August 16, 2009
Dear People Whom God Loves,
RELIGION and VIOLENCE I
The following thoughts are mine, but they are based on the book by Charles Taylor, A Secular Age.
I have often seen the connection between religion and violence. It cuts across all religions. For the Catholic Church, the Spanish Inquisition and the crusades are prime examples.
The question is: Do religions produce violence? I see that the answer is both yes and no. What inclines me to say no is that unbelieving societies and nations also produce violence. Communist Russia is also a producer of extreme violence. This leads us to look at something other than belief or un-belief as the source of violence. What is the common denominator present in belief and unbelief systems that is the source of violence?
To understand this, we can look at three things:
- The self-righteousness that easily comes from embracing a cause that we see as highly moral and ethical.
- Connected with this is the consequence of believing that we are the good people and those who disagree with us are the bad people.
- The move into violence.
Addressing #1: When people are part of a religious group, they often embrace values that the group and they see as highly moral and ethical. The more deeply they are valued, the more tenaciously will the people cling to them. This is not bad. The danger is that it is so easy to slip into #2. Being religious, we easily believe that we are acting for God and God is with us supporting what we do. An extremely powerful motive.
But the danger is also shared by those who are not believers in God. More about this next time.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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