Is Islam the most violent major religion?

LiveIsLife

Does it lend itself to violence moreso than other major religions in the modern era? I think you can interpret it a number of ways much like Christianity. But it seems in modern times there are religious clashes all along the Islams borders, from Africa to Europe to China to India. Does the root of this lie with Islam, or is it just that radicals in these areas latch onto Islam and would be rebelling in the name of something else if Islam didn't happen to have a presence?

I know the majority of Muslims are peaceful and in the past atrocities have been carried out in the name of Christianity, but in modern times it seems that most religious related violence is carried out in the name of Islam. Also why does Europe seem to have a bigger problem with radical Islam than North America?

To preface, I have no religion but was raised a Catholic, so it will obviously have left its mark, but I've no real time religion. Nothing against people practicing their religion but think we've moved past needing it and would probably be a good thing if it died out altogether.

Black Swan

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CIARAN_BOYLE

Personally I think that Islam suffers from a lack of central authority. Any nut case can bring their own radical message easily.

Christians have a moderate central message espoused by the Catholic Church and the mainstream Protestant churches.

Manach

Historical context is a key here. From a couple of academic texts on Islam and military history, I reckon one should distinguish in the modern era Islam as practiced by most adherents and extreme Islam which has been "infected" by other -isms, such as nationalism.
Taking a starting point of 1914 onwards, numerous Western attempts
were made to make Islam a weapon against their other European enemies. This started with agents from the Kaiser trying to overthrow British India, British agents trying to check Soviet republics in Central Asia to Cold War machinations from both sides.
Thus what we are seeing is the roots of policies and practices that have their momentum not in the 7th but in the 20th century real-politic.

Awkward Badger

I think any religion can be taken literally or with a particular interpretation to justify pretty much anything anyone wants to do in the name of a god. As you noted there is plenty of baggage with Christianity and it wasn't always the love and peace we hear now.

I think as far as violence associated with religion today Islam would be at the top. But most of this stems from the greater middle east and the de-stability of the region and recent conflicts. People often mention terrorism as if its simply religious nuts being religious nuts, but terrorist attacks are usually related to conflicts and not done out of the blue simply in the name of god to kill all the infidels even if that's how they are justified by those responsible. It seems a long time ago to us when the Catholic church held sway here and a lot of violence and abuse was justified within the state and people fought and died while defining themselves as Catholic or Protestant. But its not that long ago really.

Amirani

Perhaps. Though it is worth considering that Islam tends to be the dominant religion in some of the world's poorest and most despotic states. Living under such conditions, where education and general quality of life is lacking, often leads to greater degrees of religiosity and indeed religious extremism.

LiveIsLife

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Perhaps. Though it is worth considering that Islam tends to be the dominant religion in some of the world's poorest and most despotic states. Living under such conditions, where education and general quality of life is lacking, often leads to greater degrees of religiosity and indeed religious extremism.

Also worth noting that a lot of these areas practice polygamy, which is likely a factor

The Corinthian

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Christians have a moderate central message espoused by the Catholic Church and the mainstream Protestant churches.

Because it's the mainstream schools of Islam who are promoting violent messages?

Doesn't matter how mainstream a denomination, school or sect is if it's got a fanatic willing to put it into practice.

LiveIsLife wrote: »

Also worth noting that a lot of these areas practice polygamy, which is likely a factor

By what logic? They're driven to violence by all the extra nagging?

CIARAN_BOYLE

The Corinthian wrote: »

Because it's the mainstream schools of Islam who are promoting violent messages?

Doesn't matter how mainstream a denomination, school or sect is if it's got a fanatic willing to put it into practice.

For Christians the mainstream drowns out the lunatic fringe.

Amirani

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

For Christians the mainstream drowns out the lunatic fringe.

For you maybe. Not so much for me.

Is the current sunni/shia divide in Iraq really much different to the catholic/protestant divide in Northern Ireland? One was probably constrained more because of the presence of a functioning police and military presence.

Wibbs

The singular difference between Islam and the other major religions is that it was founded on the back of conquest and violence and the founder of the faith was a religious warlord who ended up conquering a chunk of Arabia subduing all resistance both military and religious before he died. He fought battles, he had people executed and assassinated on his orders. It was very much a a case of "my kingdom is of this earth".

Other religions have most certainly been bathed in blood at various times in their history, but the religions were grafted onto existing political and military systems and the graft was usually an uncomfortable one. Islam was a political and military system from the get go.

LiveIsLife

The Corinthian wrote: »

By what logic? They're driven to violence by all the extra nagging?

No, it leaves a lot of disaffected men at the bottom of the pile to fight for what remaining women haven't been taken by those higher up the chain. It has also been shown that children fair better when they're the product of monogamous marriage.

http://news.ubc.ca/2012/01/23/monogamy-reduces-major-social-problems-of-polygamist-cultures/

The Corinthian

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

For Christians the mainstream drowns out the lunatic fringe.

You can thank the Enlightenment rather than mainstream Christianity for that. Christianity has lost a lot of its influence over the last three centuries and as a result selling the idea of do something stupid in this life, so that you'll be rewarded in the next, lost almost all of it's potency, reducing our willingness to sacrifice to little more than an exercise is Pascal's wager. Prior to that mainstream Christianity brought us similar examples of violent fanaticism - for example the famous phrase; "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" - which is oddly what ISIS have recently been accused of.

Another factor is that with the disillusionment felt towards Ba'athism, Islam has become the only outlet for nationalism for much of the Middle East. Christianity has not enjoyed that association for a long time.

Wibbs wrote: »

The singular difference between Islam and the other major religions is that it was founded on the back of conquest and violence and the founder of the faith was a religious warlord who ended up conquering a chunk of Arabia subduing all resistance both military and religious before he died.

I don't think that made a difference. A linking of temporal and spiritual power and viewing forced proselytizing as a legitimate tool of conversion was every bit as central to Christianity, for example. You can thank the Enlightenment again for putting paid to that.

You also have to differentiate between salvitic and non-salvitic religions. Judaism isn't looking for converts, so isn't all that interested in imposing anything on outsiders, other than they be kept outside.

Standman

It's an interesting question. There seems to be a lot of different answers floating around out there, it's hard to settle on any specific one I find. It seems like a very complex issue.

I think Islam does lend itself well to violence, but then again most of the main religions do too.

Take ISIS for example, how much are the teachings of Islam to blame for their actions? Would they exist and be so barbaric if Islam didn't exist or if they were Catholics, all other things being equal? Are they simply another bunch of fascists, just this time they come under the banner of Islam?

Basically, is Muslim violence simply the result of following their specific religious texts, or is the religion used as an excuse for violence? As a guess I would say it's a complex mixture of both.

Watched that Vice documentary about ISIS, as strange as it sounds, I got a bit of the rebellious teenager vibe from some of the young men, "Look at us, we're such scary bad asses".

There's a part where some ISIS guys are doing donuts in a confiscated armored personnel carrier in the middle of a square, similar to guys their age in a Honda Civic in Ireland on a Saturday night in Tesco car park, kind of harrowing when you think about what they've been doing over there.

Also, read an article yesterday about how twice as many British Muslims have joined ISIS than have joined British armed forces. When you see a quote from a British jihadist saying "the cure for depression is jihad", it makes you wonder how much of this is the result of young Muslim men without a feeling of a place in life being sucked into something that appeals to their desire for control and purpose.

goose2005

Manach wrote: »

Historical context is a key here. From a couple of academic texts on Islam and military history, I reckon one should distinguish in the modern era Islam as practiced by most adherents and extreme Islam which has been "infected" by other -isms, such as nationalism.
Taking a starting point of 1914 onwards, numerous Western attempts
were made to make Islam a weapon against their other European enemies. This started with agents from the Kaiser trying to overthrow British India, British agents trying to check Soviet republics in Central Asia to Cold War machinations from both sides.

Don't forget kicking out Saddam, who for all his faults wasn't interested in radical islam and allowed Christians and Jews to live in peace, by and large.

Torakx

I think any religion that uses an external god or higher authority is going to have potential for violence. Look at christianity. Surely that has to be one of the most violent religions?
Just take America as one example of a large state comprised for the most part of christians. They are the most violent organized state on the planet.I think.
I don't have a death count, but it has to be somewhere near the top for the most kills and violence acted out on others.
It could be argued that all these mass killings are not a religious war, but a war on freedom.. I mean for freedom or simply taking resources because they can.
But I do think these people get a lot of their moral justification from their god.

On a human level, I think people just need an excuse to act out their wants without thinking of consequences or having to feel responsible personally.
The religions of the world generally allow people to act in extreme ways and still feel forgiveness from an outside authority.
I used to be very religious, after growing up in an american Christian/Zionist religion.
The result was that I had a lot less morals. I learned that if I follow certain rules i get into this nice place when I die, so growing up the motivation to do good and nt dobad came from a need for a reward in the afterlife, this caused me to go on a complete bender when I left, you could saya little extreemist in my hedonism at that early stage.
This is how I see other religions and their effects on people.

Now that I left all religion behind me, I have developed real morals, not ones thatare based on rewards. But purely based on my thinking. And thatis the key i think to living in peace and harmony. Independance of mind.

To recap then, I think it is all religions with external gods, that can be one of the root causes of violence.
On the most violent religion, I think we need a death toll for states, I would guess Christians though.
Although this does not account for domestic violence or other issues. But I think the root is there in religions.

leo2a6

one of the best answer to this question :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZibAJHZrOg4