Grace O'Hara

What are Religious Conflicts and How Can They be Stopped?

Ever since religion has been a part of the world, their have been several conflicts that have come with it. For example, in the 16th century there was a war known as the French Wars of Religion which were a series of wars between the Christians and the Protestants. Many people believe that there is no way to stop religious violence because each religion believes that they are the “true” religion. However, if people were more respectful of other people’s views and accepted their beliefs then religion would not be nearly as large of an issue around the world as it is.

When that doesn't work, the next step would be to jail those who insist on being violent and put those prisoners among others of their religion so there is no further violence in the prisons.

What is Religion?

Religion has been a major part of the world for thousands of years now. Out of all of the religions around the world, there are three main ones that are practiced the most. These three religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each of these three religions have several similarities. Each religion believes in monotheism, and they each have a book.

Christians have the Bible, Jews have the Torah, and Islam has the Quran. Also, all three of the religions believe in some sort of life after death and believe that if you are “good” you will go to heaven and if you are “bad” you will go to hell.

With these similarities come many differences. One major difference is that the Islam believe that one person wrote the Quran, where the Jews and the Christians believe that their book was written by several different people.

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all very important on the world today and are the base of several feuds and problems.

Religious Conflicts around the World Grace O’Hara

Sunni Shiite Conflict The split between the Shiite and the Sunni Muslims has been one of the most major splits in modern religion. The reason for the split began with Muhammad’s death and is about who should lead Islam.

Because Muhammad didn’t have a son there is no one to inherit his father’s authority, this therefore led to the schism. The Shiite believe that Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, should take caliphate. However, the Sunnis disagree; they believe that the leader should go to whoever would be most suited politically to uphold the growing Muslim empire. Overall, the Sunnis respect how power actually works, while the Shiite is more realistic in believing that the leader should be someone who is equipped for the job. Right now, the Shiite are preventing Sunnis from being apart of the Iraq government which has caused a lot of anger and backlash. Many argue that because they are not apart of the Iraq government they are forcing Sunnis under the control al-Qaeda. Several actions are being taken by both Iraq and the United States to reunify the Sunni and the Shiite.

Attacks on Christians In 2008, there was a major issue in Orissa, India where Hindus were attacking Christians. Thousands of Christians were affected by these attacks through the demolition of over 70 churches and other Christian In-

stitutions, hundreds of homes were destroyed, and several were murdered.

There was also about 50,000 Christians forced out of The reason for these attacks are because of the Hindu's fear of the spreading of Christianity in India.

Because so many homes were destroyed by the Hindus, Catholics are building about 5,500 houses for the Christians effected by the attacks.

Religious Controversy in France In 2004, French schools proposed a law banning visible religious symbols in state schools such as Islamic headscarves, Jewish Yamakas, Sikh Turbans, and large Christian crosses. People argued that none of those symbols hold a threat to a school's education, public health, or morals. Many also believed that this law violates the rights of freedom of religion and expression and that wearing things such as a headscarf was a religious obligation. Those who are supporters of the law believe that the banning of publicly wearing religious symbols would protect people. For example, Muslim girls would not have to be pressured and forced by their parents into wearing a headscarf.

Also, under this law students are protected against discrimination because of the beliefs of their parents and family members which is considered a protection of someone's basic rights. An argument to this is that restriction's on a students personal freedom is