Why People Kill in The Name of God

Religious violence is a term most commonly used when speaking of violent acts committed against religion and religious groups or when religion is the subject of the violent act. It is usually deeply rooted and motivated by religious texts, ordinances or beliefs of the attacker or the target.

We are not talking about a specific religion here, nor promoting that religion is violent. Religion and society in general doesn’t endorse violence though a variety of religious behaviors and beliefs can be problematic.

It is believed that God communicated sublime messages or precepts which were propagated among some of the major religions long ago. This makes it very easy to support these religions for giving voice to such precepts. However, part of the problem with this is that each religion has its own interpretation of said texts that many times leads people to such violent acts. One thing we know is that religion at its core was created to promote and propagate peace, love and compassion and to provide guidance and instill good among people. With that said, we can’t deny that every religion has a violent past. People killing “sinners” and “infidels” sometimes even at the cost of their own lives.

So, how is it that if the universal religious message is peace and love, people are still incited to acts of violence?

Well, according to psychological studies, people who tend to view themselves as having a socially dominant status meaning that they see themselves in an overly accomplished manner, tend to be or have a higher tendency to engage in acts that jeopardize their overinflated ego. Such people are usually highly susceptible to false facts of the media and are unwilling to admit the reality that they most likely don’t know or understand the facts. Therefore tend to engage on certain violent acts based on “false facts” they believe to be true. 

It seems that people who really understand their religion’s message of love and peace are able to apply that into their own lives, while others use religion for status seeking and may see “sinners” as a threat to their presumed superiority and consequently committing acts of violence in the name of their faith. 

Regardless of whether people act in the name of religion or in behalf of humanity, they are unequivocally one of the worst kinds of people and we must pray for them so we can win over their hearts and help them understand the truth about God’s precepts. The fact is that it doesn’t matter what religion, color or social status you are, we all follow a version of the same rule “ the golden rule”, it all depends on what your version of that is.

Generally, and very much so for the vast majority of people, violence is never justified. Violence has a very negative impact on society as a whole. On the same hand, this is not completely accepted or agreed up on at some level by some when they have to face the reality of evil and cruelty, hostility and unjust circumstances they may be experiencing. That is when people present the question: If violence is sometimes justified or even tolerated. I think is safe to say that for most of us the answer is No, violence is never justified.

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. - 1 Peter 3:9