The Encyclopedia of World Religions

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Both of these views reflect important aspects of our experience. In the period after the Protestant R EFORMATION , rival Christian groups fought some of the most devastating wars in European history. Today there are seemingly unresolvable conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ire land, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East (note that not all Palestinians are Muslims), and Hin dus and Muslims in South Asia. At the same time, these conflicts may seem to contradict what the religions involved really stand for, whereas people who oppose war, like Mohandas G ANDHI , the D ALAI L AMA , and Martin Luther K ING Jr., seem to repre sent their religions better. This last view is overly idealistic and unre alistic. All religions have produced advocates for peace, but they have also produced advocates for war. At the same time, it cannot be demonstrated that religion has caused more wars than any other social force. First of all, it is impossible to catalogue all of the wars that human beings have fought. It is also impossible to determine which wars religion is responsible for and which ones it is not. Most wars have many causes. Three topics can help illuminate the compli cated relations between religion and war: some ways in which religion has taken important sym bols from war, some ways in which religion has legitimated or justified war, and some ways in which religion has limited, or tried to limit, war. WAR IN RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM Religions have often taken symbols from warfare. In the 19th century Great Britain was the major military power in the world, so perhaps it is not

Waldensians A group of Christians expelled from the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th cen tury. The Waldensians originated from the teach ings of a man named Peter Valdes or Waldo. In the 1170s Waldo began preaching at the town of Lyons in southern France. His preaching resembled that of Francis of Assisi in stressing simplicity and pov erty ( see F RANCIS OF A SSISI AND F RANCISCANS ). Waldo and his followers got into trouble with the church authorities. That was because they used the B IBLE in the ordinary language of the people, rather than Latin, and preached even though they were not priests. The Waldensians were excommu nicated in 1184. In 1211 80 of them were burned to death in Strasbourg, now in France. After these events, many Waldensians became highly critical of practices in the Catholic Church and of a few Catholic beliefs. The Waldensians settled in the Alps at the bor der of France and Italy. During the time of the R EF ORMATION they adopted many Reformation beliefs. Beginning in the mid-1800s members of the com munity immigrated to South America, especially Uruguay. Some also immigrated to the United States. Most Waldensians in the United States have been accepted into the Presbyterian Church ( see P RESBYTERIAN AND R EFORMED CHURCHES ). war and religion War is organized, violent con flict between two opposed, unified groups. Accord ing to some people, religion has been responsible for more wars than any other social force. Accord ing to others, religion leads to peace and therefore is opposed to war.

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