French Shooting

Although the recent shooting in France are not entirely related to religion or what we have been doing in class I still believe that it is important to blog about. It began when a rogue self declared al Qaida member shot and killed three french paratroopers. Soon he was being hunted by the french government. He then continued his killing spree when he killed a rabbi and two hebrew school students. Both were children. This made national news causing a manhunt for this madman.

According to sources this man was on his own. His cause for the rampage was the unavenged deaths of Palestinian children who were killed by Israeli forces. The nation of palestine has stated that it completely disagrees with Merah's ways. 

This is a vague example of where religion creates something evil to happen in this world. But I do not think that is religion playing a role. I believe that Merah was just a sick minded person who needed an excuse to start a violent rampage. 

Religion: Good

Religion has caused many good and peaceful events in humanity's history. It has been a force of good in our world. For example, it has caused people to find meaning in the world. When someone is feeling bad about something from failing a test to losing a loved one, religion is always a way for people to vent or console themselves. It is an outlet and people find peace in it. With out religion, when someone is grieving or just sad it would be a little more difficult to be at peace.
Religion has also been good to humanity on a much more global scale. It has brought people together when  they have  been suppressed.  For example Martin Luther King Junior used religion to unite people under one cause. He did not unite people under him and then use is power over them for his personal reasons but brought them together under a much bigger cause. Using what King had learned about from religion from his father who was a pastor and his own ministry work he brought civil rights to America. These two widely different reasons are only the few on why religion has been a force of good in the world.

Religion: Evil

Is religion good or evil? Humanity has scene many horrible things happen that have been caused by religion. But humanity has also seen great good caused by religion. The question is: Is it more evil than good or more good than evil. The answer is neither of these. Religion is a medium that can be used for good or for bad. For example when humans have used religion for evil, the crusades. There was nothing pleasant or nice at all about the crusades. People in power just used it as an excuse to invade middle eastern countries for their resources. They told people in europe that is they fought for them in the crusades they would immediately get into heaven. No questions asked. Clearly the power religion had over everyone in that time frame was completely wrongly used by evil men in power.

The Inquisitors

What was the purpose of the inquisition? The inquisition was a police like organization where people were hired to investigate cases of heresy. When recruiting the inquisitors looked for smart, intelligent men that were faithfully Christian. They were also either Franciscan or Dominican because both were well educated, pious and mobile.
An inquisitors job was not to simply punish non-believers but to expose them and to get them to confess, repent or convert. Punishments would be to have a cross sewn onto ones clothing or be sent on a pilgrimage.  Only one in ten cases would result in execution. This would only happen if the defendant refused to repent or convert. This would also happen if someone was accused of heresy multiple times.
When first starting an inquisitor usually reviewed Gui's manual. Gui was a dominican inquisitor who spent nearly twenty five years conducting investigations. Basically the manual tells one what the procedure is when interrogating someone. Then it has a series of documents and after that it tells a history on modern day inquisitors.

Missionaries in Africa

What was the logic in sending Christian missionaries to Africa? There are a few answers to this question but the one answer that makes the most sense is the resources Africa had. Since Africa was not already occupied by Muslim government Christians saw this as an opportunity too gain some new territory and resources. 

With Islam having a fair amount of land mass Europe felt as though they were an enemy. Wanting to have an edge on Islam, Christianity wanted to get as much territory as possible so they sent missionaries to Africa. Their was no set ruler or form of Government of Africa so it was easy to infiltrate and convert as many people as they could. The more people converted the more territory the Christians received. With all this new land Christians also would have more resources. One of the more darker resources were slaves. Sometimes slave traders would accompany missionaries and help themselves to slaves. The new territory and resources were one of the main reasons missionaries would be sent to Africa. 

Christianity VS. Islam

Christianity and Islam were two fairly new religions growing and branching out in the world. Although Islam had a late start (600 Years) it quickly spread through out the middle east due to the good missionaries. Soon both religions would gain more and more territory getting closer and closer setting themselves up for a collision course with each other.
When each religion heard of the other they basically had the same reaction. Both Islam and Christianity immediately started to dislike each other. They had diluted and warped images of the religion and thought they were savages or insane. Ironically both religions had a lot in common. Both were monotheistic religions. They each worshiped one individual God. Also both religions had a goal to convert other people. This was what basically caused them to have their conflict as well.

The Foundation of Islam

Before islam was founded the Middle east was fraught with tribal warfare. With most of the inhabitants in the middle east living in a desert lots of people were fighting over water, food, and farming land people separated into factions or tribes. The scarcity of these resources made people desperate. Then Muhammed Ibn Abdullah surfaced. When he was just a small child both his parents had died. He was soon adopted by his uncle, the leader of his tribe. When he was older he became a trader and a merchant. He soon became well known as an honest and good trader. People listened to him. Then he had a vision. According to Muhammed an angel visited him in a cave and told him to spread the word of God. He soon became a prophet and spread the word. At first people did not believe him. He was victimized. But he soon gained support. The more support he gained the more the middle east became united.