Religious‐historical perspective on conflicts and violence: secular materialism versus spiritual humanism

Abstract

International conflicts and violence are similar in nature to domestic conflicts and violence which are also similar to those taking place between individuals. Only difference between them is that of magnitude that increases as one moves from individual to societal national level and finally to international level of conflicts. The fundamental question at issue here is that of self‐interest with respect to social and political authority and economic power. The conflicts become most intense and violence gets widest and most cruel at the international level. There are two broad methods in dealing with this problem – use of force to coerce and subjugate or application of the power of persuasion to win the hearts and minds of the people. The former is the conventional secular materialistic method but often used invoking the name of religion and the latter is that of true spiritual humanistic practices and applications in preserving and promoting the cause of all of humanity.While the first does not require the system to be fair and just, the latter predicates them. The foundation of the first is “us” vs. “them” as it divides humanity into many nation states, but that of the second is “us” vs. “us” since it recognizes and practices universality of humanity. More importantly, the former grants unfettered authority to the leaders of the society in the form of sovereignty of the “nation state”, the latter subjugates the authority of the leaders to that of a higher supreme Authority.