Religious Violence and the Conspiracy of the Secular West

Abstract

Religion has a dangerous tendency to condone, propagate and even promote violence. This idea is so deeply rooted in both Eastern and Western social and political psyche that it is almost impossible to separate religion and politics from their policies and institutions. However, I will challenge the validity of this thought in this paper. Firstly, I will try and prove that dividing institutions and ideologies into separate watertight compartments is not possible and when done becomes incoherent and arbitrary. Secondly, this division just seems to ignore some varieties of violence are while others are condemned. Finally, this paper will try to prove these two hypotheses and bring home the conclusion that, while religion has to an extent instigated violence, it has usually done so in alliance with secular, political and economic forces with a very ‘worldly’ end in mind.