Almost all of the wars that bear the stamp of religion have
political and financial underpinnings, according to
speculators.
«With
the help of God on our side, we shall be victorious in Iraq!
», George Bush proclaimed prior to the war...
«Fight,
as though God Himself has given the order!
», Saddam Hussein had exhorted the Iraqis in the opponent's
camp...
Leaders who invoke God to justify their expansionist
plans...
Armies that invoke God's help before embarking on campaigns
and launching invasions...
What is God's part in a war? Are religion and
religious differences really the reasons behind conflicts?
Almost all religious wars hide political and financial
interests and territorial claims, according to researchers
at the Department of Peace Studies of Bradford University.
As mentioned in the survey, armed conflicts rarely -if
never- don't exclusively relate to religion. Albeit
executed in the name of a higher power, their roots are
traced to elements that are more... venal: economy,
politics, natural resources, territorial claims,
nationality, identity...
When the U.S.A. and Britain were preparing the ground for
their war operations in Iraq, the association between
religion and war reappeared on stage... "Holy
war",
"righteous
war",
"conflict
of cultures"
were some of the terms mentioned in abundance. But according
to the research, the invasion of Iraq was a war that had
been phrasally ascribed to religion: the... religious
conscience of one man alone - George Bush...
If one were to attempt to distinguish which are the
authentically religious wars - the ones that are linked
mainly to religious convictions rather than political
purposes - one has to look back over past centuries : to the
Islamic expansion of the 7th century, when war was a
determining factor for the dissemination of the new
religion; to the Crusades which commenced in the 11th
century and was one of the bloodiest periods in the history
of European Christendom; to the wars during the Reformation
period, which commenced in the 16th century; with the
spreading of the predominance of the Christian Church in
Europe.
20th century
The prevailing view is that the organizations or groups who
are implicated in conflicts with religious folds increased
significantly during the half century after the end of World
War II : from 26 during the period 1945-1949 to 70 during
the 90's decade.
However, in the last 100 years, authentically religious wars
were few. The Israeli-Arab wars which had begun in 1948 and
had often been presented by the Mass Media as religious
wars, were in actual fact the result of nationalist trends,
the liberation of territories, or for self-defense.
The Islamic terrorism war that Al-Qaeda has been waging for
years, has mostly to do with the political status in Arab
countries and the presence of American forces in Islamic
countries, rather than the religious proselytism of
foreigners or the expansion of territorial supremacy in the
name of God.
Osama Bin Laden presents that war as a religious duty - a
duty however that springs from an enmity towards the USA,
its ally Israel and certain Arab countries such as Egypt and
Saudi Arabia which they consider to be oppressive. A
hatred that is possibly set off by the presence of USA
forces in Islamic countries, or the American attacks in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan; or America's support of Israel and
Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.
The attacks by Al-Qaeda, as well as the clashes between
Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat, India in 2002 are the most
recent examples of religiously motivated violence in the
21st century. Both cases prove that religion can be the
probable cause for war, only when religion and State
authorities become its allies or become involved. In
Gujarat, the spark that set it off was the attack - quite
possibly by Muslims - on a train carrying Hindus.
Result: 58 dead. The retaliation was immediate: In the
following days, Muslim families, homes and businesses became
the targets of armed attackers... Result: about 2000 Muslims
dead. As for the war in Iraq: that was clearly not a
religious one; it was simply embroidered with religious
words and expressions...
The White House officials often refer to terrorists as "sinners",
while Saddam Hussein's followers are referred to by the
occupation forces as "the
infidels".
Both sides invoke the Almighty, each seeking the final
victory...
But, as Abraham Lincoln had said more than a century ago:
"in
major confrontations, each side argues that it is acting in
accordance with God's will. They both believe it, and
yet, one of them must be mistaken... God cannot be in favour
of - and opposed to - the same thing, at the very same point
in time."
