Religious war
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- For other uses of the term, see Holy War.
While there are undoubtedly wars fought primarily on religious grounds, wars frequently have multiple and complex causes. Saint Augustine is credited as being the first to detail a "Just War" theory within Christianity, whereby war is justifiable on religious grounds. Saint Thomas Aquinas elaborated on these criteria and his writings were used by the Roman Catholic Church to regulate the actions of European countries. In modern times religious designations are frequently used as shorthand for cultural and historical differences between combatants, giving the impression that the conflict is primarily about religious differences. For example, The Troubles in Northern Ireland are frequently seen as a conflict between Catholic and Protestant. However, the more fundamental cause is the attachment of Northern Ireland to either the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom. As the native Irish were mostly Catholic, and the later English-sponsored immigrants mainly Protestant, the terms become shorthand for the two cultures. It cannot be denied, however, that religion does play a part in the conflict, since churches are used as organizing points for demonstrations, and Protestants are far more likely to oppose union with the Catholic-dominated Republic.
Religion and War
Many wars that are not Religious wars, often still include elements of religion such as priests blessing battleships. Also differences in religion can further inflame a war being fought for other reasons. Historically temples have been military targets that are destroyed to weaken the morale of the opponent, even when the war itself is not being waged over religious ideals.The view upon religions versus another is very debatable. For example, in the USA, and in other places around Europe, many people would agree that terrorism is part of an ongoing war of religion. However, who is fighting who is the main topic that is so hard to define. Is it Muslims vs. Christianity? Or is it the Middle East vs. The West? Many people have different views, definitions and opinions upon this subject.
Jihad
The Islamic term "jihad" (literally "struggle") can refer to religious war ("lesser jihad"), though historically, the concept refers to an inward striving for perfect faith ("greater jihad"). However, over time the term "jihad" has come to refer more to a physical war.
There has come some dispute to the previous comment, whether the "greater" or "lesser" form of jihad refers to physical combat or an inner struggle. The debate comes from a hadith, or narration from the Prophet Muhammad, where he was quoted as saying, after returning from combat, "We have returned from the lesser jihad (jihad al-asghar) to the greater jihad (jihad al-akbar)".
Some view the greater jihad to be that of "the sword," or physical combat, using multiple references to the importance of fighting (al-qital) in the Qur'an and narrations from the hadith as evidence. Beside all of this, both sides of the debate agree that the physical fight requires an initial overcoming of spiritual dismay, which is itself an inner struggle; thus, intellectually, one could derive that both struggles, the physical and the spiritual, are encompassing one of the other. Likewise, the spiritual success supposedly leads one to yearn to fight for the sake of God, whether in pure defense or preemptive strikes, so the actual fulfilment of such inner struggle is requisite to the purity of the outward struggle.
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns—usually sanctioned by the Papacy—that took place during the 11th through 13th centuries. Originally, they were Roman Catholic Holy Wars to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims, but some were directed against other Europeans, such as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France and the Northern Crusades. The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to reach the Holy Land, but was re-directed by the Venetians against Constantinople.
References
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