​uScribe
Student-Run Non-Profit Organization
  • Home
  • News
    • News Archive
  • Life
    • Life Archive
  • Science
    • Science Archive
  • Opinion
  • Fiction
    • Poems
  • About Us
    • Management
    • Contact us

How Religion Divides Humans (Alex Xu 8th grader)

11/23/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
Religion has been a major conflict throughout history. It has divided people, stirred violence, and even caused religious wars. However, it is still unjust to condemn religion as the sole purpose behind these wars, as other factors served into the decisions of these wars too. Because religious leaders gained a position of power, their role shifted from advocators of god, to political figures. Throughout the examples of the first crusade, spanish inquisition, and the thirty years war, it become transparent that politics is as much entwined as religion is for the cause of war, and offer a short history lesson.

The first crusade was a campaign launched by Pope Urban II to conquer jerusalem, “the holy city to cleanse it of sordid inferior muslims and their religion, and permeate christianity. The ambition of the war was not just for religious purposes, but for more political dominance. For example, Jerusalem was not just a holy city, but a business enterprise. If you take a globe, and trace major trading routes in the middle east, they pass through Jerusalem, making it one of the biggest trading centers in the known world. Practically all goods traded in the middle east circulated in Jerusalem, which is still true today. With control of this city, leaders of the church would have had a huge surplus of wealth, and further control of european government. In addition of wealth, Pope Urban II launched the wars as a counter initiative to the muslim rising influence. For centuries the european church has been on the defensive on Islam, and the Pope found a solution by using an intuitive way to manipulate christians to fight in the war. With the success of the first crusade, not only did the Pope protect his power against muslims, but also strike at the heart of their supremacy by conquering Jerusalem. With the value of Jerusalem and an opportunity for the church to defend their power, it is limpid that religion was only a part of a reason as politics had prominence too. 


The Spanish Inquisition was a law that persecuted muslims and jews living in spain and compelled them to convert to catholicism, leave the country, or be publicly executed. Although showing religious protest towards other rising religions was one of the reasons of its origin, having a better political position was the primary goal. Since christians just regained control of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella needed a way to unify Spain. A resolution they discovered was to make Christianity the principal and only religion of Spain, which led to the Spanish Inquisition that started in 1478. As a result, this fostered Spain’s variegated population to come to a concord, by ridding of people who were considered heretics, like the jews and muslims.Furthermore, jews and muslims still held many affluent high ranking jobs, and were believed to be dangerous to the church and state for their secret activities. It was also convenient for Spain to completely dominate the social structure by expelling the jews and muslims.

The thirty years war was the result of both religious and political unrest. It had religious purposes from the conflicts between protestantism and cnd catholicism, where faithful countries often fought each other for rights of religious freedom. However, the main cause of the war was the political tension of ascendency between the house of habsburg and rebelling countries. The house of habsburg was a catholic line of family members that controlled most of europe, including Spain, England, Germany, Austria, and Italy. This put France and many protestant countries such as Germany and Sicily that were encircled by these territories in constant alarm. When German citizens started to revolt, the Austrian Monarchy asked Spain to assist in putting down the attacks. Spain needed to cross France territory to reach Austria, but France persisted in blocking their path. As a result, the constrictions augmented, until a war for power broke out between the rebelling countries, and the House of Habsburg struggling to keep control. All in all, as much as the thirty year war was for religious rights, it is primarily centered on the political uneasiness between revolutions of opposing countries and remaining in dominance for the House of Habsburg.

1 Comment
M.M
5/9/2016 08:42:29 am

My favorite article.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Advanced Articles

    Picture
    Overpopulation
    Picture
    Learn about the future of education
    Picture
    Learn about how religion has shaped the world
    Picture
    Communication through space
    Picture
    Learn about the pillars of family
    Picture
    Learn about the benefits of not smoking
    Picture
    Life is anyone's game
    Picture
    Learn about common core
    Picture
    When teenagers should start to live on their own
    Picture
    Learn about ways to reduce pollution emission
    Picture
    Learn about 8 mysterious natural phenomas that occur around the world
    Picture
    Fossil fuel activity proves to be corrosive
    Picture
    Too much commercialism on the internet?
    Picture
    Learn about the internet
    Picture
    Learn about life on mars in the next hundreds of years
    Picture
    Do aliens exist?
    Picture
    Should we remove common core?
    Picture
    Should we allow dangerous substances in school labs?
    Picture
    Should physical education be allowed in school?
    Picture
    Learn about the 4 eras of music throughout history
    Picture
    Learn about the history of Facebook
    Picture
    Learn about George Washington's contribution to America and how he shaped the world
    Picture
    Steve Jobs: The man who changed the world
    Picture
    Video Games: Harmful and beneficial
    Picture
    SOPA and PIPA
    Picture
    Read about the Business Company Apple Inc.
    Picture
    Read about War
    Picture
    Read about why students should be allowed to have cell phones.
    Picture
    Read abut why we should support teachers.
    Picture
    Read about the benefits and negative effects of spending too much time on Social Networking sites.
    Picture
    Read about the learning obstacles and how you should never give up to achieve knowledge.
    Picture
    Read about cutting down on weight and what you should consider before making a wrong mistake.
    Picture
    Read about the negative effects of inflation.

    ScribeTips

    Picture
    The ScribeTips is a new section that allows all website viewers to be able to learn the designs and our strategies to different types of writing. Over time we will add more tips for writers to learn. This section is focused on giving the viewer a strong idea of the diversity of writing. We will also express our own strategies and opinions to improving your writing. Explore our tips for young writers.   

    New Article Finder Tool

    uScribe's new tool, the article finder, helps visitors know how to look for articles they want to read. Now visitors will be able to not just explore all of our articles, but find it easily and without hesitation. You are able to watch the slideshow and if you would like to read the article, just click on the picture. Below the slideshow we have short summaries on most the articles so you may also read those and click on the title to access the full article. Please try out this new tool and contact us for questions or comments.

    Advanced Articles

     uScribe is proud to present the advanced articles sections. Our advanced articles are focused on issues and interesting things around the world. Sometimes we may do debates and we might try to persuade you to believe various opinions. Our advanced articles consists mainly of persuasive articles and why the topics you write about is important. We try to make readers really think about what we write. Feel free to scroll down and explore our advanced articles. If you would like to submit an advanced article, please proceed to the "contact us" page.

    Author

    Practice, practice, practice and you'll be a better writer than you can imagine.

    Archives

    October 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

Powered by
✕