Has Religion Helped World Peace?

The phenomenon called Religion can be discussed at different levels and in multiple contexts; one can talk about religion and God, religion and spirituality, religion and philosophy, religion and theology and many other associations. However, the one issue that is occupying more intelligent mental space than any other today is the impact of religion on world peace.The recent stand-off between  the Pope and  Islamic nations  only serves to  add another disturbing  dimension to the  issue.

There can be no argument that global peace is where human existence begins and ends. Without peace, the entire gamut of human achievement is rendered futile and meaningless. The world minus peace is equal to minus world. Now, where does religion figure in this equation?


More wars have been fought on the issue of religion than on any other account - a statement like this jolts and disturbs, because the pursuit of religion is supposedly a quest for inner peace; if religious strife is at the root of enormous conflict, what is religion doing to the world? The statement, however, is a statement of fact. Many wars, historical or contemporary, are conflicts between two religious groups.

Right through European history, religion has been a major war-trigger; the Crusades, the Turkish invasion of Europe, the Protestant-Catholic divide that was to later assume terrorist dimensions in the form of the conflict in Ireland, were all fallouts of religious intolerance and strife. The recent bloody wars in Afghanistan, East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan and the present conflict in the Middle East are all rooted in Christian-Muslim conflict.

However, whenever the head of any religious institution or entity is asked about his religion, his emphatic statement will invariably claim that his religion is a religion of peace and abhors all violence; when Islam is a religion of peace, why are Shias and Sunnis killing each other as well people of other religions? When Christianity or Judaism does not advocate bloodshed, why are Christians, Muslims and Jews slaughtering each other in the Middle East?