Running Head: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 1 Religious Violence Brea P. Sylvester GEN499: General Education Capstone Professor Kassandra Bahr 21 September 2019 Brea Sylvester Brea Sylvester Brea Sylvester Brea Sylvester RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 2 Introduction The persistent spread of extremist violence throughout the world is a considerable alarm and concern today. This is mainly because the violence is mostly connected with religion. For instance, the mass shootings in Orlando, Florida, which targeted people of a particular sexual orientation was associated with religious sentiments. The shots caused 49 deaths and 53 injuries, the worst mass shooting in the US. It has also been observed that religiously motivated violence by Muslims and Boko Haram have affected both Christians and Muslims in West African countries. As such, religiously motivated violence has been a common feature in the past histories and also current realities in significant religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, as well as other minor religions. The violence takes many different forms such as weapons, hate speech, or other kinds of violence attacks (Basedau, Pfeiffer & Vüllers, 2014). Religion has also been associated with hatred, seizures, and oppression against specific communities or groups of people. As such, it is essential to explore this topic in-depth to unearth the history of religious conflict and violence since there is no much research which has provided a proper account of such conflicts. This paper will add to the available research on religiously-motivated violence, by exploring causes and origin religious conflict and violence, its impacts, as well as the way forward for peace to prevail. Background information on religiously motivated violence in the world. There has been a tremendous rise in religion-based violence in the past decades. Among the instances in history is the jihad and authority struggle between the Shia and Sunni Islam from the Middle East. There has also been persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar as well as the wars RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 3 between Muslims and Christians in Africa. A study carried out recently shows that there has been an increased occurrence of religious-based violence related to harassing women, especially for violation of their religious beliefs and practices (Selengut, 2017). It is essential to realize that religious-based hostilities affect all religions in the world. There has been increased killings and other kinds of violence across the globe as a result of the religious hostilities even in nations that are not directly affected by the religious wars. For instance, massive killings have been rampant in minor countries such as Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, among others. Wars between Islam and Jewish religions have also risen in Europe. Additionally, the Hindu religion is threatened by other.

1. Running Head: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 1
Religious Violence
Brea P. Sylvester
GEN499: General Education Capstone
Professor Kassandra Bahr
21 September 2019
Brea Sylvester
Brea Sylvester
Brea Sylvester
Brea Sylvester
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 2
Introduction
The persistent spread of extremist violence throughout the
world is a considerable alarm

2. and concern today. This is mainly because the violence is
mostly connected with religion. For
instance, the mass shootings in Orlando, Florida, which targeted
people of a particular sexual
orientation was associated with religious sentiments. The shots
caused 49 deaths and 53 injuries,
the worst mass shooting in the US. It has also been observed
that religiously motivated violence
by Muslims and Boko Haram have affected both Christians and
Muslims in West African
countries. As such, religiously motivated violence has been a
common feature in the past
histories and also current realities in significant religions such
as Islam, Hinduism, Judaism,
Buddhism, Christianity, as well as other minor religions. The
violence takes many different
forms such as weapons, hate speech, or other kinds of violence
attacks (Basedau, Pfeiffer &
Vüllers, 2014). Religion has also been associated with hatred,
seizures, and oppression against
specific communities or groups of people. As such, it is
essential to explore this topic in-depth to
unearth the history of religious conflict and violence since there
is no much research which has

3. provided a proper account of such conflicts. This paper will add
to the available research on
religiously-motivated violence, by exploring causes and origin
religious conflict and violence, its
impacts, as well as the way forward for peace to prevail.
Background information on religiously motivated violence in
the world.
There has been a tremendous rise in religion-based violence in
the past decades. Among
the instances in history is the jihad and authority struggle
between the Shia and Sunni Islam from
the Middle East. There has also been persecution of Rohingya in
Myanmar as well as the wars
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 3
between Muslims and Christians in Africa. A study carried out
recently shows that there has been
an increased occurrence of religious-based violence related to
harassing women, especially for
violation of their religious beliefs and practices (Selengut,
2017).
It is essential to realize that religious-based hostilities affect all
religions in the world.

4. There has been increased killings and other kinds of violence
across the globe as a result of the
religious hostilities even in nations that are not directly affected
by the religious wars. For
instance, massive killings have been rampant in minor countries
such as Iraq, Nigeria, Syria,
Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, among others. Wars between
Islam and Jewish religions have
also risen in Europe. Additionally, the Hindu religion is
threatened by other religions in
approximately 18 nations. Among the countries characterized by
utter religious limitations
include India, Egypt, Russia, Turkey, and Indonesia (Bremmer,
2018).
Why should religions perpetrate such violence while they are
perceived to champion for
peace and tolerance amongst people? Different scientists have
studied various religions in a quest
to establish the reason behind their actions. It has been
discovered that some of the religious
activists defend their actions based on theological grounds.
However, such allegations are
opposed to arguments that religious violence does not display
ethical works at all but a violation

5. of religious beliefs (Larsson, 2017).
On the other hand, some scientists have established that
religions have mostly led to
violence and hostilities for the reason that they fuel
inevitabilities while they approve self-
sacrifice. Others argue that both the hierarchical and
nonhierarchical religious practices can be
interpreted to defend violence and hostility among people.
Consequently, many religious
activists have fallen victims of such kinds of disturbance while
they also victimize other citizens
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 4
(Juergensmeyer, 2017). In different occasions, mass violence
has increased when the country and
religion are entangled. Unfortunately, the actions seem to be
rising rather than reducing.
Religion-based hostilities incorporate different forms of
violence from intimidation,
outright wars, harassments as well as internment to terrorism.
Such hostilities seem to arise in
instances when the core values of a particular religion are
challenged. In such a case, the

6. challenged belief tend to fight the other religions within the
region with the assistance of the
religious leaders. Such activities lead to increased physical
hostility in different nations (Nellis &
Siddiqui, 2018).
Arguably, the religious leaders have been criticized to not act
towards stemming religion-
based violence. This is because they do not publicly condemn
the actions perpetrated by the
religious activists and thus the religious believers presume the
activities as complicit. This is
ironical for the reason that the religious leaders amongst other
believers have previously taken
part in peace mediations and championing calmness in different
regions. They have also been
found helping the needy and especially those who have been
affected by wars. It, therefore, beats
logic why the same religious leaders fuel the religious-based
violence against other religions.
Solution

7. s to the religious-based violence in the world today
The religious leaders should intervene towards preventing and
countering incitements to
religious violence and hostility. They should be trained in ways
of recognizing the dissimilarities
between hate and offensive speech and hostility and violence
incitement. They should also
establish ways of diagnosing the issues in the right ways so that
they can differentiate between
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 5
political-based, ethnic-based, and religious-based violence.
Additionally, religious leaders should
play their role in minimizing tensions through responding to
incitements soon enough before
they cause massive effects. The leaders also need to select the

8. most committed and influential
religious leaders amongst them so that they can end tensions
where they seem to be high. The
followers of different religions should also get actively
involved in preventing the violence
incitements for their respective faiths. They should cooperate
with the leaders in finding better
ways of handling religious conflicts (Buc, 2015). They may
come into agreements which, when
implemented, would result in peaceful coexistence among
people of different religions. Such
interventions by leaders would play a key role in minimizing or
even ending the issue of
religious violence in the world.
Inter-religious activities would also play a key role in
minimizing violence against

9. different religions. Different followers of various faiths should
find a common theological
ground from their own beliefs, that confirm the values and
standards of universal maintenance of
human rights. Additionally, religious leaders may establish
inter-religious alliances through
which they can communicate and carry out joint missions. They
should ensure that the unions
aim at building and strengthening interrelationships between
people from different religious
faiths (Burridge & Sacks, 2017). The inter-faith leaders should
also collaborate with the media in
a bid to publicize joint efforts towards the wider society.
Establishment of mutual networks of
faith-based leaders would also play a significant role in
strengthening harmony amongst the
people from different religions and consequently minimize

10. religious-based violence amongst
people. It is also essential that religious observatories be
created so that they can establish the
root causes of offensive speech towards religion and also the
source of religious violence
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 6
incitements (Sacks, 2017). These will end religious-based
violence as the perpetrators of such
activities are punished for violence incitement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, religious-based violence has come to rise in the
recent past. Different
religions tend to fight against each other, leading to massive
killings among nations. The sad

11. thing is that these hostilities are continually increasing with no
signs of an end. Therefore, there
is a need for the religious leaders, the faithful believers, and the
entire community at large to join
hands towards fighting the societal issues.
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE ! 7
References
Basedau, M., and Schaefer-Kehnert, J. (2018). Religious
discrimination and religious armed
conflict in sub-Saharan Africa: an obvious relationship?.
Religion, State and Society,
47(1), pp.30-47.
Bremmer, J. (2018). Religious violence and its roots: A view
from antiquity. In Reconceiving

12. Religious Conflict (pp. 30-42). Routledge.
Buc, P. (2015). Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror: Christianity,
Violence, and the West.
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Burridge, R. A., & Sacks, J. (Eds.). (2017). Confronting
Religious Violence: A Counternarrative.
SCM Press.
Juergensmeyer, M. (2017). Terror in the mind of God: The
global rise of religious violence (Vol.
13). Univ of California Press.
Larsson, J. P. (2017). Understanding religious violence:
Thinking outside the box on terrorism.
Routledge.
Nellis, G., & Siddiqui, N. (2018). Secular party rule and
religious violence in Pakistan. American

13. political science review, 112(1), 49-67.
Sacks, J. (2017). Not in God's name: Confronting religious
violence. Schocken.
Selengut, C. (2017). Sacred fury: Understanding religious
violence. Rowman & Littlefield.