When one thinks of religion, one might think of worship, praise, togetherness, but never of hate. After looking deep into the similarities between these two topics, I have undiscovered that they are more alike than different.
Starting with their origins, religion originated a little after the creation of humans. At that point in time, religion served the purpose of explaining why the world is the way it is and any thing else that they couldn't figure out. Along with the creation of religion and humanity, hate also brewed among the human population as well. Hatred comes in many different forms and many different reasons. Some examples of hate include jealousy, hate of differences, hate of personality, hate of ideas, and hate of image.
Not until the emergence of multiple global religions did hatred and religion begin to combine. For example, with the emergence of Christianity, authorities began to hate the image and ideas of Jesus Christ. People as well began to dislike those who converted and the converted began to resent those who didn’t. Because religion is such an important and strong idea in the life of a human, it brings about strong emotions, such as hate. As time continues, the situation doesn’t change, and though Christianity supports “Love one another”, Christians all over continue to hate and challenge those who refuse to convert.
Like Christianity, Judaism also begins to serve as a reason to hate one another. Since their existence, Jews have received oppression where ever they have lived. Whether they have lived in Russia, Nazi Germany, or Europe they have received hatred and oppression because of their beliefs, image, and most importantly, their differences. In some situations, like during the Middle ages, Jews were expelled and persecuted. The hate and oppression didn’t change until the 19th and 20th centuries, where the intensity of the hate increased. During this time, Jews were being killed by the masses just because of the religion they followed. The long history of oppression has caused the Jews today to strive for a country of their own. Trying to obtain this country has led them into a long-lasting war with Palestine. Jews, today, now hate the other side because of their nationality and what they stand for. Likewise, Palestine and many of the other Middle East countries now hate the Jews for taking their land and oppressing their people. It’s amazing to think that religion, such a wonderful and important thing in most peoples lives, started this world of hate that exists today in the Middle East.
The situation is also identical with the religion of Islam. Islamic people are isolated from non-Islamic people. The distance between them and because their religion labels the people that don't worship Islam as "sinners" causes Muslims to dislike or hate the people that don't worship Islam. Today, Muslims have an enormous amount of hate against the American non-Muslim population and because of their hate, they have started a war against America.
Understanding that hate often comes from religion makes religion seem less productive and peaceful than it is. Religion, though by itself it’s a harmless idea, creates differences of beliefs, views, and customs between people. These differences turn to hate when people judge each other based on their religious views. Overall, recognizing that religion creates differences that lead to hatred between people is important and shows that religion, despite its benefits, might have a negative effect on the Human population.
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Your post really made me think about how people are so passionate about something they love that they are willing to do something violent or hateful to prove that their choice is the right choice. The fact that religion has brewed an intense rivalry and dislike that people today can't look past is terrible. That we as humans could discriminate against an ideal that helps someone else lead their life just doesn't make sense to me, and I often think that the phrase 'to each his own' would solve a lot of problems we have with our society. It shouldn't affect your daily happiness if someone else chooses to call your God (because their generally pretty similar variations of the same entity) by a different name. When religions promote themselves as the one true religion, they leave no room for tolerance and respect. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI agree that hatred and religion are often connected to each other, but I don't think it's fair to say that religion itself causes hatred. I would argue that hatred comes from people manipulating and exploiting religion for their own ends. Many of the examples you give are less an example of people doing bad things because of religion and more of people using religious differences to justify whatever they are doing. Obviously this is a real problem, but it's not one that's unique to religion. From history we can see that any compelling idea--from the promise of life after death, to the belief in the greatness of one's country--can be exploited and used to justify hatred and violence. Obviously, exploiting these powerful ideas can have dire consequences, like the hatred you describe in your post. But this hatred does not have to be a part of religion, and most of the time it is not.
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