Religious Violence: Myth or Global Reality? PART 1

[MCulpa]

58:10 makes a really strong point.

[optimeg]

Excellent deconstruction of the religious violence myth.

Violence is fundamentally secular (worldly) and universal.

It is interesting that the police and the FBI seem to rarely encounter religious crimes and violence. Worldwide this is also the case since religious people are very secular and it is the here and now that provides the best justification of violence.

His book "The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict" is worth reading.

[grandampersand]

@optimeg I don't think you understood Cavanaugh's thesis. To say that "violence is fundamentally secular" is exactly to presuppose the kind of clear and sharp distinction between the "religious" and the "secular" that Cavanaugh's book shows is problematic. In fact, he says so explicitly, both in the book's introduction and in this video (3:36 - 4:33). You're right though, Cavanaugh's book is awesome!

[optimeg]

@grandampersand

Thanks for you input!

My last post was not necessary a sharp distinction. That is why I wrote "worldy" to define secular. He is correct that in Islam, no sharp distinction is made between both concepts like many do in the US. What I was arguing was that the foundations for violence overall is mundane, not pro or anti religious.

You can be a devout Muslim and still fight only for the sake of mundane reasons. Christian soldiers are an easy example of what I mean.