conservatism
Does Religion cause War?
Business Administration and Finance Higher Diploma Level 2
Diploma Project
Name: Sahida Ahmed
Candidate Number: 1061
Centre Number: 10961
Contents Page
Project Proposal Form............................................................................................... .Page No. 3-6
Project Activity Log..................................................................................................... Page No. 7-8
Time Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………......…Page No. 9-10
Project Plan……………………………………..…………………………………………………………...…….....Page No. 11-13
Introduction…………………………… ……………..………………………………………………………...…....Page No. 14-15
Research………………………………………..………………………………………………………………….......Page No._______
Discussion / Questionnaires Data………………………………….……………………………………...…Page No._______
Conclusion……………………………………………………..………………………………………………….......Page No._______
Evaluation………………………………………………………………..………………………………………..……Page No._______
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..Page No._______
Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………………….……..……..Page No._______
Appendices includes: Research Record Sheets, Questionnaires, Questionnaire Analysis, Presentation and Presentation Feedback Forms)
Time Plan
Date
Activity
Objective
Hours spent
Comment
27st January 2011
Research questions I could do for my project using the internet.
To have founded a variety of questions which I could possibly work on as part of my project.
1 hour 45 minutes
28th January 2011
Choose my question and then do research on it using the internet. Show my teacher my chosen question.
To have decided on one question to work on as part of my project and to find information on it. To have shown my teacher the question I’ve chosen.
1 hour 30 minutes
1st February 2011
Work on a time plan.
To have done some work on the time plan.
1 hours
3rd February 2011
Begin project plan.
Complete at least 6 questions.
2 hours
2nd February 2011
Work on Project Proposal Form.
To have completed the Project Proposal Form in as much detail.
2 hours
3rd February 2011
Work on a time plan.
To have completed the time plan in detail.
2 hours
9th February 2011
Discuss topics related to my question with another person whose studied topics related to my question and make notes.
To have gained more knowledge as well as understood the points discussed.
2 hours 30 minutes
19th February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have started some work to the plan.
45 minutes
20th February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have made further progress on the plan.
45 minutes
23rd February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have completed the plan in full detail.
45 minutes
26th February 2011
Complete project plan.
To have a completed and detailed project plan that corresponds to my question and project.
2 hours 30 minutes
3rd March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found information based on my question.
3 hours
6th March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found more information related to my question.
1 hour 30 minutes
11th March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found enough information that’ll help complete answer my question.
2 hours
3rd April 2011
Redo time plan.
To have made major changes to my time plan.
45 minutes
7th April 2011
Redo time plan.
To have fully completed the time plan in detail and that’s suitable for me.
30 minutes
8th May 2011
Attend several libraries to find books which could offer me information related to my question.
To find books suitable enough to be used to help me on how to answer my chosen question.
2 hours
9th May 2011
Attend several libraries to find books which could offer me information related to my question.
Go on to find more books that’ll help me with my question.
2 hours
21st June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have made notes of questions I could possibly include in my questionnaire.
2 hours
22nd June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have typed up my questionnaire ready for printing.
45 minutes
23rd June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have handed out my questionnaire to various people and collected back in with all questionnaires’ fully filled out.
1 hour 30 minutes
1st July 2011
Work on questionnaires’ data
To have completed questionnaires’ data this corresponds to my questionnaire’s result.
1 hour
1st July 2011
Work on at least 6 recorded sheets.
To have completed at least 6 record sheets in as much detail as possible.
3 hour
2nd July 2011
Work on review.
To have completed the review at a high standard and with as much information as applicable. To reread my essay to check for any errors.
6 hour
2nd July 2011
Work on bibliography.
To have stated all sources I’ve used for my project my bibliography.
1 hour
3rd July 2011
Work on my evaluation.
To have completed my evaluation with as much detail as possible.
45 minutes
4th July 2011
Create a brief presentation on my project and feedback sheet for my presentation.
To have produced a presentation related to my project and stressing out the keys points and a clear understanding of my question. Feedbacks to have been appropriate with suitable questions.
3 hours
5th July 2011
Present my presentation in front of an audience and get feedbacks sheets filled out by people.
50 minutes
6th July 2011
Create a cover for my project.
To have produced and printed off a cover page that related to my question.
20 minutes
Project Plan
Purpose of the question:
The purpose of this project is whether religion is the foundation cause of war or a contributing cause. Moreover, if people agree with the term that ‘’religion is incompatible with war’’. In particular some refer to war as manmade but yet again people alter their mindsets of a particular religion after a war, a popular example would be after the 9/11 bombings, all Muslims were subsequently dubbed as ‘terrorists’ after, therefore this means that religion is somehow linked to war if it causes people to generate these stereotypical views on religion. Would war still be around if religion was abolished from the face of Earth? In modern society, do leaders use political causes as an excuse for conflict other than religious differences?
What do I expect to learn?
I expect to learn the causes of wars and which of the reasons is the most prevalent, the conditions for when Christianity and Islam can go to war and most importantly how war is associated to religion. And why people initially think that a religious factor is the cause of a war between opponents who consists of different religion. I also aim to learn to carry out comprehensive research from different types of sources and to reach listed objectives.
Objectives:
1. Main aims/ targets/ requirements
To complete the project by producing a review based on comprehensive research from several different sources including books, web sources, news articles from websites and newspapers devoted to my question. I’ll have to assess cases of many wars and what role religion played in them in order to help me come to a conclusion whether religion causes war. I’ll also be locating the views of others via questionnaire, this questionnaire will allow me to create a data corresponding to the results of the questionnaire, and the data will be my focal unit in my discussion where it has to be discussed around this compromising of for and against views. One of the main purposes of this project is to enrich in my researching skills and to construct a clear understanding of the question ‘does religion cause war?’
2. How will you know if an objective has been met?
If the objective has been rationalised in a sensible way that explains what the question was aimed to do along with strong opinions or facts to support and sustain it, then I’ll know an objective has been met and accomplished.
3. What are the inputs, processes and outputs?
My input would be my time, research, knowledge and data skills, my process would be my ideas, views and judgements, finally my output would be my understanding of religion and wars and a full and final review of the question ‘does religion cause war?’ along with a Project Proposal Form, Project Activity Log, evaluation and the appendices used in my project.
4. What skills will I learn?
I will learn the involvement of religion in wars and how it impacts people, how to produce a data based on certain information, and the elements of historical and modern wars as well as skills on selecting relevant information from various sources to produce a review or essay.
5. What skills do you want to develop?
Skills on planning and researching are what I want to develop on. I also want enhance my understanding of how religions is associated with war.
6. How will you perform research?
My info for my research would be extracted from various books, news articles and information related to my question from websites.
7. What resources will you use?
I will pick out relevant information from books and from the internet which I would use in my project.
8. When will you undertake research?
Once my teacher has confirmed the deadline of the project then I will start on my project in accordance to the dates on my time plan. The time plan would be one of the first tasks I will do; so that it assists me on when I need to do what task from the start of the project until the end.,
9. What contingences have you allowed for?
I aim to save my work every 30 minutes in case of a technical fault and my work gets deleted. I’ll also save my work in several places including on my school account, both my emails, on my USB, my laptop and my home computer, so it’s highly likely that I won’t completely lose my work as it’ll always be saved somewhere. Plus I have hand written records and paper copies of my appendices which will include my bibliography, questionnaire and research record sheets.
10. How will the outcome be presented?
The project will be presented as a formal review which will compromise of Introduction (minimum 350 words), Research (minimum 800 word), Discussion (minimum 1000 words) and Conclusion (minimum 350 words). My project will also include: a questionnaire based on my project along with a questionnaire data based on the questionnaire results, research record sheets, a PowerPoint presentation, feedback sheets on my presentation, Project Proposal Form, Project Activity Log, a bibliography and a evaluation on what I’ve learnt through the time I’ve been working on the project. Both my written project and my presentation would provide a clear understanding of my question will be well spoken, in good English with either no or little grammatical errors.
11. How will you evaluate your outcome?
I will reread through all my work to ensure there aren’t any grammatical or spelling errors and that the work makes sense and is appropriate to the question. Then I will get different people to review certain parts of my work as an act of reassurance to make sure my work is right. If there are mistakes noticed then I will immediately change it. After I will type up what I thought I learnt after doing my project, what went well, what could’ve went better and how I achieved my completed project will all be mentioned in my evaluation.
Essay Overview
The question I’ve chosen to study for my diploma project is ‘does religion cause war?’ During my investigation I’ll be looking at the different factors that could possibly be the actual cause or contribution to war, as well as the importance of religion and how it associated with war. I also intend to provide an answer comprising of contradicting views. My main objective for looking at this topic mainly refers to the religion; Christianity and Islam, as these are two religions that have been in the centre of many wars. Moreover, I will aim to collect information from various sources as part of my research to help answer my question. As tradition, a conclusion will be given at the end of the review. After the 9/11 bombings, people’s perspective of Islam were altered to a negative and stereotypical mind set, hence all Muslims were dubbed as ‘terrorists’ and I’d like to know why people felt the need to come to this indecent behaviour. Moreover in today’s society, Muslim women’s are oppressed due to the veil and several countries around the world are beginning to resort to the ‘veil ban’, this is in other words discriminating a religion’s belief which would obviously lead to war.
Introduction - Does religion cause war?
War is an event in which physical form of conflict takes place. This can be due to many factors such as hatred, revenge, to get opponents to agree with another’s ‘authentic’ views or to gain ownership or power. However is religion to be held responsible for such disastrous events? Indeed war revolves around negativity, such as death, pain, bloodshed and violence, but it seems almost impossible to think that religion would be a cause of such horror, as a faith has always been thought as a foundation and influence of peace and optimism, not the contrary view of this. This question had been the face of one of the most argumentative disputes in the world.
Religion is universal and is a part of almost every human life, therefore it has a foremost potential to be a cause of war. Famous wars such as the Crusades involved antagonists of two major religions, Islam and Christianity; however it was initially instigated over intruded and taken land, so gaining ownership and territory was also a cause of the Crusades, not just the widely believed root cause of religion only. So the question of ‘does religion cause war?’ is most likely to be a ‘yes’, but to the extent where it’s partially a cause of war, not entirely, as other factors are also involved in the cause of war.
Religion had dated back even long before the existence of Christ. Although religion was established a very long time ago, it is still thought that war existed long before religion; therefore discloses that religion somehow cannot be the cause of war. There are times when religion doesn’t directly cause violence however is used as a tool to encourage and control people into joining war, such as the 9/11 which the Al-Qaeda thought to be doing Jihad (fighting for their religion). Moreover, religion is considered to be one of the most powerful things on earth, so being too attached to your religion can cause people to be easily manipulated and misinterpret the words of others. For an instance the extent to how criticism should be taken can progress to a far greater scope, this is how most religious people conduct or people who feel strong and ‘protective’ of their religion.
There is in fact a strong link between religion and war, to which why some people contemplate that if you take religion out of the world, there would be peace. Except that there wouldn’t be any, as it’s impossible for humans to live without any war occurring, suggesting that war is either naturally occurring or caused by religion.
Research
Indeed mankind is partly responsible for the events of war as it’s a physical conflict to which only physical species are capable of, however the war may have been partially or fully instigated by religion. The idea of wars from both Christian and Islamic perspective is wrong; however there are some exceptions as to when war can be carried out- in Islam there is the concept of the Jihad, whereas in Christianity, there is the notion of a ‘just war’ of when a justified reason must be given in order to go to war, this is accepted by some of the denominations. A ‘Just war’ has to be satisfied by the following conditions: declaration of proper authority, a just cause must be defensive as in defending innocent people and be the last resort. In addition, it must have an achievable aim and have proportionality of the harm caused as of the harm the war is trying prevent. In Islam, the concept of Jihad is either a greater Jihad or a lesser Jihad. A greater Jihad is when a Muslim makes an effort to be a ‘pure’ Muslim or fight against his or her own selfish desires. Whereas, a lesser Jihad is an example of war and must only be thought as a last resort similarly to the Christians. Research on the Just War and Jihad region corresponds to the text in ‘Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror’ by Alia Brihami. Above all, religion will go into fortitude to protect and save innocent people; it has a higher priority to protect the innocents although it’ll cause bloodshed. These religious guidelines on war are evident from the Christianity and Islam holy books, the Bible and the Qur’an. The conception of war from the two most significant religions shows that religion itself can justify war as well as cause it, as similarly stated in the ‘Arguing the Just War in Islam’ by John Keslay.
The most popular example of a ‘Just war’ was the occurrences of the Crusades during the 11th, 12th and 13th century, comprising of Christians battling out for the Holy land in Jerusalem, in which the Muslims were intruding and taking over. The cause of the war was a combination of several factors including a religious and economical input. Although there were nine consecutive crusades lasting three centuries, the rivalry still hadn’t diffused between the two religions. A crusade one after another occurred, both religions carried on with the battles, although aware that the same outcomes are to arise after each crusade, knowing that the war wasn’t going to settle the dispute anytime soon, yet the battle persisted, therefore mankind must’ve obviously encouraged for this battle ensue, not the widely assumed religion influence, this point is apparent to the text in ‘The Crusades: The War for the holy Land’, written by Thomas Asbridge. It's a commonly held view amongst moderate Christians that the Crusades are a shameful part of the religion's history, experts say. However, some more conservative Christians side with the belief that the Crusades were a series of defensive wars against Islamic aggression.
On March 19, 2003, American and British forces formed a coalition and began the Third Persian Gulf War, a conflict which became popularly known as ‘’The Iraq War’’, this had lasted for over 8 years and is yet ensuing to this day. The US government referred to this conflict as ‘’Operation Iraqi Freedom.’’ Regardless of what it is called, this conflict is by far the first truly major war of the 21st Century. While considered by many to be another part of the ‘’War on Terror’’, it is many ways separate and unique in its own right. In scope of preparation and potential consequences, the new war in Iraq by far overshadows the earlier invasion of Afghanistan. It is believed that the Iraq Invasion was a ‘conniving planned plot’ by the Americans as an act of revenge due to prior conflicts (the most obvious is the 9/11 bombings). Also, stated by the US president himself that the substantial amount of oil reserves the Middle Eastern countries owned was a contributing and inspiring cause for the Westerns to go to war with the Iraqis, akin to the information reported in an article, ‘The real reason for the Iraq War’ published by The Guardian. In addition, it is argued that the Americans erroneously believed that Saddam Hussein (at that period, the Iraqi leader) had to be ‘removed from the scene’ if the oil supplies was to be guaranteed, in other words, to relieve the selfish needs of the American’s for oil and wealth.
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. This is manifested in a BBC news article and in ‘Attack on America’ by Brian Williams. The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East. The BBC's Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy says Osama Bin Laden and his associates probably believe a straight line links the Crusades with events of today.
Discussion
Religion has been part of mankind for several millenniums, and because it has been around for so long, has it been a cause of war? Are religions or just religious people responsible for the events of war? Would there be wars if religion was removed from the face of humanity? Or is religion just an excuse for the violently and vengeance inclined? These questions are some of the many that has to be grasped upon before answering the main question, of ‘’does religion cause war?’’. My answer will mostly refer to the wars of Christianity and Islam, as these two beliefs have been associated with the majority of wars and are known to be the most conflicting faiths.
In Islam, Muslims find that an exploitation of Jihad is terrorising your oppositions. Since the 1970’s, there has been a number of Islamic terrorism, the most notorious is the 9/11 bombing which had badly affected America and still to this day. The outbreak of the recent Iraq war comprised of the Americans and Iraqis. The invasion was otherwise known as a major American operation in ‘freeing’ Iraqi civilians [19]. This is in fact an uncanny mission in where one country is involving themselves with another country’s affair. Too, there were deaths as a result of the war caused by the Americans, but is this just a way for the Americans to get even with the Iraqis after the incident of 9/11? It is evident from my questionnaire data (2) that this is somewhat true, most people chose ‘yes’ to the question ‘do you think the 9/11 bombing triggered the Iraq War. In this case, vengeance and past history is the cause; therefore religion isn’t the general cause of war. The notorious al-Qaeda leader had speciously thought to be earning the respect of fellows Muslims brothers and sisters as well as from Allah (name of God in Islam) by destroying the lives of the westerns via bombing and physically destructing the area, undoubtly for revenge and for the fighting for God. However, the Qur’an (Islam’s Holy book) contradicts this idea of fighting for God by instigating a war. In fact the Holy book states 'Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but aggress not' (Qur’an 2:190). I’m sure al-Qaeda was well aware of this Islamic view on war as evident from their extreme and ‘religious’ activities, but the Qur’an clarifies that the main reason for the 9/11 attacks was not due to religious causes, instead for al-Qaeda’s personal sanity and retribution prompted by previous battles against the Americans and the failure to overcome them in these battles.
The 9/11 bombings happened to be one of the first major bombings in the most powerful country in the most populated city. It was a significant knockdown to the world as it was the world’s biggest trade center that dealt with millions of trade’s every day. After this disastrous event, Muslims were given negative views and therefore were labelled as a threat to the nation from then on. This is evident from my question ‘state which religion you feel is the most violent’, having 70% of the answers being Islam.
As mentioned in my research, ‘it is argued that the Americans erroneously believed that Saddam Hussein (at that period, the Iraqi leader) had to be ‘removed from the scene’ if the oil supplies was to be guaranteed…’, however sources shows that this was not the only motive for killing Saddam Hussein [11]. A news article from BBC writes ‘US President George W Bush has explicitly stated for the first time that there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks’. Did executing Hussein mean also a punishment for his contribution to the 9/11 attacks as well as for legal reasons over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s [16] and for his brutal dictator role? Some consider American’s had his execution ‘scheduled’ beforehand. They [Shia-led government] have repeatedly claimed that the Iraqi government, helped by the US and British, conducted a show trial, based on revenge rather than justice. It was pure evil and mockery to Muslims despite the remorse some may’ve had towards the Iraqi leader for the Americans to have hanged Hessian on the first day of Eid-ul-Adha (an important religious holiday to Muslims) and imposing further insult to have the executioners release the trapdoor while the former dictator was in the middle of his prayers [17]. And most disgustedly to have Hessian’s shame and torment to be ‘administered’ in the presence of the public. The executing was recorded and pictured, then broadcasted on the across the globe for the world to witness.
Conclusion
War has proven to be around for centuries, from the time of the crusades in the 10th century to one of the world’s recent crisis, the Iraq War in the 21st Century. And since religion has existed for even longer, I can now conclude that religion has been used as an excuse for the aggressively and vengeance inclined, for an example al-Qaeda, they contemplated that they were fighting for God; however the Qur’an opposes this notion. Also, I’ve discovered that the 300 years struggle in the Crusades was mainly battled over the Holy land; it was greed and violence of mankind that encouraged the war to proceed over this long period similar to the concept of the Iraq war, where the Americans went to war with the Iraqis to fulfil their selfish desire for oil. Meanwhile, my research confirmed that Osama Bin Laden is by far one of the most religious people around, however his religious views are taken to a far more brutal and extreme scale that killed many innocent people. I conclude that mankind which includes religious people is responsible for the cause war, as I‘ve overlooked and discussed several war related topics and have repeatedly been left with factors not including religion to be the cause of that particular war. It’s just that people assume religion is involved within a war that consists of opponents with different religion however it is untrue.
Evaluation
Working on this project enabled me to understand the many factors of wars which I weren’t familiar with before such as the causes of the Crusades and the Iraq War. I actually thought the research would be difficult as information from various sources was required but in the end I got the hang of it and started flipping through pages of several books and browsed through newspapers articles on war and religion like I never done before and with no hesitation. Most importantly, I learnt how to produce data and charts using Edexcel 2010 and how to extract relevant information from books and news articles efficiently. As a result, these skills would benefit in my many other subjects and in everyday life. I also acknowledged the importance of reading the News over a period of time. Keeping up to date with the News nationally and internationally has proven to increase my knowledge and has kept me wary of the events taking place around the world.
Bibliography
(Front cover) http://www.waleg.com/archives/014870.html (Introduction)
1. Written by: ‘Muratkayatfl’ (username), ‘Can religion be dangerous?’ Relijournal, last updated 3 June 2011, http://relijournal.com/christianity/can-religion-be-dangerous/, accessed on 3rd July 2011.
2. Written by: Tzvi Freeman, ‘Does religion cause war?’, Chabad.org Essenttials, last updated unknown http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/474759/jewish/Does-Religion-Cause-War.htm accessed on 27th June 2011
3. Written by: R.J Rummel, ’16.1 The causes and conditions’, Understanding conflict and war: VOL 4 War, Peace and Power, Chapter 16. Causes and conditions of international conflicts and war, last updated unknown, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/WPP.CHAP16.HTM, accessed on 27th June 2011.
(Research)
4. Written by: Unknown, ‘Just War’, Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, last updated 12 June 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
5. Written by: Unknown, ‘Islam: War’, BBC Religions, last updated 13th August 2009, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/war.shtml, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
6. Written by: Yellowstonedogs’ (username), ‘Can I have 10 facts about the crusades?’ Yahoo Answers, last updated 2 years ago, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090504124816AAmT9AX, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
7. Written by: Alia Brahimi, Title of the book: Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror, Chapter II: Jihad and Al-Qaeda, Pages 116-120
8. Written by: Sharon Keely, Luke Von Kotze, Julie Wakeling, Andy Park, Title of book: GCSE Religious Studies: Edexcel: Religion & Society, CGP, Page 18-19
9. Written by: John Keslay Title of book: Arguing the Just War in Islam, Chapter 3: Politics, Ethics, and War in Premodern Islam, Page 101-104
10. Written by: Thomas Asbridge, Title of book: The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land, Part 1: The coming of the Crusades, Chapter 1: Holy War, Holy Land, Page 36-38
11. Written by: Bryon Gould, ‘The real reason for the Iraq War’, The Guardian under ‘History’, last updated Monday 25th January 2010 10.00 GMT, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/iraq-war-inquiry-tony-blair, accessed on 7th July 2011.
12. Written by: Mike Wooldridge, ‘Can religion be blamed for war?’, BBC NEWS, last updated Tuesday, 24 February 2004, 09:46 GMT, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3513709.stm, accessed on 5th July 2011
13. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘A crusades: A history of conflict’, BBC NEWS, last updated Monday, 24 April 2006, 12:37 GMT 13:37 UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4938202.stm, assessed on 5th July 2011
14. Written by: DR S Sayyid, ‘Crusades and Jihads in Postcolonial Times’, BBC History: Recent History, last updated 2002-09-01, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/sept_11/west_01.shtml, accessed on 5th July 2011
15. Written by: Brian Williams, Title of book: 11 September 2001, Attack on America
(Discussion)
16. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘Bush administration on Iraq 9/11 link’, BBC News under ‘World’, last updated Thursday, 18 September, 2003, 12:41 GMT 13:41 UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3119676.stm, accessed on 9th July 2011.
17. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq’, BCC News under ‘World’: ‘Middle East’, last updated Saturday, 30 December 2006, 15:24 GMT, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6218485.stm, accessed on 9th July 2011.
18. Written by: Ewen MacAskill and Michael Howard, ‘How Saddam died on the Gallows’, The Guardian under ‘News’: ‘World’, last updated Monday 1st January 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/01/iraq.iraqtimeline, accessed on 9th July 2011
19. Written by: Kristina Wong, ‘Exclusive: War in Iraq to Be Given New Name’, ABC News under ‘Politics’, last updated Feb 18, 2010 6:37pm, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/02/exclusive-war-in-iraq-to-be-given-new-name/, accessed on 10th July 2011.
Appendixes
Research Record Sheets
Research record sheet 1
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the Internet - a news article from the BBC News website.
Title: Can religion be blamed for war? url: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3513709.stm
What is it? A news article
Who produced it? Mike Wooldridge – a BCC World Affairs Correspondent
Last updated: Tuesday 24th February 2004, 09:46 GMT
Information
What happened?
*Saddam Hussein told Iraqis: ‘’Fight as God ordered you to do’’. So does that make last year’s Iraq conflict a religious war?
*The Pope and the US Catholic bishops, the Archbishop of Canterbury and many theologians around the world argued that it fell well short of the rigorous criteria for a ‘’just’’ war.
*But the war Audit set out to identify conflicts that were more closely linked to religious belief than to political causes – could most properly be called religious wars.
*And that, it concluded, means going back to the wars of Islamic expansion beginning in the 7th Century, the Crusades starting in the 11th Century and the Reformation wars beginning in the 16th Century. Here the wars were fought primarily because of religious differences.
*Osama Bin Laden portrays the campaign being waged by his terror network as a religious duty.
*The War Audit says that although armed conflicts may take on religious overtones, their genesis invariably lies in factors such as ethnicity, identity, power struggles, resources, inequality and oppression – and one factor is often exacerbated by another.
*It is often suggested that there has been a sharp rise in religiously motivated conflict.
*The Israel-Arab wars from 1948 to the present day are often seen as wars over religion. In fact they say, they have been about nationalism, self-defense or the liberation of territory.
*So why is religion a factor in war at all when all the main faiths have little time for violence and advocate peace? Because it is suggested, leaders use differences over faith as a way of sowing hatred and mobilizing support for political wars.
*As the American civil war leader Abraham Lincoln put it almost 150 years ago: ‘’The will of God prevails. In great contests, each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, but one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.’’
Who were the people involved?
Saddam Hussein, Theologians (US Catholic bishops, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury), Osama Bin Laden and Abraham Lincoln.
Why did the author write it?
The author wrote this article to identify the link between religion and war, includes quotes from historical and renowned figures of war and/or religious relations such as Osama Bin Laden to support the author’s suggestions. Refers to historical and modern wars, the writer interprets whether religion was involved in these conflicts using appropriate background information of the war.
Who is the author?
The author Mike Wooldridge, he’s also a World Affairs Correspondent for the BBC news. His job involves travelling to different countries to report on a variety of subjects including economic and political issues and wars.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
The source was published 8 years ago; however the information is current and concerns my question. The source is well known as it was published by BBC news, one of the leading radios and TV service in the UK and since it’s a news article based on truthful accounts, the source is therefore most likely to be reliable. The author is also an expert in his field as he travels to find out about economic and political issues and wars and the author has no reason to write the article for personal gain as the information discussed about religion and history won’t benefit the writer in anyway, so there are increased chances that the source is reliable. Also, the writer is not biased as different views are given and the consistency of the information is too reliable as others can make the same points but with different information to support the points and ideas. On the other hand, the basis that some of the information was obtained from other sources makes the source unreliable. For an instance, quotes from political and historical figures are given with extracts from religious holy books; however the writer referenced these sources in the article.
Research record sheet 2
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source Library, under the ‘War and History’ section – a book that discusses the events of the 9/11 bombings.
Title: 11 September 2001, Attack on America url: N/A
What is it? A book, containing 45 pages
Who produced it? Brian Williams published by Cherrytree Books
When was it produced? 2003
Information
What happened?
*Early on the morning of 11 September 2001, a plane flew out of a clear blue sky and smashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Less than 20 minutes later, a second plane exploded as it hit the other tower.
*Detectives already had a theory that Al-Qaeda planned the hijacks for the 9/11 catastrophe. In the previous attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993, a bomb had been planted by terrorists belonging to al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was also thought to have bombed US embassies in Africa in 1998.
*Osama Bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda, and had recruited people willing to carry out suicide attacks on western targets.
*Terrorism had been a weapon in Middle East politics since 1948. That year the state of Israel was founded in Palestine, on land claimed by both Jews and Palestinians. Since 1948, Arabs and Israelis have fought four wars. Israel controls most of Palestine.
*Many Arabs supported the Palestinians. They blamed both Israel and the United States for the troubles in their region. Some Arabs also supported Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, a leader thought by western countries to be a dangerous dictator.
*In 1990 Iraq had invaded its small neighbor Kuwait. This had led to the 1991 Gulf War. America and its allies had defeated Iraq, but Saddam Hussein was still in power. Some Americans suspected that Saddam Hussein helped terrorists. Others blamed a few Muslim extremists, such as Al-Qaeda, who hated the west and preached ‘holy war’ against non-Muslims. Osama Bin Laden was believed to be leading a terrorist group based in Afghanistan.
*People of all religions, and in almost every country, condemned the 9/11 attacks. Only in Palestine did a few people celebrate a ‘victory’ for Arab martyrs against the west. The Palestine leader Yasser Arafat expressed his horror at the attack. President Bush now made it clear in a speech: in this new war against terrorism, all nations must choose whose side they were on. Who were the people involved?
President Bush, Osama Bin Laden, 19 known terrorists from a Muslim extremist group called Al-Qaeda. Why did the author write it?
To inform readers of the events surrounding the 9/11 bombings. The book was made to give detailed depictions of the main points of the 9/11 bombings such as the cause of it, what had happened, who was responsible, consequences and other background information.
Who is the author?
The author is Brian Williams, he had written other books from the same series of the book ‘Attack in America’.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 3
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the Internet, a news article from the BBC website under the ‘World’ category.
Title: The Crusades: A History Conflict url: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4938202.stm
What is it? A story from the BBC news.
Who produced it? An anonymous person from the BCC news team.
Last updated: Monday, 24 April 2006, 12:37 GMT 13:37 UK
Information
What happened?
*The Crusades began in 1095 after Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem and began restricting access to Christian pilgrims. Pope Urban II called for a Christian army to retake the city from its Muslim rulers - sparking a 200-year period in which parts of the Holy Land repeatedly changed hands, until the last crusade ended in defeat for the Christians in 1291.
*The first Crusaders, who set off in 1096, were a motley, and ultimately unsuccessful, bunch - peasants, from France and Germany, spurred on by the prospect of more freedom. Having pillaged and killed their way across Europe, they were vanquished by the Turks. Six months later a more professional army, comprising French and Norman knights, set off. They successfully stormed Jerusalem in July 1099, making it one of four "Crusader states" in Syria and Palestine.
*Serious trouble flared again in the early 12th Century when the Muslims took one of the other Crusader states in 1144, prompting the Second Crusade. However, its armies were almost wiped out in Asia Minor.
* The Fourth Crusade, which started around the turn of the 13th Century, was a bit of a bungled affair, which ended with the warriors being excommunicated by Rome after they decimated the Catholic port of Zara on the Adriatic and fought Christians in Constantinople in 1204, destroying valuable treasures.
*Another failed Crusade - the Fifth - followed, before Christians decided to switch tactics and try negotiation rather than brute force. The peaceful Sixth Crusade in 1228 restored Jerusalem to the Latin world and a 10-year truce was signed. But things fell apart when Muslims later reoccupied the city, prompting yet another Crusade in 1248. It collapsed when its leader, Louis IX of France, was captured. Two later Crusades both failed and the Turks took the last Christian stronghold in the region, Acre, in 1291.
*"For most Muslims the Crusades were something they won but just another invasion among many in their history," says Dr Jonathan Phillips, author of The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople.
*The BBC's Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy says Osama Bin Laden and his associates probably believe a straight line links the Crusades with events of today.
*The pontiff made a plea for forgiveness of the past sins of the Church, saying, "We are asking pardon for the divisions among Christians, for the use of violence that some have committed in the service of truth, and for attitudes of mistrust and hostility assumed toward followers of other religions."
Who were the people involved?
Muslims, Christians, the Church and reference to Osama Bin Laden.
Why did the author write it?
To give readers a brief insight of the crusades as well as the significant background information on the historical war.
Who is the author?
The author is not mentioned, however I assume the writer is from the BBC news team as this source was obtained from the BBC news website.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 4
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the internet – an article based around 11 September affair, obtained from the BBC History website found under TOPICS: RECENT HISTORY
Title: Crusades and Jihads in Postcolonial Times url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/sept_11/west_01.shtml
What is it? An article based on recent History
Who produced it? Dr S Sayyid
When was it produced? 2002-09-01
Information
What happened?
*The American-led war on terrorism is often seen as a clash between western and Islamic civilisations: the geopolitical analogue to the geological movement of plate tectonics. This is despite the attempt by some western leaders and leaders of Muslim countries to argue that the 'war on terror' is not directed against Muslims or Islam - but only against extremists.
* There are other voices who see a chain of equivalences so that Al-Qaeda = Taliban = Islamism = Islam. Among the ultra-conservative constituency that considers President Bush to be one of their own, you can hear calls for the 'nuking of Mecca', the occupation of Middle East oil fields, the transformation of the Muslim world on the pattern of post-1945 Germany and Japan.
Who were the people involved?
Muslims and Americans.
Why did the author write it?
To explain to readers the links between the crusades and the 9/11 bombings and to state the relationship between the Islamic world and the west.
Who is the author?
The author is Dr S Sayyid. He teaches at the University of Salford. His current research interests include: Post-structuralist political theory; globalisation and diasporas, race and ethnicity, Islamist movements and politics.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 5
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source
Title:
url:
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When was it produced?
Information
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Who were the people involved?
Why did the author write it?
Who is the author?
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 6
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source
Title:
url:
What is it?
Who produced it?
When was it produced?
Information
What happened?
Who were the people involved?
Why did the author write it?
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Questionnaire Analysis
Business Administration and Finance Higher Diploma Level 2
Diploma Project
Name: Sahida Ahmed
Candidate Number: 1061
Centre Number: 10961
Contents Page
Project Proposal Form............................................................................................... .Page No. 3-6
Project Activity Log..................................................................................................... Page No. 7-8
Time Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………......…Page No. 9-10
Project Plan……………………………………..…………………………………………………………...…….....Page No. 11-13
Introduction…………………………… ……………..………………………………………………………...…....Page No. 14-15
Research………………………………………..………………………………………………………………….......Page No._______
Discussion / Questionnaires Data………………………………….……………………………………...…Page No._______
Conclusion……………………………………………………..………………………………………………….......Page No._______
Evaluation………………………………………………………………..………………………………………..……Page No._______
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..Page No._______
Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………………….……..……..Page No._______
Appendices includes: Research Record Sheets, Questionnaires, Questionnaire Analysis, Presentation and Presentation Feedback Forms)
Time Plan
Date
Activity
Objective
Hours spent
Comment
27st January 2011
Research questions I could do for my project using the internet.
To have founded a variety of questions which I could possibly work on as part of my project.
1 hour 45 minutes
28th January 2011
Choose my question and then do research on it using the internet. Show my teacher my chosen question.
To have decided on one question to work on as part of my project and to find information on it. To have shown my teacher the question I’ve chosen.
1 hour 30 minutes
1st February 2011
Work on a time plan.
To have done some work on the time plan.
1 hours
3rd February 2011
Begin project plan.
Complete at least 6 questions.
2 hours
2nd February 2011
Work on Project Proposal Form.
To have completed the Project Proposal Form in as much detail.
2 hours
3rd February 2011
Work on a time plan.
To have completed the time plan in detail.
2 hours
9th February 2011
Discuss topics related to my question with another person whose studied topics related to my question and make notes.
To have gained more knowledge as well as understood the points discussed.
2 hours 30 minutes
19th February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have started some work to the plan.
45 minutes
20th February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have made further progress on the plan.
45 minutes
23rd February 2011
Work on a plan of the things I want to learn and develop whilst working on the project.
To have completed the plan in full detail.
45 minutes
26th February 2011
Complete project plan.
To have a completed and detailed project plan that corresponds to my question and project.
2 hours 30 minutes
3rd March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found information based on my question.
3 hours
6th March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found more information related to my question.
1 hour 30 minutes
11th March 2011
Use the internet to do research on my questions using the internet and print out the information found.
To have found enough information that’ll help complete answer my question.
2 hours
3rd April 2011
Redo time plan.
To have made major changes to my time plan.
45 minutes
7th April 2011
Redo time plan.
To have fully completed the time plan in detail and that’s suitable for me.
30 minutes
8th May 2011
Attend several libraries to find books which could offer me information related to my question.
To find books suitable enough to be used to help me on how to answer my chosen question.
2 hours
9th May 2011
Attend several libraries to find books which could offer me information related to my question.
Go on to find more books that’ll help me with my question.
2 hours
21st June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have made notes of questions I could possibly include in my questionnaire.
2 hours
22nd June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have typed up my questionnaire ready for printing.
45 minutes
23rd June 2011
Make a questionnaire based on my question to be answered by other people.
To have handed out my questionnaire to various people and collected back in with all questionnaires’ fully filled out.
1 hour 30 minutes
1st July 2011
Work on questionnaires’ data
To have completed questionnaires’ data this corresponds to my questionnaire’s result.
1 hour
1st July 2011
Work on at least 6 recorded sheets.
To have completed at least 6 record sheets in as much detail as possible.
3 hour
2nd July 2011
Work on review.
To have completed the review at a high standard and with as much information as applicable. To reread my essay to check for any errors.
6 hour
2nd July 2011
Work on bibliography.
To have stated all sources I’ve used for my project my bibliography.
1 hour
3rd July 2011
Work on my evaluation.
To have completed my evaluation with as much detail as possible.
45 minutes
4th July 2011
Create a brief presentation on my project and feedback sheet for my presentation.
To have produced a presentation related to my project and stressing out the keys points and a clear understanding of my question. Feedbacks to have been appropriate with suitable questions.
3 hours
5th July 2011
Present my presentation in front of an audience and get feedbacks sheets filled out by people.
50 minutes
6th July 2011
Create a cover for my project.
To have produced and printed off a cover page that related to my question.
20 minutes
Project Plan
Purpose of the question:
The purpose of this project is whether religion is the foundation cause of war or a contributing cause. Moreover, if people agree with the term that ‘’religion is incompatible with war’’. In particular some refer to war as manmade but yet again people alter their mindsets of a particular religion after a war, a popular example would be after the 9/11 bombings, all Muslims were subsequently dubbed as ‘terrorists’ after, therefore this means that religion is somehow linked to war if it causes people to generate these stereotypical views on religion. Would war still be around if religion was abolished from the face of Earth? In modern society, do leaders use political causes as an excuse for conflict other than religious differences?
What do I expect to learn?
I expect to learn the causes of wars and which of the reasons is the most prevalent, the conditions for when Christianity and Islam can go to war and most importantly how war is associated to religion. And why people initially think that a religious factor is the cause of a war between opponents who consists of different religion. I also aim to learn to carry out comprehensive research from different types of sources and to reach listed objectives.
Objectives:
1. Main aims/ targets/ requirements
To complete the project by producing a review based on comprehensive research from several different sources including books, web sources, news articles from websites and newspapers devoted to my question. I’ll have to assess cases of many wars and what role religion played in them in order to help me come to a conclusion whether religion causes war. I’ll also be locating the views of others via questionnaire, this questionnaire will allow me to create a data corresponding to the results of the questionnaire, and the data will be my focal unit in my discussion where it has to be discussed around this compromising of for and against views. One of the main purposes of this project is to enrich in my researching skills and to construct a clear understanding of the question ‘does religion cause war?’
2. How will you know if an objective has been met?
If the objective has been rationalised in a sensible way that explains what the question was aimed to do along with strong opinions or facts to support and sustain it, then I’ll know an objective has been met and accomplished.
3. What are the inputs, processes and outputs?
My input would be my time, research, knowledge and data skills, my process would be my ideas, views and judgements, finally my output would be my understanding of religion and wars and a full and final review of the question ‘does religion cause war?’ along with a Project Proposal Form, Project Activity Log, evaluation and the appendices used in my project.
4. What skills will I learn?
I will learn the involvement of religion in wars and how it impacts people, how to produce a data based on certain information, and the elements of historical and modern wars as well as skills on selecting relevant information from various sources to produce a review or essay.
5. What skills do you want to develop?
Skills on planning and researching are what I want to develop on. I also want enhance my understanding of how religions is associated with war.
6. How will you perform research?
My info for my research would be extracted from various books, news articles and information related to my question from websites.
7. What resources will you use?
I will pick out relevant information from books and from the internet which I would use in my project.
8. When will you undertake research?
Once my teacher has confirmed the deadline of the project then I will start on my project in accordance to the dates on my time plan. The time plan would be one of the first tasks I will do; so that it assists me on when I need to do what task from the start of the project until the end.,
9. What contingences have you allowed for?
I aim to save my work every 30 minutes in case of a technical fault and my work gets deleted. I’ll also save my work in several places including on my school account, both my emails, on my USB, my laptop and my home computer, so it’s highly likely that I won’t completely lose my work as it’ll always be saved somewhere. Plus I have hand written records and paper copies of my appendices which will include my bibliography, questionnaire and research record sheets.
10. How will the outcome be presented?
The project will be presented as a formal review which will compromise of Introduction (minimum 350 words), Research (minimum 800 word), Discussion (minimum 1000 words) and Conclusion (minimum 350 words). My project will also include: a questionnaire based on my project along with a questionnaire data based on the questionnaire results, research record sheets, a PowerPoint presentation, feedback sheets on my presentation, Project Proposal Form, Project Activity Log, a bibliography and a evaluation on what I’ve learnt through the time I’ve been working on the project. Both my written project and my presentation would provide a clear understanding of my question will be well spoken, in good English with either no or little grammatical errors.
11. How will you evaluate your outcome?
I will reread through all my work to ensure there aren’t any grammatical or spelling errors and that the work makes sense and is appropriate to the question. Then I will get different people to review certain parts of my work as an act of reassurance to make sure my work is right. If there are mistakes noticed then I will immediately change it. After I will type up what I thought I learnt after doing my project, what went well, what could’ve went better and how I achieved my completed project will all be mentioned in my evaluation.
Essay Overview
The question I’ve chosen to study for my diploma project is ‘does religion cause war?’ During my investigation I’ll be looking at the different factors that could possibly be the actual cause or contribution to war, as well as the importance of religion and how it associated with war. I also intend to provide an answer comprising of contradicting views. My main objective for looking at this topic mainly refers to the religion; Christianity and Islam, as these are two religions that have been in the centre of many wars. Moreover, I will aim to collect information from various sources as part of my research to help answer my question. As tradition, a conclusion will be given at the end of the review. After the 9/11 bombings, people’s perspective of Islam were altered to a negative and stereotypical mind set, hence all Muslims were dubbed as ‘terrorists’ and I’d like to know why people felt the need to come to this indecent behaviour. Moreover in today’s society, Muslim women’s are oppressed due to the veil and several countries around the world are beginning to resort to the ‘veil ban’, this is in other words discriminating a religion’s belief which would obviously lead to war.
Introduction - Does religion cause war?
War is an event in which physical form of conflict takes place. This can be due to many factors such as hatred, revenge, to get opponents to agree with another’s ‘authentic’ views or to gain ownership or power. However is religion to be held responsible for such disastrous events? Indeed war revolves around negativity, such as death, pain, bloodshed and violence, but it seems almost impossible to think that religion would be a cause of such horror, as a faith has always been thought as a foundation and influence of peace and optimism, not the contrary view of this. This question had been the face of one of the most argumentative disputes in the world.
Religion is universal and is a part of almost every human life, therefore it has a foremost potential to be a cause of war. Famous wars such as the Crusades involved antagonists of two major religions, Islam and Christianity; however it was initially instigated over intruded and taken land, so gaining ownership and territory was also a cause of the Crusades, not just the widely believed root cause of religion only. So the question of ‘does religion cause war?’ is most likely to be a ‘yes’, but to the extent where it’s partially a cause of war, not entirely, as other factors are also involved in the cause of war.
Religion had dated back even long before the existence of Christ. Although religion was established a very long time ago, it is still thought that war existed long before religion; therefore discloses that religion somehow cannot be the cause of war. There are times when religion doesn’t directly cause violence however is used as a tool to encourage and control people into joining war, such as the 9/11 which the Al-Qaeda thought to be doing Jihad (fighting for their religion). Moreover, religion is considered to be one of the most powerful things on earth, so being too attached to your religion can cause people to be easily manipulated and misinterpret the words of others. For an instance the extent to how criticism should be taken can progress to a far greater scope, this is how most religious people conduct or people who feel strong and ‘protective’ of their religion.
There is in fact a strong link between religion and war, to which why some people contemplate that if you take religion out of the world, there would be peace. Except that there wouldn’t be any, as it’s impossible for humans to live without any war occurring, suggesting that war is either naturally occurring or caused by religion.
Research
Indeed mankind is partly responsible for the events of war as it’s a physical conflict to which only physical species are capable of, however the war may have been partially or fully instigated by religion. The idea of wars from both Christian and Islamic perspective is wrong; however there are some exceptions as to when war can be carried out- in Islam there is the concept of the Jihad, whereas in Christianity, there is the notion of a ‘just war’ of when a justified reason must be given in order to go to war, this is accepted by some of the denominations. A ‘Just war’ has to be satisfied by the following conditions: declaration of proper authority, a just cause must be defensive as in defending innocent people and be the last resort. In addition, it must have an achievable aim and have proportionality of the harm caused as of the harm the war is trying prevent. In Islam, the concept of Jihad is either a greater Jihad or a lesser Jihad. A greater Jihad is when a Muslim makes an effort to be a ‘pure’ Muslim or fight against his or her own selfish desires. Whereas, a lesser Jihad is an example of war and must only be thought as a last resort similarly to the Christians. Research on the Just War and Jihad region corresponds to the text in ‘Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror’ by Alia Brihami. Above all, religion will go into fortitude to protect and save innocent people; it has a higher priority to protect the innocents although it’ll cause bloodshed. These religious guidelines on war are evident from the Christianity and Islam holy books, the Bible and the Qur’an. The conception of war from the two most significant religions shows that religion itself can justify war as well as cause it, as similarly stated in the ‘Arguing the Just War in Islam’ by John Keslay.
The most popular example of a ‘Just war’ was the occurrences of the Crusades during the 11th, 12th and 13th century, comprising of Christians battling out for the Holy land in Jerusalem, in which the Muslims were intruding and taking over. The cause of the war was a combination of several factors including a religious and economical input. Although there were nine consecutive crusades lasting three centuries, the rivalry still hadn’t diffused between the two religions. A crusade one after another occurred, both religions carried on with the battles, although aware that the same outcomes are to arise after each crusade, knowing that the war wasn’t going to settle the dispute anytime soon, yet the battle persisted, therefore mankind must’ve obviously encouraged for this battle ensue, not the widely assumed religion influence, this point is apparent to the text in ‘The Crusades: The War for the holy Land’, written by Thomas Asbridge. It's a commonly held view amongst moderate Christians that the Crusades are a shameful part of the religion's history, experts say. However, some more conservative Christians side with the belief that the Crusades were a series of defensive wars against Islamic aggression.
On March 19, 2003, American and British forces formed a coalition and began the Third Persian Gulf War, a conflict which became popularly known as ‘’The Iraq War’’, this had lasted for over 8 years and is yet ensuing to this day. The US government referred to this conflict as ‘’Operation Iraqi Freedom.’’ Regardless of what it is called, this conflict is by far the first truly major war of the 21st Century. While considered by many to be another part of the ‘’War on Terror’’, it is many ways separate and unique in its own right. In scope of preparation and potential consequences, the new war in Iraq by far overshadows the earlier invasion of Afghanistan. It is believed that the Iraq Invasion was a ‘conniving planned plot’ by the Americans as an act of revenge due to prior conflicts (the most obvious is the 9/11 bombings). Also, stated by the US president himself that the substantial amount of oil reserves the Middle Eastern countries owned was a contributing and inspiring cause for the Westerns to go to war with the Iraqis, akin to the information reported in an article, ‘The real reason for the Iraq War’ published by The Guardian. In addition, it is argued that the Americans erroneously believed that Saddam Hussein (at that period, the Iraqi leader) had to be ‘removed from the scene’ if the oil supplies was to be guaranteed, in other words, to relieve the selfish needs of the American’s for oil and wealth.
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. This is manifested in a BBC news article and in ‘Attack on America’ by Brian Williams. The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East. The BBC's Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy says Osama Bin Laden and his associates probably believe a straight line links the Crusades with events of today.
Discussion
Religion has been part of mankind for several millenniums, and because it has been around for so long, has it been a cause of war? Are religions or just religious people responsible for the events of war? Would there be wars if religion was removed from the face of humanity? Or is religion just an excuse for the violently and vengeance inclined? These questions are some of the many that has to be grasped upon before answering the main question, of ‘’does religion cause war?’’. My answer will mostly refer to the wars of Christianity and Islam, as these two beliefs have been associated with the majority of wars and are known to be the most conflicting faiths.
In Islam, Muslims find that an exploitation of Jihad is terrorising your oppositions. Since the 1970’s, there has been a number of Islamic terrorism, the most notorious is the 9/11 bombing which had badly affected America and still to this day. The outbreak of the recent Iraq war comprised of the Americans and Iraqis. The invasion was otherwise known as a major American operation in ‘freeing’ Iraqi civilians [19]. This is in fact an uncanny mission in where one country is involving themselves with another country’s affair. Too, there were deaths as a result of the war caused by the Americans, but is this just a way for the Americans to get even with the Iraqis after the incident of 9/11? It is evident from my questionnaire data (2) that this is somewhat true, most people chose ‘yes’ to the question ‘do you think the 9/11 bombing triggered the Iraq War. In this case, vengeance and past history is the cause; therefore religion isn’t the general cause of war. The notorious al-Qaeda leader had speciously thought to be earning the respect of fellows Muslims brothers and sisters as well as from Allah (name of God in Islam) by destroying the lives of the westerns via bombing and physically destructing the area, undoubtly for revenge and for the fighting for God. However, the Qur’an (Islam’s Holy book) contradicts this idea of fighting for God by instigating a war. In fact the Holy book states 'Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but aggress not' (Qur’an 2:190). I’m sure al-Qaeda was well aware of this Islamic view on war as evident from their extreme and ‘religious’ activities, but the Qur’an clarifies that the main reason for the 9/11 attacks was not due to religious causes, instead for al-Qaeda’s personal sanity and retribution prompted by previous battles against the Americans and the failure to overcome them in these battles.
The 9/11 bombings happened to be one of the first major bombings in the most powerful country in the most populated city. It was a significant knockdown to the world as it was the world’s biggest trade center that dealt with millions of trade’s every day. After this disastrous event, Muslims were given negative views and therefore were labelled as a threat to the nation from then on. This is evident from my question ‘state which religion you feel is the most violent’, having 70% of the answers being Islam.
As mentioned in my research, ‘it is argued that the Americans erroneously believed that Saddam Hussein (at that period, the Iraqi leader) had to be ‘removed from the scene’ if the oil supplies was to be guaranteed…’, however sources shows that this was not the only motive for killing Saddam Hussein [11]. A news article from BBC writes ‘US President George W Bush has explicitly stated for the first time that there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks’. Did executing Hussein mean also a punishment for his contribution to the 9/11 attacks as well as for legal reasons over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s [16] and for his brutal dictator role? Some consider American’s had his execution ‘scheduled’ beforehand. They [Shia-led government] have repeatedly claimed that the Iraqi government, helped by the US and British, conducted a show trial, based on revenge rather than justice. It was pure evil and mockery to Muslims despite the remorse some may’ve had towards the Iraqi leader for the Americans to have hanged Hessian on the first day of Eid-ul-Adha (an important religious holiday to Muslims) and imposing further insult to have the executioners release the trapdoor while the former dictator was in the middle of his prayers [17]. And most disgustedly to have Hessian’s shame and torment to be ‘administered’ in the presence of the public. The executing was recorded and pictured, then broadcasted on the across the globe for the world to witness.
Conclusion
War has proven to be around for centuries, from the time of the crusades in the 10th century to one of the world’s recent crisis, the Iraq War in the 21st Century. And since religion has existed for even longer, I can now conclude that religion has been used as an excuse for the aggressively and vengeance inclined, for an example al-Qaeda, they contemplated that they were fighting for God; however the Qur’an opposes this notion. Also, I’ve discovered that the 300 years struggle in the Crusades was mainly battled over the Holy land; it was greed and violence of mankind that encouraged the war to proceed over this long period similar to the concept of the Iraq war, where the Americans went to war with the Iraqis to fulfil their selfish desire for oil. Meanwhile, my research confirmed that Osama Bin Laden is by far one of the most religious people around, however his religious views are taken to a far more brutal and extreme scale that killed many innocent people. I conclude that mankind which includes religious people is responsible for the cause war, as I‘ve overlooked and discussed several war related topics and have repeatedly been left with factors not including religion to be the cause of that particular war. It’s just that people assume religion is involved within a war that consists of opponents with different religion however it is untrue.
Evaluation
Working on this project enabled me to understand the many factors of wars which I weren’t familiar with before such as the causes of the Crusades and the Iraq War. I actually thought the research would be difficult as information from various sources was required but in the end I got the hang of it and started flipping through pages of several books and browsed through newspapers articles on war and religion like I never done before and with no hesitation. Most importantly, I learnt how to produce data and charts using Edexcel 2010 and how to extract relevant information from books and news articles efficiently. As a result, these skills would benefit in my many other subjects and in everyday life. I also acknowledged the importance of reading the News over a period of time. Keeping up to date with the News nationally and internationally has proven to increase my knowledge and has kept me wary of the events taking place around the world.
Bibliography
(Front cover) http://www.waleg.com/archives/014870.html (Introduction)
1. Written by: ‘Muratkayatfl’ (username), ‘Can religion be dangerous?’ Relijournal, last updated 3 June 2011, http://relijournal.com/christianity/can-religion-be-dangerous/, accessed on 3rd July 2011.
2. Written by: Tzvi Freeman, ‘Does religion cause war?’, Chabad.org Essenttials, last updated unknown http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/474759/jewish/Does-Religion-Cause-War.htm accessed on 27th June 2011
3. Written by: R.J Rummel, ’16.1 The causes and conditions’, Understanding conflict and war: VOL 4 War, Peace and Power, Chapter 16. Causes and conditions of international conflicts and war, last updated unknown, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/WPP.CHAP16.HTM, accessed on 27th June 2011.
(Research)
4. Written by: Unknown, ‘Just War’, Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, last updated 12 June 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
5. Written by: Unknown, ‘Islam: War’, BBC Religions, last updated 13th August 2009, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/war.shtml, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
6. Written by: Yellowstonedogs’ (username), ‘Can I have 10 facts about the crusades?’ Yahoo Answers, last updated 2 years ago, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090504124816AAmT9AX, accessed on 2nd July 2011.
7. Written by: Alia Brahimi, Title of the book: Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror, Chapter II: Jihad and Al-Qaeda, Pages 116-120
8. Written by: Sharon Keely, Luke Von Kotze, Julie Wakeling, Andy Park, Title of book: GCSE Religious Studies: Edexcel: Religion & Society, CGP, Page 18-19
9. Written by: John Keslay Title of book: Arguing the Just War in Islam, Chapter 3: Politics, Ethics, and War in Premodern Islam, Page 101-104
10. Written by: Thomas Asbridge, Title of book: The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land, Part 1: The coming of the Crusades, Chapter 1: Holy War, Holy Land, Page 36-38
11. Written by: Bryon Gould, ‘The real reason for the Iraq War’, The Guardian under ‘History’, last updated Monday 25th January 2010 10.00 GMT, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/iraq-war-inquiry-tony-blair, accessed on 7th July 2011.
12. Written by: Mike Wooldridge, ‘Can religion be blamed for war?’, BBC NEWS, last updated Tuesday, 24 February 2004, 09:46 GMT, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3513709.stm, accessed on 5th July 2011
13. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘A crusades: A history of conflict’, BBC NEWS, last updated Monday, 24 April 2006, 12:37 GMT 13:37 UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4938202.stm, assessed on 5th July 2011
14. Written by: DR S Sayyid, ‘Crusades and Jihads in Postcolonial Times’, BBC History: Recent History, last updated 2002-09-01, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/sept_11/west_01.shtml, accessed on 5th July 2011
15. Written by: Brian Williams, Title of book: 11 September 2001, Attack on America
(Discussion)
16. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘Bush administration on Iraq 9/11 link’, BBC News under ‘World’, last updated Thursday, 18 September, 2003, 12:41 GMT 13:41 UK, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3119676.stm, accessed on 9th July 2011.
17. Written by: unknown most likely a person working for BBC, ‘Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq’, BCC News under ‘World’: ‘Middle East’, last updated Saturday, 30 December 2006, 15:24 GMT, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6218485.stm, accessed on 9th July 2011.
18. Written by: Ewen MacAskill and Michael Howard, ‘How Saddam died on the Gallows’, The Guardian under ‘News’: ‘World’, last updated Monday 1st January 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/01/iraq.iraqtimeline, accessed on 9th July 2011
19. Written by: Kristina Wong, ‘Exclusive: War in Iraq to Be Given New Name’, ABC News under ‘Politics’, last updated Feb 18, 2010 6:37pm, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/02/exclusive-war-in-iraq-to-be-given-new-name/, accessed on 10th July 2011.
Appendixes
Research Record Sheets
Research record sheet 1
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the Internet - a news article from the BBC News website.
Title: Can religion be blamed for war? url: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3513709.stm
What is it? A news article
Who produced it? Mike Wooldridge – a BCC World Affairs Correspondent
Last updated: Tuesday 24th February 2004, 09:46 GMT
Information
What happened?
*Saddam Hussein told Iraqis: ‘’Fight as God ordered you to do’’. So does that make last year’s Iraq conflict a religious war?
*The Pope and the US Catholic bishops, the Archbishop of Canterbury and many theologians around the world argued that it fell well short of the rigorous criteria for a ‘’just’’ war.
*But the war Audit set out to identify conflicts that were more closely linked to religious belief than to political causes – could most properly be called religious wars.
*And that, it concluded, means going back to the wars of Islamic expansion beginning in the 7th Century, the Crusades starting in the 11th Century and the Reformation wars beginning in the 16th Century. Here the wars were fought primarily because of religious differences.
*Osama Bin Laden portrays the campaign being waged by his terror network as a religious duty.
*The War Audit says that although armed conflicts may take on religious overtones, their genesis invariably lies in factors such as ethnicity, identity, power struggles, resources, inequality and oppression – and one factor is often exacerbated by another.
*It is often suggested that there has been a sharp rise in religiously motivated conflict.
*The Israel-Arab wars from 1948 to the present day are often seen as wars over religion. In fact they say, they have been about nationalism, self-defense or the liberation of territory.
*So why is religion a factor in war at all when all the main faiths have little time for violence and advocate peace? Because it is suggested, leaders use differences over faith as a way of sowing hatred and mobilizing support for political wars.
*As the American civil war leader Abraham Lincoln put it almost 150 years ago: ‘’The will of God prevails. In great contests, each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, but one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.’’
Who were the people involved?
Saddam Hussein, Theologians (US Catholic bishops, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury), Osama Bin Laden and Abraham Lincoln.
Why did the author write it?
The author wrote this article to identify the link between religion and war, includes quotes from historical and renowned figures of war and/or religious relations such as Osama Bin Laden to support the author’s suggestions. Refers to historical and modern wars, the writer interprets whether religion was involved in these conflicts using appropriate background information of the war.
Who is the author?
The author Mike Wooldridge, he’s also a World Affairs Correspondent for the BBC news. His job involves travelling to different countries to report on a variety of subjects including economic and political issues and wars.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
The source was published 8 years ago; however the information is current and concerns my question. The source is well known as it was published by BBC news, one of the leading radios and TV service in the UK and since it’s a news article based on truthful accounts, the source is therefore most likely to be reliable. The author is also an expert in his field as he travels to find out about economic and political issues and wars and the author has no reason to write the article for personal gain as the information discussed about religion and history won’t benefit the writer in anyway, so there are increased chances that the source is reliable. Also, the writer is not biased as different views are given and the consistency of the information is too reliable as others can make the same points but with different information to support the points and ideas. On the other hand, the basis that some of the information was obtained from other sources makes the source unreliable. For an instance, quotes from political and historical figures are given with extracts from religious holy books; however the writer referenced these sources in the article.
Research record sheet 2
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source Library, under the ‘War and History’ section – a book that discusses the events of the 9/11 bombings.
Title: 11 September 2001, Attack on America url: N/A
What is it? A book, containing 45 pages
Who produced it? Brian Williams published by Cherrytree Books
When was it produced? 2003
Information
What happened?
*Early on the morning of 11 September 2001, a plane flew out of a clear blue sky and smashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Less than 20 minutes later, a second plane exploded as it hit the other tower.
*Detectives already had a theory that Al-Qaeda planned the hijacks for the 9/11 catastrophe. In the previous attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993, a bomb had been planted by terrorists belonging to al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was also thought to have bombed US embassies in Africa in 1998.
*Osama Bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda, and had recruited people willing to carry out suicide attacks on western targets.
*Terrorism had been a weapon in Middle East politics since 1948. That year the state of Israel was founded in Palestine, on land claimed by both Jews and Palestinians. Since 1948, Arabs and Israelis have fought four wars. Israel controls most of Palestine.
*Many Arabs supported the Palestinians. They blamed both Israel and the United States for the troubles in their region. Some Arabs also supported Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, a leader thought by western countries to be a dangerous dictator.
*In 1990 Iraq had invaded its small neighbor Kuwait. This had led to the 1991 Gulf War. America and its allies had defeated Iraq, but Saddam Hussein was still in power. Some Americans suspected that Saddam Hussein helped terrorists. Others blamed a few Muslim extremists, such as Al-Qaeda, who hated the west and preached ‘holy war’ against non-Muslims. Osama Bin Laden was believed to be leading a terrorist group based in Afghanistan.
*People of all religions, and in almost every country, condemned the 9/11 attacks. Only in Palestine did a few people celebrate a ‘victory’ for Arab martyrs against the west. The Palestine leader Yasser Arafat expressed his horror at the attack. President Bush now made it clear in a speech: in this new war against terrorism, all nations must choose whose side they were on. Who were the people involved?
President Bush, Osama Bin Laden, 19 known terrorists from a Muslim extremist group called Al-Qaeda. Why did the author write it?
To inform readers of the events surrounding the 9/11 bombings. The book was made to give detailed depictions of the main points of the 9/11 bombings such as the cause of it, what had happened, who was responsible, consequences and other background information.
Who is the author?
The author is Brian Williams, he had written other books from the same series of the book ‘Attack in America’.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 3
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the Internet, a news article from the BBC website under the ‘World’ category.
Title: The Crusades: A History Conflict url: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4938202.stm
What is it? A story from the BBC news.
Who produced it? An anonymous person from the BCC news team.
Last updated: Monday, 24 April 2006, 12:37 GMT 13:37 UK
Information
What happened?
*The Crusades began in 1095 after Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem and began restricting access to Christian pilgrims. Pope Urban II called for a Christian army to retake the city from its Muslim rulers - sparking a 200-year period in which parts of the Holy Land repeatedly changed hands, until the last crusade ended in defeat for the Christians in 1291.
*The first Crusaders, who set off in 1096, were a motley, and ultimately unsuccessful, bunch - peasants, from France and Germany, spurred on by the prospect of more freedom. Having pillaged and killed their way across Europe, they were vanquished by the Turks. Six months later a more professional army, comprising French and Norman knights, set off. They successfully stormed Jerusalem in July 1099, making it one of four "Crusader states" in Syria and Palestine.
*Serious trouble flared again in the early 12th Century when the Muslims took one of the other Crusader states in 1144, prompting the Second Crusade. However, its armies were almost wiped out in Asia Minor.
* The Fourth Crusade, which started around the turn of the 13th Century, was a bit of a bungled affair, which ended with the warriors being excommunicated by Rome after they decimated the Catholic port of Zara on the Adriatic and fought Christians in Constantinople in 1204, destroying valuable treasures.
*Another failed Crusade - the Fifth - followed, before Christians decided to switch tactics and try negotiation rather than brute force. The peaceful Sixth Crusade in 1228 restored Jerusalem to the Latin world and a 10-year truce was signed. But things fell apart when Muslims later reoccupied the city, prompting yet another Crusade in 1248. It collapsed when its leader, Louis IX of France, was captured. Two later Crusades both failed and the Turks took the last Christian stronghold in the region, Acre, in 1291.
*"For most Muslims the Crusades were something they won but just another invasion among many in their history," says Dr Jonathan Phillips, author of The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople.
*The BBC's Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy says Osama Bin Laden and his associates probably believe a straight line links the Crusades with events of today.
*The pontiff made a plea for forgiveness of the past sins of the Church, saying, "We are asking pardon for the divisions among Christians, for the use of violence that some have committed in the service of truth, and for attitudes of mistrust and hostility assumed toward followers of other religions."
Who were the people involved?
Muslims, Christians, the Church and reference to Osama Bin Laden.
Why did the author write it?
To give readers a brief insight of the crusades as well as the significant background information on the historical war.
Who is the author?
The author is not mentioned, however I assume the writer is from the BBC news team as this source was obtained from the BBC news website.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 4
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source From the internet – an article based around 11 September affair, obtained from the BBC History website found under TOPICS: RECENT HISTORY
Title: Crusades and Jihads in Postcolonial Times url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/sept_11/west_01.shtml
What is it? An article based on recent History
Who produced it? Dr S Sayyid
When was it produced? 2002-09-01
Information
What happened?
*The American-led war on terrorism is often seen as a clash between western and Islamic civilisations: the geopolitical analogue to the geological movement of plate tectonics. This is despite the attempt by some western leaders and leaders of Muslim countries to argue that the 'war on terror' is not directed against Muslims or Islam - but only against extremists.
* There are other voices who see a chain of equivalences so that Al-Qaeda = Taliban = Islamism = Islam. Among the ultra-conservative constituency that considers President Bush to be one of their own, you can hear calls for the 'nuking of Mecca', the occupation of Middle East oil fields, the transformation of the Muslim world on the pattern of post-1945 Germany and Japan.
Who were the people involved?
Muslims and Americans.
Why did the author write it?
To explain to readers the links between the crusades and the 9/11 bombings and to state the relationship between the Islamic world and the west.
Who is the author?
The author is Dr S Sayyid. He teaches at the University of Salford. His current research interests include: Post-structuralist political theory; globalisation and diasporas, race and ethnicity, Islamist movements and politics.
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 5
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source
Title:
url:
What is it?
Who produced it?
When was it produced?
Information
What happened?
Who were the people involved?
Why did the author write it?
Who is the author?
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Research record sheet 6
Name: Sahida Ahmed Date: 24/01/2011
Source
Title:
url:
What is it?
Who produced it?
When was it produced?
Information
What happened?
Who were the people involved?
Why did the author write it?
Who is the author?
Relevant information
Reliability of the source
Questionnaire Analysis
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