Since ancient times, man has been known to be a religious being. Religion has always played a crucial role in a mans life. This is evidenced by the presence of so many religions in the world. Currently, the world hosts more than 2 billion Christians, Muslims numbering 1.5 billion, 900 million Hindus, 400 million Buddhists, 13 million Jews and lastly, 24 million Sikhs. These figures exclude the minor religious groups (New statesman, 2009). The world has brought these different faiths closer to each other and as a result, problems have ensued. Many negative effects of religion have emerged especially in relation to culture. By bringing all these faiths together, there is bound to be a clash of cultures.
Religion can play an important and positive role by helping people to understand each other, to work together for the good of humanity or it can be negative when misused to destroy, bring out differences between people and making people not to trust each other (New statesman, 2009). Some have argued that religion has done more harm than good and that it has cost man so much (Crabtree, 2010). The negative effects to the world have overshadowed the positive ones.
How has religion affected the world in a negative way
It has been argued that Atheists and scientists have never killed each other because of their beliefs but there is something about religion that makes it violent intolerant. So many times, people have defended their faith using violence leading to a lot of bloodshed and loss of lives. Some people have never allowed their religions to be questioned and thus consider it an offence the moment one does so. If two religious groups of such kind meet, there will be dangerous consequences (Crabtree, 2010).
Some religions are known to suppress their followers by subjecting them to a lot of scrutiny to make sure they believe in the right things. Recently, there has been a rise in sexual abuse cases especially in the Christian priesthood. Psychologists have come out to say that there is a relationship between religious fervor (extreme) and problems of psychosexual nature. The latter caused by the former. So many religions have negative attitude towards sexuality and thus most of them have overlooked the issue leading to the problem among their laymen. Hence the shocking trends of child abuse among the professional religionists. Just like ostrich, they have stuck their heads in the sand about adult sexuality leaving people not to be able to cope with their sexuality (Crabtree, 2010).
Pedophilia is a major problem that is characterizing churches in the modern days. Strict teachings and restrictions in churches has led to sexual dysfunction and this applies mostly to priests in the Catholic Church. The church has tried to hide these from the world, tried to solve the issue by sending the priests to rehabilitation centers or even on sick leave but it has not solved the problem. The rate of sexual abuse in churches has really gone up in that, 3 of all priests are vulnerable to commit the offence against children (Crabtree, 2010).
In addition, some religions in the world have hard stance on contraceptives despite the many diseases threatening the existence of man, a good example being the Catholic Church. Others also have tolerated dominance over woman by man, for example Buddhists. The hard stance on abortion by these religions has not bore fruits. Studies show that, the countries that have enacted liberal laws on abortion have low rates of the practice but those which are strict record high cases of it (Crabtree, 2010).
Another negative effect of religion is the subjugation of women by some religious traditions. Some of these religions bar their women from taking any leadership post others prevent them from accessing secular education and sometimes even the religious ones. In some, such as in Islam, a woman is not supposed to speak in presence of men. These practices are mostly perpetuated by some superstitious beliefs about men and women. Amnesty International 2009 discovered that there was a retreat in the rights of women in Iran because of religion (Crabtree, 2010).
Religion is also known to have led to the clash of cultures in the world. Different religions have different world views and thus discord can be associated with clashing world views. Samuel P. Hunington in his book, Clash of cultures, has stated that the worlds culture can be divided into seven main civilizations. These are Islamic, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American Japanese, Confucian, Western and Hindu and Africa being another possible civilization. These Cultures or civilizations are defined by religion mostly (Graham, 2004). They are not to mingle with each other therefore cultivating intolerance towards one another leading to the clash of civilization. These cultures are different in so many ways which has led to conflicts that have generated into the worst violence the world has never seen before. People have become civilization conscious such that they want to retain their identity (de-westernized idea). There have always been conflicts between the Islamic culture and the Western one among others. Islam has always antagonized pagan animists and any one who went against them. Each of these cultures has taboos against each other (Avalos, 1999).
Clash of cultures is a world problem
Clash of cultures has become a world problem because when people start developing these de-westernizing ideas, it becomes very difficult to get them out of their heads (Avalos, 1999). A part from conflicts arising from the clash between Christianity and Islam, there are also those from other religions around the world. In India, a group has emerged called Shiv Shena, which is out to fight western values but it seems they are already loosing the battle. They are protesting against Valentines Day and those shops which are involved with selling flowers or greeting cards are being set on fire, young people who are seen walking, holding hands on this day, are beaten up by this group. This kind of hatred towards westernization is shared with police from Saudi Arabia (Farhat-Holzman, 2008).
In Malaysia which is considered a multi cultural country has Islam as the majoritys religion. This country is known to pretend that it can tolerate any other religion for example Hinduism and Christianity. Just recently, the world watched as Tamil Indians 200 houses, were being demolished by the state in a particular slum including their important temple. Tension continues to run high as the state is being turned into an Islam country. The Indians belonging to the upper class have to keep their heads down in order to survive in the country. This also applies to the Chinese in the country who are the minority and this is just because of fear (Farhat-Holzman, 2008).
In Thailand, a problem is cropping up concerning its Muslim minority group. Despite of it being the only Buddhist majority country that is modernized, it is having problems dealing with the Muslim radicals who have been influenced by Islamists but the Thais are not taking it lying down (Farhat-Holzman, 2008).
More over, being known to have bad history of religious conflicts, Russia is not exempted from these cultural clashes caused by religions. A new picture is being created and is considered not a good one. The number of Christians in the country is reducing day by day and the one of Muslims is increasing. The army is becoming more and more Islamic and this is considered a disaster in the making (Farhat-Holzman, 2008).
The Latinos have had their fair share of pain because of religion. Research has shown that, religious conflicts have led to more than hundred deaths over the years. Guatemala and other Latino cities have been characterized by conflicts as a result of religious affiliations supporting different political parties. Differences have emerged because some religions have focused on social matters while others have concentrated on political ones. In the civilian war of 1960, 200,000 people were killed in Guatemala and most of them were Mayan Indians. This led to the crop of internal displaced people in the country while 250,000 children were orphaned (Cevallos, 2005).
These clashes of culture have been seen to affect the development of economy which can only take place when countries come together or cooperate. Due to them, there has developed economic blocks such as the European Community, the Central American Common Market and the North American Free Trade (Avalos, 1999). This has made people develop the idea of us against them which happens at two levels. The first one is called the micro level which involves violence, competition and territories principalities. The macro level occurs between states that compete for power regarding military and economy, in their efforts to propagate their values (Avalos, 1999). All these contrast the visions of politics globally (Fukuyama, 2006).
It has emerged that countries having different cultures are going their different ways and are forming alignments which are defined by culture. Political boundaries are based on religion and ethnicity and the differences in civilizations are becoming the lines of conflict in politics globally (Huntington, 1996).
After September 11 attack on world trade centre, it cannot be assumed anymore that it was an activity caused by a small group of people. It was actually an attack on values of the west (Rubenstein, 2005). This attack strengthened the debate on clash of cultures and thus global conflicts were related to the civilizations of Islam and western. Today, the universal hostility towards the western culture is attributed to Islam. The American government has tried to make distinctions between Islam and terrorism but in vain. This has affected how Muslims are treated in the nation because some people have leveled direct accusations against Muslims that they portend a great danger to the nation. This has made people question whether it is easy for a Muslim to live in the west (The centre of dialogue, 2006).
The main concern of the west regarding clash of cultures is the development of biological, nuclear and chemical weapons by the non-western countries which are very hostile to the west. These countries are said to be assisting and supporting each other by providing the weapons to fight the US and allies (Huntington, 1996). The increasing number of conflicts among countries in the middle East, the continent of India and Central Asia made the world fear that clashes in culture would overwhelm the world one day (The Centre For Dialogue,2006).
The factors that bring division between the West and the other cultures are crucial in the international agenda. It has emerged that the west is having problems to protect or defend its interest from non western societies. The long conflict between the west and the Muslim countries revolve around proliferation of weapons, democracy and human rights, oil control, terrorism, migration and western intervention. This conflict is seen as having to do with the rivalry from the historical times between the Christians and the Muslims, secular practices against religious values, Islam countries being jealous of western countries and their domination. Some have attributed this conflict to the humiliation of the Muslim countries and bitterness that develop when they compare the achievements of the two cultures (Huntington, 1996).
It has been argued that, civilizations do not control the states but the other way round. Several decades ago, two countries in the Middle East had their rule legitimized by using religion. These are Saudi Arabia and Iran but the former has always been American staunch ally while the latter has been an opponent. Civilization clash is said to be caused by unequal distribution of wealth, influence and power. This has led to antagonism between those who have and those who have not. Thus it can be said that the problem comes in when Muslim or Arab countries challenge the world order which is western supremacy (The Centre for Dialogue, 2006).
Religion is seen as the driving force behind these conflicts to the extent that policy makers always assume that anytime religion is involved, there is bound to be conflict. Religion is believed to bring people together and also causing tension (The Centre for Dialogue, 2006).
According to the Arab nations, the Arab-Israeli conflict is a religious conflict between infidel Jews as they are called and the Moslem. They use this ideology to mobilize all Muslims, Arabs and non Arabs to wage war against the Jews. In the modern world, radical Islam has declared war on western culture by using terrorism on the basis of religion. There have been attacks by suicide bombers and suicide crews for example those who attacked the World Trade Centre in September 11. These are the modern clash of civilizations. Israel is the main victim of this because it is the main country in the Middle East which propagates the Western civilization. This did not start just recently, from history there have been persecutions of non Muslims in the Arab countries. Islam religion has proved to be intolerable towards other religions or cultures (Hama, 1994).
Predictions on clash of cultures
The conflicts as a result of religious cultures will become more in the future in that greater divisions will emerge among humankind with the main cause being clash of cultures at macro level. Conflict will occur between countries with different cultures and they will fight to take over control of international institutions and power in regards to economy and military thus conflict ensuing (Graham, 2004). It has also been predicted that Islam and Sinic cultures will come together in the future against their common enemy, the West (Hendrickson, 1996). It is also said that the Western culture will remain to be dominant in early 21 century but later, this dominance will be shared among cultures. If the population of Muslims continues to grow, it will be a destabilizing one for all the societies including Muslims and their neighbors. There will be growth of Muslim militancy, resurgence and migration. The future clashes are to result from the interaction of intolerance of the Muslims, the western feelings of arrogance and the assertiveness of the Sinic culture (Hunington, 1996).
In conclusion, religion is seen to be a major cause of these cultural clashes because cultures are divided along religious lines. From history, the world has been grappling with the negative effects of these cultural clashes and it continues to do so. It has become a major world problem because it threatens the existence of man. From the predictions, it seems that these clashes are not near to an end so the world has to brace itself for more conflicts due to these clashes.
