Christianity and Violence Through Time

Religion and Violence

Religion is for many a tool to remove negativity from someone's life and then make it possible for the respective individual to start a moral type of living. Even with this, religion has been used as a means to encourage violence in a series of cases throughout time. A great deal of individuals claiming to be religious can actually be considered a paradox, considering that they promote peaceful behaviors while also performing acts of violence. Religion can thus be exploited depending on what a person wants, with numerous people throughout history using it with the purpose to achieve their goals rather than for actually wanting to be religious. Christianity in particular is intriguing when discussing it in the context of violence.

From the beginning of time people have been predisposed to engaging in violent acts for a series of reasons. The simple idea of difference encouraged individuals to persecute others, as the latter could not be considered part of the community that the formers had worked to build. Religion functioned as a cultural difference in influencing individuals to get actively involved in acts of violence. "In these societies, an ability and commitment to recognize, respect, engage, and negotiate difference is held to be an integrative sociopolitical force, a necessary condition for relative stability and a reservoir of potential imaginative response to the challenges of globalization, informationalism, and multiculturalism in the contemporary world." (De Vries 18)

The concept of monotheism is one of the principal elements influencing people to take on violent attitudes against others. The idea of someone else being unwilling to acknowledge the fact that there is only one God and that he should be associated with a particular religious ideology can be enough for some to persecute the respective individual. As a consequence, there have been numerous cases of people and whole communities being aggressive because of wanting to put across their religious convictions. The idea of monotheism can also be considered dangerous as a result of persuading individuals to believe that they are privileged. This sense of trust then influences people to consider that it would only be normal for them to engage in violent acts.

The fact that it is the most popular religion in the world also made Christianity one of the most complex. Through history there have been several cases of individuals wrongly interpreting the Christian bible and performing violent acts as a result of this. These individuals used their own ideas in parallel to ones written in the Bible and came to portray violence as something that had a religious purpose.

The Crusades are probably one of the clearest examples of Christian teachings being misinterpreted and used with the purpose to achieve the goals of particular influential individuals. These events lasted roughly from 1095 to the sixteenth century and involved several waves of Western Christians attempting to slow and even end the spread of Islam across the Arab world. These people were primarily motivated by their dedication to Christianity and to monotheism. They were acquainted with the idea that many Christian and non-Muslims in general were being persecuted in Arab states. This led to them wanting to put an end to this persecution through all means available and to numerous Europeans risking or actually losing their lives in an attempt to remove the threat of Islam.

The fact that Islam had experienced rapid growth made numerous influential individuals across Europe want to emphasize the power of Christianity. Countries across the continent had seen serious progress in the first years of the second millennium and had the resources to support people wanting to fight in the Arab world. The fact that they evolved rapidly also meant that they now had to make sure their competition would not represent a threat. The Crusades were thus in many cases supported by political ideas rather than by actual religious ones. Individuals with authority practically took advantage of their position and of the fact that many Europeans were Christians and persuaded them to rise up arms against non-Christians in the East.

The idea of violence among European Christians was not a new concept, as they were accustomed to accepting warfare as the only solution in certain situations. Augustine of Hippo, a Christian theologian living between 354 and 430 AD, produced a clear definition of warfare in the context of religion. From his perspective, violence could only be justified if it served a greater purpose. For example, a country persecuting a certain community as a consequence of it following a different religious ideology represented a good enough reason for others to intervene and to go against the country's leaders. "Augustine defined the offence which provided violence with a just cause as intolerable injury, usually taking the form of aggression or oppression." (Riley-Smith) The Crusades were thus considered by many to be a just war, as it entailed Christians engaging in violent acts in order to save their brothers in the East and to also destabilize the institution of Islam.

Going to war while thinking it is one's divine mission to do so was for numerous individuals engaging in Crusades one of the main reasons why they fought with determination. Many of these people were simply acquainted with how others had interpreted the Bible and believed this respective form of interpretation was particularly accurate. From their perspective, they would be absolved for their sins as a result of acting on behalf of God.

It is actually interesting to observe how influential religious figures turned to many aristocrats in an attempt to search for support. While Christian institutions in Europe were accustomed to attempting to persuade the higher classes to refrain from engaging in acts of violence, things had changed as a consequence of Islam spreading across the Arab world. This moment actually showed the power of the Church in Europe, considering that it played an important role in getting people from a wide range of backgrounds to become Crusaders.

Religion is normally built on ideas associated with morality. As a consequence, it would only be normal for any religious ideology to promote peaceful ideas. Even with this, the fact that people typically consider their cultural background when trying to understand an idea means that the message risks being misinterpreted. This was the case with events such as the Crusades, as individuals misinterpreted biblical passages and decided it was actually God's intention to use them as tools to persecute others -- Muslims in particular.

Religion seems to have experienced much progress over the years and in the contemporary society the number of cases of violence being committed for religious purposes seems to have dropped. Even with this, there are still numerous individuals who believe it is absolutely necessary for them to engage in violent acts in order to improve their condition and to make it possible for their religious ideology to flourish. These people have either been manipulated into thinking it would actually be possible for religion to go hand-in-hand with violence or interpreted religious texts wrongly, eventually reaching the conclusion that they are only doing the right thing by persecuting others. History stands as proof regarding how religion can be a tool used to commit violence, as individuals have taken advantage of its background as a cultural difference. As previously mentioned, cultural differences are one of the primary concepts influencing people to engage in acts of violence.