Question of the Week: 4/17-4/23/17
After the recent celebrations of Passover, Holy Week, and Easter…
In your opinion, how did religious institutions/organizations positively and negatively affect the war?
After the recent celebrations of Passover, Holy Week, and Easter…
In your opinion, how did religious institutions/organizations positively and negatively affect the war?
Some churches justified slavery which reinforced the belief that blacks were less worthy of the ideals of Christianity that they could be treated no better than barn animals
Great question, Religion can help or hurt Individuals in many different ways, and it is the individual that makes up the army. I think (I served but did not see action so don’t know if I have a right to answer this question) the strongest positive component is it can simply give a man or woman the strength to overcome their fears and be able to fight in the battle. I believe it can do this in different ways. First of all I think I can give a person the justification to kill somebody when they have probably been brought up their whole life that that is wrong and goes against their faith so when a preacher instills in them that they are fighting for a just cause a cause that must succeed it helps the soldier deal with the death he may cause. Second it may help the soldier fight knowing that if he is killed he is tied for a greater purpose and we’ll end up in a much better place. Third Civil War infantry was a completely exhausting endeavor a good preacher could Rouse the men up and give them positive reinforcement and lift their spirits almost to a point where they seek combat. To see a negative component of what religion can do to the military just look to the Middle East. First of all propaganda inspires people from all over the world to come fight over here saying that has been fought over for many millennium. Secondly another negative can be through getting people to do things no normal person in their right mind would do such as suicide bomb. Thirdly it can get people to fight over causes the only the leaders of the religion really care about whereas if not for them people would go about their day is normal rather than training and joining groups that don’t fight War but just commit terrorist actions that lead to nothing but dead and disfigured innocent civilians and children. So as you can see religion can manipulate almost anyone to go in any direction if your mind is open to it.