Quote:
Originally posted by highlander
Nice reply, Steve; we are in complete agreeance here. Although you did gave examples of previous and present wars fought over religion, you didn't really get down to the core of the real problem; why any individual thinks he/she has a better understanding of religion/God than another. Yes the wars are important, and the surface motives are as well, but the underlying individual emotions in relation to those wars are what is the key.
Don't really want to bring politics into this thread; politics don't make religious beliefs; religious beliefs make politics, so arguing about politics here would be regressive and responsive in nature rather than proactive. That said, if you want to start a thread tying religious beliefs to politics, go right ahead... I'll comment on it. 
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Well...any war fought with a religious pretext or undertone HAS to be fought with the idea that "your" god is superior. The ironic thing is that people all fight for the same god (usually), just with different names. I don't think anyone could make a respectable argument that the Iraq war and the Israel/Palenstinian conflict would be happening if those leaders (Bush, Sharon, Arafat) weren't strongly involved with god, yahweh, and allah...respectively. It's all the essentially same god with seperate men construing what he wants. I think the main reason some people think they understand/know god's intentions better than others is a two-punch combo. Half power (whether real or percieved) and half ego. Someone like the president of the U.S. is no doubt saying to himself "well, they voted for me...they must trust my judgement and by extention my belief in faith". The problem there is that no president has ever been unanimously voted in. Especially this last time around...51% is not a resounding "yes" so you're stuck with a lot of people who don't agree with what he's doing. Ego has to play a role in it as well since it'd take one hell of an ego to think you're important enough for god to pick you to know the "truth", so to speak. From a leader's standpoint, transferal of responsibility may also have something to do with it. If you're about to send a few thousand people off to their deaths, it's gotta be easier to think "well...it's what god wants".
As for bringing politics into this, I hate to as well but to a small extent i think it has to at least be touched on. I mean when you talk about religion and death, wars fought in the name of religion will inevitably come up and without politics those wars never get fought. Until people can learn how to seperate religious ideologies from political ones, I think it'll always be that way.