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RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS
Historical origins
Religions are in conflict today, everywhere;no country is free from it- only, the forms the conflicts take are different.
Organised Christianity and Islam are responsible for it, historically, and ideologically.
Siege of Belgrade by Turks led by Sultan Mehmed, 1584. The siege failed, because food supplies could not be cut. The Turks retreated, as shown in the lower right corner.
Public Domain. Wikipedia Commons.
The pre-Christian world was characterised by the presence of numerous local religions, marked by distinct practices. Theological belief or philosophical doctrine was not important. One had to follow the religion of the society- it did not matter what philosophy they believed in. One of the charges against Socrates was that he was neglecting the worship of the traditional gods and goddesses and introducing new ones! It did not matter what he believed in, so long as he did not corrupt the youth. This charge was of course false, but it was upheld by the large jury. But the same Athens did not go about imposing its religion on other peoples.
We see even greater variety in the Roman world. There were numerous religions, but it did not matter, so long as the official Roman religion was not dishonoured. As Edward Gibbon famously said: people believed all religions were equally true; philosophers believed all religions to be equally false; the magistrates (administrators) believed all religions to be equally useful, since they supported the State!
We surely observe conflicts among groups or tribes as among the Native Americans or Africans, but these conflicts were not about religious belief or practice, but territorial integrity. Certainly, the tribes did not go attacking each other, so long as the traditional border was not violated.
Buddhism is the first proselytising religion in the world. But it did not spread by the sword anywhere. The message was conveyed, and people took to it. In fact, the Buddha did not call his teaching a new religion. He only talked of the "Dhamma"- Pali for the Sanskrit Dharma, which was the name by which the Vedic religion called itself. Buddha just wrote one more chapter in the Sanatana Dharma, a new interpretation of old truths.. He incorporated the highest principles of the Upanishads and Gita. This was both its supreme strength and greatest weakness. The directness, majesty and simplicity of the message had a mesmerising quality- as it does even today. But it suits only the highest minds and best of characters: it involves a total renunciation of desire, and worldly concerns. All true religions preach this- but not in the beginning! The venerable Buddha made the highest Truth his very starting point, and perfect discipline his ordinary standard! He did not give any concession to human weakness. In course of time, people at large found it tough and its adherents dwindled. It did not help that it focused on monastic orders and neglected the householder. Later, its advocates had to make many deviations from the original teachings to make them suitable for the masses and that very process diluted the message and lessened its appeal. (This proves the wisdom of Christ saying: don't cast your pearls before swine).
Buddham Sharanam Gachchami.
Public domain. Wikimedia commons.
Also, thinkers understood the connection of Buddhist metaphysics to traditional Indian thought, and so it lost its intellectual appeal too, in the land of its birth. There were great intellectual debates, but no armed conflict.As a former Chinese ambassador to the US said, India conquered China without sending a single soldier across the border! The innate appeal of Buddhism did it! The final blow to Buddhism came from the Muslim invaders, who killed thousands of monks and destroyed Nalanda. In the meantime, Buddha has been accepted as one of the Incarnations of the Hindus! Today, some Buddhist groups appeal to Hindus not to treat Buddha as an incarnation, as it interferes with their separate identity!
The first historical religion to rely on state power and the sword to spread its message and convert others is Christianity. It took over Rome and banned all older religions. It adopted all sorts of methods and employed violence to convert or exterminate the followers of the older faiths, and destroy and occupy their sacred places.
Public domain,wikimedia Commons.
.A thousand years later, European Christians repeated the same exercise in North and South America against Native Indians. Christians were followed five centuries later by the Muslims, who gave the Christians their own medicine: conversion or violent death. The Muslims ran over Europe and occupied many areas. The old Roman empire was divided, and the two sides fought for centuries, finally settling for the areas they actually controlled. These two Abrahamic religions took the sword, and are today poised to perish by that very sword!
Public Domain. Wikimedia commons.
Religious multiplicity and Conflict
All religions are not the same, or equal, or equally true. There certainly are unbridgeable gulfs between them. No amount of intellectual subtlety or sophistry can wish them away, or good will eradicate them.
Christianity believes that God is wholly transcendent- he is not in the world. He created the world, and has remained separate- "the other". Man is born in sin, and he can be saved only by the blood of Christ. Christ is the 'only begotten Son' , who sacrificed himself for saving humanity. He is the only truth and the way for salvation.
Islam teaches that Allah is the only God and that Mohammad is his Prophet- the last prophet. Following him is the only way to submit to the will of God, for God revealed his will through Mohammad.
Buddhism teaches that this world is a place of suffering. We cannot get rid of suffering unless we know its causes and adopt the right remedies. Desire is the cause and renunciation of desire is the only way. We have to strive ceaselessly. No one or nothing else can save us.
Hinduism teaches that there is only one Reality- or just Reality (That Which is= Tat). It cannot be named or defined. Everything in the world is a reflection or manifestation of that One Reality- for there can be no second, or "no other"! Man too embodies that Reality, but he has forgotten this Reality or real nature! This ignorance is the cause of all his suffering. Illumination/Enlightenment or the recovery of this original knowledge is the permanent remedy for the suffering. This enlightenment is not something new- it is just the recovery of the old, original knowledge; and that by that very fact makes you free!
There are many ways to accomplish this. One may believe in God or not. One may believe in one God or another. One may believe any theology, or follow any philosophy, or none. What matters is that one should enquire into and understand his own Reality. It is knowledge of Reality which makes one free. And this knowledge is Experiential- one must not merely believe but Know it by experience. That one is a human being is experiential knowledge- not belief. One does not have to remind oneself on waking every morning that he is (still) man! In the same way, one must realise that one is that One Reality which pervades the Universe!
We can easily see that these are different ways of perceiving reality. They are not same, or similar, or equal.
There are many people of good will and great intellect who perceive that there is a core of fundamental truth in all religions. Aldous Huxley called it the "Perennial Philosophy"- Philosophia Perennis. He writes in the introduction to his book "The Perennial Philosophy" which popularised this idea among the thinking public:
PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS- the phrase was coined by Leibniz; but the thing- the metaphysic that recognises a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being- the thing is immemorial and universal. Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions. A version of this Highest Common Factor in all preceding and subsequent theologies was first committed to writing more than twenty-five centuries ago, and since that time the inexhaustible theme has been treated again and again, from the standpoint of every religious tradition and in all the Principal languages of Asia and Europe.
(The Perennial Philosophy, HarperCollins. First published:1945)
Gottfried Leibniz, German Philosopher,1646-1716
It is true that the highest minds in all lands have perceived this truth and formulated in language. But this kind of metaphysic, psychology,ethic- this is not common! In every religion other than Hinduism and Buddhism, people who spoke of this wisdom were considered heretics and persecuted. Religions prescribe different methods of practice and these can obscure the basic truths present in all.
Organised religions-especially Abrahamic religions- derive their strength by stressing their historical uniqueness. Religions which embody the Sophia Perennis are not historical religions- dating from one event, one founder, one date. It is even difficult to pinpoint one place as their origin. By nature they cannot be organised, or hierarchical.Such religions cannot be proselytising: since they recognise the truth everywhere, whom to convert? Today, Hinduism is the last surviving religion of this genre.
But the organised historical religions- with the honourable exception of Buddhism- do not see or recognise any truth in any other religion. So they indulge in proselytising- by using any means available. Even now, the current Pope tweets on his Twitter site that "The principal mission of the Church is evangelization" He says the Church is ever on a journey, seeking new ways to evangelise (ie convert). (https://twitter.com/pontifex. Text on various dates). But since the educated West is increasingly dumping organised Christianity in favour of direct spiritual or religious experience, free of dogma, ritual and clergy, the Church is focusing on Asia and Africa, probably taking them as dull fools!
Islam, the other major Abrahamic religion has never hidden its intention or minced its words, sophisticated about it: it is for Jihad. It is what it has been pursuing since its birth. They have been honest and open about it- and rather direct in their methods- not hiding behind charity, education, etc like the Christians do.
So, if there is conflict among religions in the world today, it is not due to the multiplicity of faiths, as such. It is due to the presence and power of two Abrahamic religions, who both believe in unlimited conversion of every one else on earth by any method available. There is conflict in every continent , every country, every town and village where they are present.
NOTE:
Though Judaism is the original Abrahamic religion, and the parent of the other two, I have not said anything about it because it is not an aggressively proselytising religion. It is not founded on a proselytising impulse. It does accept converts who come by conviction, but the process is very hard. There being many denominations within, convert to one may not be accepted by another. Over the centuries, many Jews got converted to Christianity or Islam, by force or otherwise; it is difficult even for them to claim their Jewish ancestry, so they opt for formal conversion now, but that too is fraught with difficulties. Who is a Jew is a hotly debated issue within the community.
In fact, Judaism is not a 'religion' in the sense in which Christianity or Islam is. Judaism is born of a Covenant - between a whole people and God. It is indeed difficult to see how anyone who was not part of the original Covenanting community could ever claim to be one of them! In this sense, 'Jewish by conversion' looks both phony and suspect! In early times, women captured in war, who married Jews, were converted! As we can easily see, 'People of the Covenant' is a very privileged position, and who would like to share or spill that privilege!
In any case, Jews do not pose a threat to any people on this issue, at least for the present!
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