Religion's role in reducing violence in American society

Religion & Curbing Violence

Violence has become the part and parcel of our lives. Metropolitan cities to suburbs all areas of the country are plagued by violence in one form or the other. Somewhere people are involved in racial violence and some people are doing it out of frustration. Even campuses are places where violence, blood and gore have found space. The news of killings of students at different campuses brought to light the issues of violence, its causes and how it can be curbed, to the forefront.

Many optimists associate religion with peace, tranquility and harmony. Faith and spirituality is one of the basic needs of all human beings. Religion helps in building character of an individual. Religion holds people accountable and responsible for their actions while lack of faith in one's life may lead to violence and frustration.

People belonging to the religious right argue that Bible and prayers offer lasting solution to the problem of violence in the society. They argue that religious teachings should be given a lot of emphasis in the schools and it should make a come back there. People who have been found involved in violence and killings were not found to be too strong in faith. They say that at the time when talking about issues like drugs, abortion and sexuality was considered a taboo, the rate of violence in society was not that high. As people shunned religion and entered into materialistic pursuits they lost connection with their inner self. Faith helped them in maintaining the balance, sanity and control but secularism and materialism made people forget about religion and moral of the society declined leading to a violent situation now. We witnessed that drugs became common among the youth and so did the weapons like semiautomatic pistols and later automatic guns. Researches have also been conducted on the issue and have established that religion plays important role in people's life. However, the people can also go to extremes when it comes to religion destroying its efficacy.

Religious Diversity in America

America is a state of variegated culture and religion. America today is called the melting pot where people belonging to different religions, ethnicities reside side by side. Even though every individual has full and complete freedom to practice his or her religion under the constitution but the problem arises when we try to seek a collective solution for the society, in religion to control the menace of violence & hostility. This diversity in American culture has brought many difficulties in American society. America has evolved as a secular society and it would be difficult to endorse one or other form of religion. Any attempt to make Christianity and its specific techings dominate over other religions would destroy the very fabric of American society. In such a situation it is the individual that can take help from faith in inculcating values. The role of parents in bringing up their children with positive moral values and balanced teachings of religion becomes important. Similarly schools and educational institutions also have a role to play in curbing violence.

Other School of Thought

The other school of thought makes the case against religion when it comes to controlling violence. They argue that it is the religion that encourages violence simple on the basis of religious differences. People belonging to one religion consider them superior to others. Examples of all major religions including Christianity can be given when these religions induced violence in society. However, it is important to differentiate between violence and religious violence. "One can easily point to prominent examples of religion fueling violence-inducing passions. Historically, contemporary coupling of religion and violence has fed on the memories of the wars that plagued Europe from the 1560s to the 1650s and raged around religious differences. Today also it seems that the gods have mainly terror on their minds. Ireland, Serbia and India are just a few sites where religion is a factor in bloody conflicts" (Volf 32).

Spirit or Rituals

Here we also need to understand the religion and its interpretation as well as implementation. The person who is ritualistically religious and follows all religious edicts might not be a moralistic person when it comes to his social behavior. Almost all the religions being practiced are based on certain general moral principles. They all condemn violence and encourage good deeds like truthfulness, honesty, integrity and good behavior with all the human beings. So it is necessary for parents and schools to impart the spirit of religion rather than mere rituals. It is the spirit that moves people. If the concepts of humanity and values are inculcated in children then they develop into more balanced individuals. Hence when we talk about religion we should emphasize on the gist of religion that encourages brotherhood, care, affection and integrity.

If religion is used in a positive way then it would definitely help in curbing violence in society. Religion gives human beings a chance to connect with their inner self and a way of life. It also helps in integrating different elements of society. Just like water, food and shelter, if religion is removed from public life altogether then it may lead to a very bad human situation where violence would be at its peak. "we can define as manifestations of the religion of the individual those norms and values which he defines as being of major importance. And just as top-level norms and values provide reference points around which social order is built, so do they form reference points around which individual order is built. His top-level norms and values help the individual "make sense" out of his way of life. They are for him integrating elements, elements which bring order to his life" (Vernon 95).