Religions and Violence: Causes, Consequences, Remedies

Nobody will deny that our world today is thoroughly violent and that far too much violence takes place in the name of religion. Almost daily there are reports of violence, where religions play a direct or indirect role. History has ample records of the past intertwining of religions and violence; how they have initiated, incited, fostered, and condoned violence, in the form of systematic discrimination, hatred, intolerance, persecutions and wars. This realization prompted Pope John Paul II, the head of one religion, Roman Catholicism, on March 12, 2000, to ask forgiveness for the violence that some Christians have committed in the service of the truth, and for the attitude of mistrust and hostility sometimes  assumed toward followers of other religions. One of the greatest challenges to religious belief in the 21st century will be the sheer enormity of the evil done by humans to each other in the name of religion. None of the great religions can be acquitted of this charge and there are patterns at work which indicate that religions could be one of the most important causes of massive violence in the coming decades.