Religion and Violence: how symbiotic a relationship?

Abstract

Violence is often seen as intimately connected to the Abrahamic religions, while on other accounts peace is the main religious objective. There is plenty of scope for coming to both conclusions when we examine Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It could be argued that religion takes violence seriously and provides suggestions for controlling it. In fact, the methodology of theology itself emphasizes balance and moderation, and so attempts to control violent and aggressive human behavior. Islam in particular, and all the Abrahamic religions, tend to accord theologically with Aristotelian approaches to ethics, and so an unbridled enthusiasm for violence would be anathema. The Abrahamic religions provide intellectual resources for the regulation of conflict and clearly all take a positive view of peace.