A Delicate Topic: Using Religion as an Excuse to Justify Acts of Violence

When people use religion as an excuse to rationalize crime; that is not religion. The Holocaust, Islamic terrorist groups, 9/11; any time one person or group claims the right to control others with hatred and violence, to ultimately eradicate them, is simply an excuse to be evil.

Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim teachings all accentuate peace and goodwill towards others. To commit devastating crimes in the name of one’s religion solely demonstrates how that person, or group, have completely missed the point. These religions preach about having love for others, the polar opposite of terrorism, violence, and hatred for those with different beliefs. Having a religion should give people hope; something to look forward to every morning when they wake, it should provide them happiness and peace amongst one another. People who use their religion as an excuse to make acts of violence reasonable have abandoned what religion should be all about.

"In this hour I would ask of the Lord God only this: That he would give his blessing to our work, and that He may may ever give us the courage to do the right. I am convinced that men who are created by God should live in accordance to the will of the Almighty. No man can fashion world history unless upon his purpose and his powers there rests the blessings of this Providence." This may sound like an ideal leader, a person of faith, love, and peace. But that was a speech given by the Chancellor of Germany, the man responsible for the genocide of over 11 million people; Adolf Hitler. Hitler said “Give His blessing to our work,” and by “work” he meant creating a mass genocide, destroying millions of innocent people, in the name of Christianity. In my opinion, this is simply an excuse to try to disguise the crimes he committed by convincing others it was okay, because it was in the name of religion. Pictured left, we see Hitler shaking hands with Catholic Priests. These characters shaking hands in greet is a major contrast, as history has taught us to portray Hitler so negatively, yet Priests are a positive symbol of the perfect being - a faithful role-model for followers of that particular religion to look up to. However, here we see them smiling on seemingly friendly terms with Hitler. There is also an evident contrast of citizens and soldiers giving the Nazi salute in the background, compared to the cross hanging from the Priests’ necks in foreground. The cross represents a reminder of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who sacrificed his life out of love for his people. But the Nazi salute represents respect to Hitler, and respect to his “work” of violence and hatred. Therefore, Hitler used religion as one of many excuses to persecute Jewish peoples, whether that was due to extremism, misunderstanding of teaching, or whatever part of religion he could rationalize in order to convince so many that what he was doing was for the betterment of society.

In the same way Hitler rationalized violence by twisting Religion, and perhaps the most relevant to today’s events, Islamic terrorists around the world have been murdering feverishly in the name of Allah. From the Taliban, to ISIS, to Al Qaeda, specific groups of people are killing because of their beliefs. “Butcher those who mock Islam,” “Slay those who insult Islam,” “Europe will pay, demolition is on it’s way” are just a few of the hateful messages Islamic extremists are expressing, as photographed left. The aggressive words on signs along with the fist-raising, abrasive behavior of the crowd indicate that this group of people will kill in the name of Islam. They truly believe violence towards those with different beliefs is is acceptable, because they feel it’s in the name of their religion.

In addition, the very recent tragedy in France has been an extremely unfortunate, yet eye-opening event for the world. On January 7, 2015, two masked gunmen forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris. They murdered 12 people, including cartoonists, and were heard shouting “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for, “God is great.” This image depicts this specific group of Islamic extremists as a severely contradicting group of people. We see a swarm of characters labelled as “radical Islamic terrorists” proudly thrusting signs into the air which read, “Let the bombings begin!” “Death to anyone who is not a follower” “Death to cartoonists” “Death to America” and so on. The character in the foreground stands out from the rest, exclaiming, “We are a religion of peace!” as he propels a firing gun above his head. The contrast in this image between violence and peace is exceedingly significant. The man claims that he is of a peaceful religion, however he, among others, are barbarically terrorizing anyone who offends them in anyway with guns and explosives, like the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo. When cartoons, like this one, portray Islamic extremists as violent and irrational, they become offended because they claim to be peaceful, and so they react with violence in the form of terrorism, despite the fact that their actions completely contradict their words.

Furthermore, it is clear that religion is not meant to be used as a cause for acts of terror. It’s purpose is to provide hope and create peace. None of these religions teach that violence is morally correct, it’s the way people manipulate and interpret the teachings, and use them to make violence appear reasonable. We can infer from background knowledge that this illustration is of Jesus preaching to his disciples. The characters’ outward appearances, such as their robes and beards, give us an idea of the time period and context the author is expressing. There is one man whom is wearing a white robe, different from the rest, which we can interpret as Jesus Christ. He says, “be humble, forgive, love, and show mercy,” but suddenly his tone shifts and He adds, “ridicule those who disagree with you, despise people [...] and above all be arrogant and rude!” It is self-apparent that this last sentence is not written in the Bible, and that these words are not from the mouth of Jesus. Nevertheless, there are people, particularly specific Christians, who do act arrogant and rude, and do despise people, because they have abandoned the big picture that their religion expresses: love.

In essence, to say that religion causes actions of hatred and violence is wrong. These acts were done by people who used religion as an excuse to act this way. It is important for all of us to recognize evil for what it is. Religion doesn't cause crime by itself. It is the people committing the actions who attempt to convince us it is being done in the name of religion.