have a take a crap moral framework. (It is interesting to note that the Christian judgement of turning the other cheek is not what the Christian Americans will be doing if they decide to firing Afghanistan.) in that respect were several things about Christianity in the past that immediately we consider to be morally wrong, but the Christians at the time thought that what they were doing was right: the crusades, for case, where the European crusaders wandered almost the middle east fervouring Muslims, sometim es in time mistaking Christian villagers for Muslims and slaughtering their families.\r\nThis would be considered as anything but morally right nowadays. The crusaders, though, thought that it was God’s will that they should slaughter those people, fairish as was the case was with dogmatic disputes within Christianity, with Christians fighting each other †the Christians thought that they were doing these terrible things for a just cause, just as bigoted and ignorant people in Northern Ireland dummy up do. The good thing about Christianity these days is that the majority of Christian churches are merciful give hope and something to rely on (for instance, the casualty in New York attracted many people to come to church to pray, even some non- ghost standardized people). Churches provide a focus in the community, and sometimes religious groups can act as a force to liquidate bad elements in g all overnments and societies.\r\nIn the western world nowadays, Christianity is being overinterpreted by materialism; learning and forbearance associated with the Christian religion are being undermined, and in the Middle East and in Africa, fundamentalism, (which takes the words of taboo texts literally), is coming into play. There is the danger for examples of clashes in the midst of Protestantism and Catholicism, and between other groups, in particular, evangelical churches, which are fundamentalistic in tone, and display for example narrow-mindedness over abortion. There is in addition a danger from semi-religious cults, which like sects in religion emphasize a a few(prenominal) aspects, which are often of benefit financially to themselves, or at least to their leaders. It cannot be very religious that in these money-based cults, at that place is a wish to require financially as well as ideologically.\r\nThe Moslem religion was like the Christian religion in many respects †it was charitable, respected the individual and also helped to prov ide the foundations for things like education, law and the arts. However, the Islamic religion expanded too quickly over a wide geographical area, and could not keep up with the development of society, and in that location began conflicts within itself, and with Christianity. Jihads, (or Holy Wars, akin(predicate) to crusades), were probably fundamentally more concerned with political and economical aims than with religious ones. Today, when it is part of more return and bighearted Muslim societies, such as jokester or Pakistan, the Islamic religion does not stick in a major threat, and it is clear in these countries that there are a cumulation of similarities between Islamic and Christian principles.\r\nBut because it has failed overall to adapt and convalesce a place in the modern world, and there has tended to be a large gap between the rich and poor in Muslim societies, then(prenominal) fundamentalism has taken hold among the more ignorant or manipulative elements, an d often has strong nationalist connections, as in the Taliban. This is a reaction by the clerics and their associates against a pluralistic society, away from individual rights and especially those of women to the supposedly core beliefs of the religion. In most cases the more tolerant and benevolent aspects of the religion are ignored, and even the strictest are seen to be corrupt: the Taliban’s religious law of nature can be bribed, and often loot the televisions etc that they confiscate. An example of the stickyy that some modern day religions bet is the idea of a holy or a just war.\r\nMost religions say that you should not burden murder, and should respect the individual, and it is often not easy to see why or how this can be overruled so that churches can justify a war, but the particular is that war is justified by different religions whether we like it or not. Generally a just or holy war should involve clear acknowledgement of an enemy, clear reasons for attack ing the enemy, and some idea of what the ending will achieve, even if it is only to the attacker’s benefit.\r\nThe CIA supported and trained hive away Laden and his following in Afghanistan when it suited the USA to use him against the Soviet invaders. Now they have to face him as a dangerous enemy. An ex-Soviet general said recently that iv soldiers in a tank were no be for an Al-Qaeda follower on a donkey. lay in Laden is now the arch-enemy of the USA. Because he is sheltered in Afghanistan, that country, which has suffered 20 years of terrible war, is likely to be attacked again. The Taliban, however, feels that they have reason to view the USA as the enemy. Is this to do with religion, a real jihad, or is it that because everybody in poor Muslim countries that have suffered a lot of war feel envious of the power and wealth of the world’s only remaining office? If President Bush can talk incautiously (or was it carelessly?) about a crusade, is it not apprehe nsible that many Muslims feel that this is anti-Islamic in general and not just anti-Bin Laden?\r\nThere is really no such thing as a justifiable holy war because no one should attack anyone else simply because they have different religious beliefs: the orbit to any war is always far more complicated than matters of doctrine †it is usually a power game and/or an economics game. Whether we are believers or not, we all have to hope that if used properly and in the right hands, religion can still be a force for good. In bad hands such as those of religious fundamentalists of an extreme point kind it can be very dangerous.\r\nIt is difficult for us to enter the minds of extremists partly because their motives often take care mixed: for example, it is said that the night before the attack on the World Trade Centre a lot of shares were bought and sold by people with connections to Bin Laden, and he seems to be a rich man already. The West has not yet come to ground with what thes e types of religion can mean and that is why it was taken by surprise on September 11. Until we clear what lies behind the sectarianism of religious extremists we will not be able to deal with these forces which bring what can only be called evil in their wake.\r\n'