I recently got back from a trip to Ireland. While there my wife and I took some bus excursions from Dublin to some of the more popular sites. During the travel the bus drivers would give information about history, geography, and no shortage of political commentary. It was disturbing to find out that “The Troubles”, (the conflict in Northern Ireland in the 1960’s-1998) really are still a simmering problem. Our driver, like many other people, referred to The Troubles as a religious war. Was it? Is it?
On the trip, I also finished a book, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s Killing the Legends. This book highlighted how fame damaged the lives of Elvis, Muhammed Ali, and John Lennon. Other than his Beatles songs, Lennon is probably best known for his song Imagine, which directly attributes almost all war to religion.
There are and have been true wars over beliefs about God without a doubt. The Thirty-Year War that followed the Reformation was more or less about doctrine, but still even in this war or the wars that wracked England over “religion” one has to ask whether it was about doctrine or who ruled. The perverse concept that government and religion should be intertwined was a big part of the problem. With the exception of Israel, which was selected to be a theocracy, the combination of church and state was not endorsed by God. Nations are not saved as a whole. Individuals are. The final judgment of mankind is individual, though nations could earn God’s wrath by predominating evil actions. Your true faith is not a function of where you live or who rules your government.
Outside of Christianity, there are wars about religious belief. Sunni-Shia conflicts are very active throughout history. So are others. But how much is religion the problem? Does a religion teach war? In some cases the answer is “yes”, but not in Christianity.
Returning to The Troubles, what is it about? Were the Protestants upset about transubstantiation, (look it up)? Were the Catholics seeking to advance the obedience to the Pope? Nope. While the people involved in the conflict fall roughly into religious categories, The Troubles was and is about allegiance to Great Britain. There are Unionists (aligned with the UK) and Republicans (wanting Ireland to be independent and unified). It is very much like the American Revolution except there were no religious lines to draw there. The hostilities arise from unequal justice, a long history of mistreatment, and no small amount of individual sense of identity. It is not a religious war. In fact, sadly, I didn’t find the Republic of Ireland to be devoutly religious nor uniformly Catholic.
How about some of the other current conflicts? Israel and Hamas, that is religious for sure, right? Israel formed because dispersed Jewish peoples could find a safe place to live. Antisemitism arises in minor part because Jews are different and remain separate to a degree. Some of it comes from idiotic misapplication of the New Testament. All of it is driven by Satan’s irrational hatred of the Jews.
13 And when the dragon (Satan) saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman (The Jews, not Mary) who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. (possibly WWII) 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring (ongoing Antisemitism), on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 12:13-17 (ESV)
The hatred of antisemitism created the need for Israel, the country. This displaced the Palestinians. Living together was not out of the question. Many Palestinians live with Israel to this day. But a political doctrine that insists that Israel be destroyed has made that impossible so far, and we are farther from that happening now than ever.
Is Ukraine and Russia a religious war? This war is more about Putin’s ego and his false idea that wherever the Russians ever ruled should be Russia. Yet, to sell his conflict he and his cronies have injected religious reasoning. He claims that the values of liberal democracies have rejected Christian morality, and to some degree this is true. This is not the reason for the war or a reason for any military conflict. Morals cannot be forced or legislated; they must be taught and modeled. War is poor modeling.
The New Testament does speak of an ongoing war that impacts all wars. It is the struggle with Satan and evil. It is not a war you can fight with guns and bombs. It is fought only with the Word of God and power of the Holy Spirit. That may frustrate some, but it is a battle for souls and not for power, riches or territory. So any military war is not a Christian war even if the Christian faith is somehow appealed to.
Giving Christ 