War
...familiar to the American public due to the current involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Enemy combatants believe they are fighting American soldiers in the name of Jihad. This, however, is not the first instance of such an event; for centuries people have fought viciously in wars because they believed that God would reward them. Is religion not supposed to preach peace and love for one's neighbor? It is ironic that more people have been killed in the name of one god or another than for any other reason throughout history. Despite this, religion does deserve credit for not only unifying early peoples, but also for showing that early man had a more developed conscious than was originally thought. Religion also gave a basis for the development of society and civilization by providing rules and guidelines to live by. Even though religion has been the cause, however indirectly, of many atrocities throughout humankind's history it has also been the source of great furthering for society.
The very first signs of religion were seen in early Neanderthal men. This group of primitive beings would bury their dead in simple graves with a few items that were thought to be essential in the "after-life". A belief in an afterlife displayed one's ability to organize thought and his or her ability to think about something beyond his or her place in the physical world. Most of the earliest religions were usually centered on the earth, the sun, and the surrounding planets as is seen with Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Aztec mythologies. Furthermore, these religions shared polytheistic basis, meaning that the people involved believed in many gods. Three of the four modern religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, are monotheistic, meaning their adherents believe in one god.
One of the longest religious conflicts of recent times exists between the Palestinians and...
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