By: Claude Salhani – News World Communications Inc.

Religion throughout the ages has been the catalyst of numerous wars, conflicts, civil wars and ethno-political violence. In all probability more people have been killed in the name of God than for any political cause. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to use religion as a means to combat conflict.

Jewish, Muslim and Christian sacred texts all contain sections that support and justify warfare as a means to achieve certain goals; and religion is used to convince violent activists and their supporters that their violence is justifiable and even sanctioned by their God. Photo shows part of an exposition on display at St. Petersburg’s museum of wax figures depicting an Inquisition interrogation. (ITAR-TASS via Newscom)

None of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity or Islam – known as the Abrahamic religions as all three derive from Abraham, or Ibrahim in Arabic – are immune to having been at one time or another responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, if not more.

In a special report published by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), Susan Thistlethwaite professor of theology and former president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and Glen Stassen professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., shed greater insight on both views: religion as a cause of war and peace.

The scholars note that “Jewish, Muslim and Christian sacred texts all contain sections that support and justify warfare as a means to achieve certain goals.” They add: “…these texts have served as the basis to legitimate violent campaigns against other faith communities.”

Indeed, if certain elements within Islam today are resorting to extreme violence to achieve their political goals, it is by no means the first time in history that religious dogma leads to killing on a large scale, and in so doing abuse the name of God. In these instances religion is used to convince both themselves as well as their followers that the violence they are resorting to is justifiable and even sanctioned by their God.

While much of the world today struggles to understand the violence deriving from Takfiri Salafists within Islam, Christianity and Judaism have had their share of violence, too.

Consider Spain’s inquisition in 1478, which according to official Spanish archives 2,000 people were burned alive; 44,674 were judged, of which 826 were burned at the stake. Or for example, the holy crusade ordered by Pope Innocent III to wipe out the Cathars in the French city of Beziers in 1210. When Arnaud Amaury, who commanded the papal force besieging Beziers sent a message to the pope asking how they could differentiate the Cathars from the Catholics, the pope replied: “Kill them all, the Lord will sort his own.”

As for the Old Testament, it is filled with stories of bloody battles and revenge and slaughter. One story of particular interest is the reference to the Amalekites, a tribe whom the Jewish Encyclopedia refers to as “a nomadic nation south of Palestine.” They go on to describe them as “not Arabs, but of a stock related to the Edomites [consequently also to the Hebrews].” After a series of battles with the Hebrew tribes, “… the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

“The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17).

“God declared war on them for all time,” said Robert Eisen, professor of religion and director of the Judaic studies program at George Washington University.

As Mohammed Abu-Nimer director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute at Washington’s American University, said, “while the main theme in Islam is one of moderation,” often “priests, rabbis and imams preach hate.”

The paradox in Israel as Eisen pointed out is that religion is not the only cause of violence in Israel today, seeing that most Israelis are secular. Ironically, Zionism, which started out as a secular, leftist movement has turned more and more toward religion. “Religious Zionists have become a very dangerous group,” said Eisen. Religious Zionists enjoy strong support among Orthodox Jews and Evangelical Christians in the United States.

One can find a similarity with the Palestinians, too. The Palestinian resistance which began as a secular movement has turned more and more toward religion. In fact, many of the most radical leaders of the Palestinian revolution were Christian: George Habbash, the founder of the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Nayef Hawatmeh, founder of the communist-leaning Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as were numerous high ranking members of Yasser Arafat‘s Fatah Movement.

“The whole world could blow up because of this issue,” said Eisen.

However, as the USIP special reports states, “Many of the passages from sacred texts in all three religious traditions that are misused in contemporary situations to support violence and war are taken out of context, interpreted in historically inaccurate ways.”

The report continues: “There are also a great many teachings and ethical imperatives within Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures that promote peace and present the means to achieve it.

“These include mandates to strive for political, social and economic justice; tolerant intercommunal coexistence; and nonviolent conflict resolution.”

The USIP report was the result of the work of eight Muslim, six Jewish and eight Christian scholars who were surprised to discover just how much overlap existed in their conclusions on the use of Abrahamic religions’ peacemaking programs.

That, of course, was the easy part. The hard work begins now, trying to convince the masses as many turn more and more toward religion, as has been the case in with religious Zionism, politicized Islam and Evangelical Christian fundamentalism.

The good news is that common ground can be found between the three Abrahamic religions and utilized as an alternative to war.