Religion has played a key role in wars and death.
Religion is the basis of belief for humans, it is a belief that there is a higher being that watches over us guiding us, a belief that there is life after death and if we follow these beliefs we shall enter heaven the most beautiful place. However religion has also played a role in wars, religious conflicts in Ireland (Protestants and Catholics). Israelis and Arabs (Holy Land) and the Holy Crusades of the eleventh century (recapturing the Holy Land). .
In Israel Jews and Arabs have been in conflict for hundreds of years because they both share religious grounds in Israel. Since the founding of Israel in 1948 there has been continuous conflict between Israel and Arab states. This conflict has been marked by six bloody wars. On both sides, religion has again and again brought the peace process to the brink of annihilation. The first spark between the two sides started in Hebron, the site of the tombs of patriarchs, building sacred to both Jews and Arabs. Early in 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a religious Jew, opened fire and killed thirty nine Arabs while at prayer. In response to the Hebron killings, two Arab suicide bombers blew up Jewish buses in northern and central Israel. Fifteen died and seventy were injured (Peres 1995 p.177-178). There are still wars going on today, Israel against Palestine .
The Crusades were medieval military expeditions undertaken by European Christians to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims (Collins new English Dictionary 1997). The word crusade is taken from the Latin word crux (cross) this is a reference to the biblical injunction that Christians carry their cross. Crusaders wore a red cloth that was sewn on their tunics to show that they took on the cross and were soldiers of Christ (Runciman, Steven, A history of the Crusades, 3 vols 1951-1954; Rep 1987). The causes of the crusades were many and complex but religion was the main factor.
