Relationship between religious decline and increased violence

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.

Religious teachings in public schools

One of the problems that are capturing the attention is the religious and morals teaching in public schools and institutions. The system of teaching religious and moral teachings had adopted different forms and patterns over the decades and years but this society had never found an appropriate way of teaching these religious traditions. If we follow the history then we find out that religion slowly but gradually disappeared from American educational institutions. "The Supreme Court in three famous cases Engle v. Vitale (1962) and Murray v. Curlett and Abington v. Schempp (1963) overruled state-required prayer and Bible reading. Once they caught their breath, mainstream education and religion fell in line behind the Court, declaring in effect that the practices of Bible reading and school prayer were only empty gestures, devoid of any real religious value. The issue remains debatable, but a case can be made that the mainstream judgment was terribly wrong in a cultural sense" (Wright 17).

Schools and educational institutes play a vital role in teaching religious traditions and imparting knowledge regarding religion. The most important aspect of teaching religion is to adopt proper method of teaching. Avoiding controversial and extremist point-of-views and including positive elements from religious teachings from various religions could help in developing tolerance in the generation that growing in the era when religious violence is at its peak.

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.