Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by William Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

The presence of religious violence in the Sikh community in India is studied to clarify the connection between religion & violence. The conventional explanations for Sikh violence -- political, economic, & social factors -- are discussed & ultimately rejected. An analysis of the speeches of militant Sikh Jamail Singh Bhindranwale is performed, demonstrating the theme of ultimate struggle against other ethnic groups & the Indian state. The extent of violent imagery in the Christian & Sikh religious traditions is noted; attention is directed to the domesticization of violent imagery in the Sikh religious tradition. It is asserted that religious movements portray their conflicts as ultimate, cosmic struggles to provide religious justification for their violent activities. Factors that have resulted in various religions' use of violence include the claim that cosmic struggles are actual historical events & remain present in the contemporary world & that such violence has cosmic & divine meanings for individuals who perform violent acts. J. W. Parker

The presence of religious violence in the Sikh community in India is studied to clarify the connection between religion & violence. The conventional explanations for Sikh violence -- political, economic, & social factors -- are discussed & ultimately rejected. An analysis of the speeches of militant Sikh Jamail Singh Bhindranwale is performed, demonstrating the theme of ultimate struggle against other ethnic groups & the Indian state. The extent of violent imagery in the Christian & Sikh religious traditions is noted; attention is directed to the domesticization of violent imagery in the Sikh religious tradition. It is asserted that religious movements portray their conflicts as ultimate, cosmic struggles to provide religious justification for their violent activities. Factors that have resulted in various religions' use of violence include the claim that cosmic struggles are actual historical events & remain present in the contemporary world & that such violence has cosmic & divine meanings for individuals who perform violent acts. J. W. Parker

Literaturverz. S. [215] - 241

Indonesia : from ethnic conflict to Islamic terrorism? -- Situating "Islam" in Indonesia : the matrix of class relations -- Social transformation, 1965-1998 : konglomerat, kelas bawah, Islam -- Buildings on fire : church burning, riots, and election violence, 1995-1997 -- Crisis, conspiracy, conflagration : Jakarta, 1998 -- From lynchings to communal violence : pogroms, 1998-2001 -- Jihad and religious violence in Indonesia, 1995-2005

Although violence by religious believers is often explained by reference to 'fundamentalism,' this is an unsatisfactory analytic category. The term derives from a specific episode in American Protestantism & is often misconstrued as synonymous with beliefs based on the literal reading of texts. Religiously driven violence is often less a matter of beliefs than of ritualistic activity, similar to Juergensmeyer's 'performance violence.' The potentially violent believer must situate him/herself with reference to religious authorities who can legitimate action & an 'other' against whom violence can be directed. The presence of both legitimators & loci of evil allows the playing out of apocalyptic 'scripts,' in the expectation that violent acts will precipitate millennial transformation. Adapted from the source document.