AtanassovAUB 10210 April 2002Religion And The Concept Of War In Christianity, In Islam And In RealityDoes such a combination of words as “a war in the name of God” make sense? The main principles, which underlie Christianity and Islam, are those of goodness, kindness, lack of aggression and respecting certain moral laws. Christianity and Islam provide human society with a code of ethics, which totally rejects war because it is something violent, inhumane and cruel. Still, over the course of human history many wars have been justified with religion and with imposing the “right faith”. Because of misunderstanding of certain parts of religion or deliberate misuse of it European and Islamic states have often used violence to fulfill their goals.Through the years the idea that Islam is an aggressive religion has been developed. This is mainly due to the fact that the word “jihad” – a very important concept in Islamic faith – is often misunderstood or its initial meaning is intentionally misrepresented. From the very beginning of Islamic invasion in Europe a sense of devotion to the religion was instilled in the Muslim soldiers and believers. Religion was a really important part of their lives. The soldiers were taught to die for Allah in their holy war against unbelievers – this was the so-called jihad. However, if one examines thoroughly the Quran, the saint book for Muslims, he/she will find that jihad carries a completely different meaning – this is an internal struggle with oneself for achievements in a certain filed or, simply, for self-improvement. Even though most Islamic believers know what jihad really is, there are zealots that still look for excuse for their appalling and inhumane deeds in the abovementioned word. Nowadays, this is still a major problem, especially concerning the Middle East conflict and the recent terrorist attacks against the United States. There is i...
