A Research Of Religion As The Cause Of Political Conflict

Throughout history, religion has had a strong impact on society and politics. Religion could be seen as a form of identity that unites people sharing similar beliefs, but could also create tension and conflict towards the ones seen as ‘different’ creating a ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality. Such tension could then lead to a larger-scale conflict such as political conflict, possibly even dividing a whole country. Political conflict can be defined as a positional difference between two or more actors founded on society-based values through conflict methods undermining the state’s functioning. I will discuss to what extend religion is the cause of political conflict through the use of case studies, and I will further examine if it is indeed the sole cause or there are other possible factors contributing to such conflict. Analyzing the case studies of the conflicts in Myanmar and Northern Ireland will help to comprehend into more detail the relationship between religion and political conflict.

The conflict in Myanmar is an example of a political conflict that seems to be caused by religion. It involves the Buddhist nationalists referred to as the Rakhine against the Muslim Rohingyas. It is a lengthy conflict that has been going on since 1991, but in synthesis, there have been several violent encounters between the two religious groups. The Rohingyas face constant discrimination by Buddhist nationalist groups, such as the MaBaTha and the anti-Muslim movement, who call for boycotts of Muslim shops, evict Rohingyas from their homes, expulse Muslims from Myanmar, and attack Muslim communities leading to mass killing. In 2013, Buddhist nationalists even promoted laws to protect the race and religion of the Buddhist and at the same time, several mosques were closed as one of their demands, which further demonstrates the religion’s cause in the conflict. It is then clear that there is a lack of harmonious cohabit of the two religious groups and that a specific religion is being targeted against.

An alternative cause, however, also seems to be economical. As the majority of the Muslim Rohingyas were residing in the Rakhine district of the country, rich of natural resources, the government allocated several acres of that area for new economies such as mining and timber, as well as 25 oil and gas fields were discovered in that district, which would benefit the development of the country, but displace the Rohingya. Furthermore, even if rich in resources, it is one of the poorest areas of the country and the Rakhine viewed the Rohingyas as competitors for the few jobs available and additional burden to the country. As a result of the lack of placements, the Buddhist have a feeling of resentment against Rohingyas as they are believed to further strain the economic status of the region. This led to rising tension, and the government’s denial of citizenship to the Rohingyas and support of the Buddhist gave more legitimacy to the Rakhine’s actions against the Rohingya minority.

For this case study, I believe that the two different religions created partition between the Rohingyas and Rakhine population, but it seems that what sparked and escalated the conflict was actually the economic conditions in the area where they both lived. The different religions created two communities viewed as different, but the scarcity of employment, poor economy and the support of the government on one of the sides actually caused the issues that led to the segregation and political conflict.

The Northern Ireland conflict known as The Troubles is another political conflict that seems to be caused by religion. The Troubles initiated in 1968 between the Protestant and Catholic populations, even if a conflict between the two had been going for years beforehand. Both sides showed violence against each other based on the identification in which religion they belonged to, with individuals being attacked or murdered just on the base of being of a different faith. The diversion was so bad that the two religious groups, for example, lived in different areas of the country, had a wall to separate the two communities and schools were separated based by religion. Religion has an important role (even if it could be argued that it may be political as argued afterwards) as there is to keep in mind that people did not get a say on which group to be part of. Someone was simply born into it as it depended on what religion the family was part of. If it was not due to religion, someone could then choose which group to support based on someone’s own opinion, but this was not the case.

However, it can be argued that the labels of being Catholic and Protestant is just another difference between two ethnic groups who fight over economic and political power. In this case religion could be viewed as not the sole or main purpose of this conflict. Firstly, conflict between the two religions was not common in other countries in Europe such as in Germany or Holland, therefore there must be other explanations to why these two religious groups engaged in violence in this case. Some other causes would be the two sides’ wish on nationality. The Protestants wished to remain in the United Kingdom, while the Catholics desired that Northern Ireland became part of the Republic of Ireland. Inequality was another great issue. The cost of living was high and, at the same time, the levels of unemployment were also elevated. As Protestants had a greater say and domination in the government, it worsened the situation for the Catholics as their unemployment rate further increased as Protestants were preferred and selected over them. As a consequence, the education of children was negatively impacted as they could not afford to go to school, plus less and less property was owned by Catholics as they now had to depend on social security. This situation of inequality, struggle and underrepresentation in the government of the Catholic group led to more tension between the two groups and to an increased desire of unifying with the Republic of Ireland as in that state Catholics do not face the same struggle, but are actually the ones exerting more power.

Therefore, for this conflict, similarly to the previous one in Myanmar, the two religious groups are used to identify the groups in conflict being more political based rather than purely religious. As furtherly stated by The London Times that this conflict is not religious, “It is about the self-assertion of two distinct communities, one of which is dominant in the public affairs of the province.” The main source of conflict is the different desires on nationality, which then led to the segregation of the Catholic group in order for the other to maintain its domain and ideologies. The religion itself did not strongly contribute to the conflict as neither provided motives to fight the other, especially as well they are both under Christianity.

I chose to analyze in depth these two case studies as they are very different but have a similar outcome. They are located in different areas of the world, with different political and economic contexts, and with different religions involved. However what links them is the political conflict between religious groups. Other case studies could be further explored such as the Sunni versus Shia conflict in Lebanon or the Hindu against Muslims in India, which ae also argued to have more political or territorial roots rather than religious. After the analysis I believe that religion is one of the minor factors of the conflict. From a primordialism perspective, someone’s religious identity has deep social foundations that create certain values within ethnic groups. This further supports the idea argued throughout that religion is mostly used to create a differentiation between two opposition or ethnic groups and unify the ones part of the same religion with similar beliefs. However, the actual causes that instigate the political conflict are well more rooted into the conditions of the country, the desires of the groups and the political and economic contexts and aspirations therefore not of pure religious nature.