Religions Cause Wars
("Dr. Bill" Had It Right)

Many otherwise intelligent and informed persons believe the above pronouncement to be true. Yet it rests on a profound misunderstanding of human nature. Although there are exceptions, wars are generally the result of the organisation and channeling of human aggression. This process is then covered up by noble, often religious justifications.

I will never forget a radio broadcast by Adolf Hitler I heard as a child prior to the Nazi invasion of Poland. The greatest aggressor of modern times complained about the mistreatment of the German minority in Danzig by the Poles and claimed that it was necessary for the German Reich to put an end to this shocking state of affairs. I did not know where Danzig was, but the threatening tone of the speech was so unmistakable that more than sixty years later I still remember it. A generation earlier, the European powers confronted each other in the fall of 1914 without there being a clear necessity for armed hostility, although the Germans believed they had been badly treated in the race for colonies. Barbara Tuchman in her brilliant book The Guns of August (1962) describes a situation in which rich and powerful nations stumbled into the greatest and most tragic slaughter civilization had known up to that time. While I do not contend that religions never enter the dynamics leading up to war, the fact that WWI had no such component is significant.

When we travelled in Spain three years ago, we came across (as had many tourists before us) evidence of harmonious co-existence of Jews, Christians and Muslims in cities such as Cordoba, Granada, Seville and Toledo. Muslims administered these places from fortified palaces, the Alcazars. After centuries the "Moors" were driven back to North Africa in the 1200's by the Reyes Católicos (Catholic Kings). One might very well consider that this action was justified in that the Muslims had invaded the country and had imposed a different culture on the population. But the Reyes did not stop with military action. They expelled the Jews who had been part of the urban prosperity of the time, as well as Muslim civilians, and opened Spain to the worst excesses of the Inquisition. Neither of these measures could be justified by the Gospels but was the result of exceedingly unlovable psychological drives.

Another more recent example comes to mind. When the British allowed Ireland to become independent in 1922, they carved out the Protestant counties in the North (with industrial Belfast as the anchor) which remained part of the United Kingdom. The resulting substantial Catholic minority in Ulster was discriminated against and wanted the entire island to be part of the Republic. It also resulted in a Protestant majority in Northern Ireland which regarded the then Republic with fear and dislike. This was a predominantly rural and poor state in which a very conservative Catholic Church was dominant. Fast forward seventy-five years: Hundreds of persons have been killed and many resources wasted in attacks by the Irish Republican Army and retaliation by Protestant extremists in regard to the incorporation of the northern counties into the Republic. In the meantime, Belfast has lost its shipbuilding industry and the Republic which joined the EU years ago, has become such a prosperous place that many in the Irish Diaspora previously living abroad have come "home." The formerly unquestioned dominance of the Catholic Church has been very much reduced in the Republic, and the North, as part of the UK, is now a EU member as well. If everyone attended to her or his business, tourism, trade and prosperity would increase on the whole island and the differences between the two parts would substantially disappear. But extremists on both sides are still threatening each other. Stupidity and stubborn hostility are the problem — not religion.

An even more recent example comes from India. This country despite its great problems of poverty and caste has earned the admiration of the world for its steadfast adherence to democratic principles. For a while, its federal government was in the hands of nationalists who wanted to make Hinduism the state religion and abandon the now traditional neutrality. Taking their cue from this situation, extremist Hindus in Gujarat State dug up an ancient quarrel involving a former temple and a present mosque and started to attack Muslims. To top it off, they tossed a couple of hand grenades into some Christian churches until the authorities brought these criminals under control. Were they acting as devout Hindus? Absolutely not. They clothed their murderous instincts in the garments of an ancient and peaceful religion.

"Dr. Bill," to whom the title of this column refers, was William Menninger M.D. (1899-1966)a psychiatrist and a principal in the Menninger Clinic. The "Dr. Bill" label was pinned on him for his friendliness and genuine concern for others. During WWII he was a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and after the War and until his death he was a tireless advocate for the mentally ill. He insisted on treating them as patients rather than as persons whose condition aroused shame in their families and who could be "warehoused "out of sight. His collected papers A Psychiatrist for a Troubled World (Viking 1967), a title which he considered conceited when he saw the manuscript, contains an address to the Maryland Legislature. Towards the end of his talk he told the legislators that hate is the world’s greatest problem. 1966, when some of our inner cities were burning and the Vietnam War was in progress, seems a very long time ago. But "Dr. Bill’s words are as true today as they were when first spoken. "Dr Bill" had it right.

February 2005