How many Religions can you honestly say have never had a war fought in their name?

Question

Buddhism is the only one i can think of

Answer 1

many Pagan religions have no claim to war in the name of the gods.

the celts would fight over many things but history does not show us a single war motivated purely by religion.

the same can be said for Wiccans. and the Native Americans. and most of the indegenous tribes of Africa.

and to date i have not seen an army of Satanist's marching acrost the land.

Answer 2

Sorry, you're going to be at a loss on that one. Buddhism was a part of the shogunate's justification and provided the philosophy for the samurai. That's just off the top of my head. War isn't representative of Buddhism, but it's justified it before along with cruelty, oppression, and even organized crime. It's not central to it, but the violence and oppression of the Japanese regime was at least in part because of the Zen Buddhism they used to reinforce it.

An interesting case study is that the Shaolin used to be involved in drug trafficking and organized crime (hence the allusion earlier). I wonder how much different those martial arts movies would've been if they filmed it during that era?

So, no, not even the Buddhists are clean. My own faith, Orthodox Christianity, is clean of Crusades, Inquisitions, and so on, but some bishops and many laity approved of the pogroms, so we have our stain also (fortunately, there were also bishops, monks, and laity that condemned the actions as abominable).

Your best bet will be modern sects that haven't had time or have never been able to gain enough force. Heck, even the Anabaptists went to war (offensive war at that).

Answer 3

Dowism. There aren't a lot of things big enough to call a war when it comes to Buddhism, but there are a few. The Tibetian branch had a fair sized struggle with native Tibetan Animist or Shamanic types up to about the 8th-9th centuries (Christian Era), with skirmishes as late as the 12th (again C.E.)(Some of their mystical histories claim this started in about 18,000 B.C., which would make it the longest war ever (!), but a more realistic estimate is 200 years of relatively steady low key warfare and another 300 or so by fits and starts.). Picture lots of platoon sized battles in mountain passes and worse terrain, and some ambushes of town garrisons en route, but few bigger battles.


While only one side there was Buddhist, that's the side that behaved in some ways like the US did in the "Indian" wars - i.e. "choke off their resources and starve them out", with the animists, et. al. behaving more like the Native Americans - "Hit and run, hide in the hills". At this point, it's all ancient history, they have integrated many traditions and Bonpo tradition monks are almost indistinguishable to westerners from formally Buddhist monks while even the Dalai Lama incorporates some shamanistic techniques and rituals. In their defense, I don't think the Tibetan Buddhists ever stooped to the equivalent of using Smallpox soaked blankets.


A number of the Japanese factions, and _particularly_ Zen, were pretty keen on the Japanese entering WW 2, although that may have been more capitulation to the political regime than them being a driving force behind it. Some individual Zen Buddhists were also rather couragious in opposing it (i.e. Katagiri Roshi, Suzuki Roshi), but overall, Zen supported the war at least as faithfully as any other local religion.

Answer 4

And now a new study emerges that will radically shake up this view of Buddhism. Zen at War is a courageous and exhaustively researched book by Brian Victoria, a western Soto Zen priest and instructor at the University of Auckland. Victoria reveals the inside story of the Japanese Zen establishment's dedicated support of the imperial war machine from the late 1800's through World War II. He chronicles in detail how prominent Zen leaders perverted the Buddhist teaching to encourage blind obedience, mindless killing, and total devotion to the emperor. The consequences were catastrophic and the impact can still be felt today.

Answer 5

Not much of a history buff are you?

By the way, what do mean by "fought in their name"? If you mean "fought by members of a specific religion," then the answer is zero. If you mean "fought over a matter of religious dogma," then the answer is all.

Wars are not fought over religion. They are fought over economic, resources, class struggles, and a hundred other factors that you can learn about in any decent history or political science course.

Answer 6

wars of the world are fought because of greed in men and with blind followers,the world has shrunk and now it is a world village,something happens in one part of the world,somewhere else is also affected,damages had been done,let not the unnecessary lost of lives and property repeat itself and work for the common good,you might be living in a big continent,but I'm staying in a small island,the water level is rising,in 20years' time my homeland will be under water,i;m now more concern about the whole world of people living under water than the wars of the past.Let us have more concern for lives and work together.May all beings be rid of sufferings and attain happiness. Metta to all.

Answer 7

Is it important?

I dont think so.
Because we know sometimes war is necessary and if you mean war is always something negative I don't agree with you. War sometimes is good, so it's not honor for a religion not to have any war at any time. But it's honor to have peace when it is needed and to war when it is needed too.

I think this is closer to the path of wisdom.

Answer 8

I agree with Paganism.. If you want to ask how many times violence has occured due to religious beliefs, it would take Mormonism off the list. Look at the history. A good book.. "Under the Banner of Heaven". Excellent , excellent book. It shows the history of the LDS along with the FLDS and their practices (ie: polygamy, child brides)

Answer 9

How about B'Hai? Or the Friends (Quakers)? Or Mormonism?

Mennonites?

Might be easier to list the religions that have fought wars - Christianity, Islam, Judaism. That's about it, right?

Answer 10

I think also Buddhism is the only one, but that is perhaps because it is not based on a belief in an abstract God but in grounded in the practice of living-kindness, compassion, meditation....