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Religion is a factor in 9 of the 21 wars ongoing in 2024.
Israel Palestine: Fundamentalist Judaism vs Hamas (Fundamentalist Sunni Muslim)
Maghreb : Islamic State vs 15 (fifteen) secular Arab/Muslim nations
Syria: Islamic State vs ?everyone
Nigeria: Boko Haram: Islamic State (tendency)
Somalia : al-Shabab (Islamic State)
Iraq: Sunni-Shia rivalry
Afghanistan: Taliban (Sunni Muslim)
NW Pakistan: Various Islamist militant groups
Nigeria: Islamist-Christian hatred
It is clear that Islam is involved in all of these wars, and it is tempting to infer from this that Islam is not a religion of peace, as its adherents often claim. Just to try to rebalance the scales, the USA is a nominally Christian nation, and has bombed no less than 36 countries since 1945. Moreover, the USA and other "Christian" nations are prepared, by virtue of the nuclear weapons they they possess, to kill millions of children, women and men by crushing, burning and irradiation. Nuclear deterrence is deferred terrorism. Only a few serious Christians have condemned the nuclear deterrence strategy, so Christians (for which read "Westerners") are in no position of moral superiority over Muslims in relation to warfare.
That said, fundamentalist religion does exacerbate hatred by setting up absolute differences between people who hold different beliefs. Ironically, the etymology of the word “religion” indicates that it is a force that binds the people of faith together, a uniting force, although history shows that differences of doctrine within both Christianity (Catholic/Protestant) and Islam (Sunni/Shia) can lead to vicious and protracted wars, and that the supposed binding together does not apply to those who are outside the religious community, the Others. "Otherness" is an essential part of hostility. The "Other" is different in some way; they may come from a different town, they may be a supporter of a different football club, have a different language or accent, a different skin colour, the causes of otherness are endless, but fundamentalist religion means that the other is actually rejecting God. Allah, or YHVH, the creator of the Universe, and this can be a very potent addition to the mix of motivations that may lead to war.
How can this tendency be resolved?
Time is an important factor. Only 300 years ago, the British Isles were tormented by wars between Protestant and Catholic brands of Christianity, and the Troubles in Ireland were only ended 28 years ago. Wars come to an end when the majority of people become sick and tired of them, and religious fervour itself wanes as the years pass.
It is important not to stimulate religious passions by attacking the religion. Yes, we must defend ourselves against any attacks they may make, but to try to defeat a religion by attacking its tenets ideologically, or its adherents physically, will only serve to increase their faith and devotion, since the holy texts often warn of the likelihood of such attacks.
One approach that might be useful in reducing religious tensions might be to create a series of meetings where theologians of the Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - spend a day fasting and wordlessly contemplate the following question:
"Do the Names YHVH, God and Allah refer to three different entities, or to one entity with three different names?"
Having spent a day seriously considering the question, without speaking about it, the theologians are then asked to write their answer in less than 10 words.
There is no guarantee that they will all agree that the names given to the Origin of the Universe are of human origin, but if there is agreement that there is One Origin, it might have some effect in inducing a sense of tolerance. If the consensus is that there are three different gods, the world will be no better off, and in fact, more people might conclude that theology is not a serious discipline.
A second approach that might be tried is that mullahs should be asked by local people to declare a fatwah against terrorism (defined as the use of violence against civilians for political or religious purposes). This is not a new idea. In 1999, the Muslim Religious Council of North America issued a Fatwa against Terrorism. In 2011 a book titled Fatwa on Terrorism was published by a leading Islamic scholar in Pakistan. So we have precedents, we need to ask each mullah and mosque to issue their own fatwa until the knowledge is universal and ingrained, since it is specifically not admissible for the fatwa to be requested by Government.
A fatwa is a kind of legal opinion made by a Muslim scholar. It is binding only as far as followers of the scholar who issues it are concerned - the Muslim faith is non hierarchical, and there is no central authority - so many fatwas are necessary, one for each mosque or group.
A fatwa has to have these characteristics:
- It must be derived from the Q'ran and revered commentary
- It must come from an authority figure
- It should not be opportunistic or due to political subservience
- It must be adequate to the needs of contemporary society
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