Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Society, State and Religion: Their Relationship from the Perspective of the World Religions: An Introduction
- 1 Catholic Christianity
- 2 Protestantism
- 3 The Departure and Return of God: Secularization and Theologization in Judaism
- 4 Islam and Secularization
- 5 Hinduism
- 6 Secularization: Confucianism and Buddhism
- 7 From Hostility through Recognition to Identification: State–Church Models and their Relationship to Freedom of Religion
- 8 ‘Science Doesn't Tremble’: The Secular Natural Sciences and the Modern Feeling for Life
- 9 The Religious Situation in Europe
- 10 The Religious Situation in the USA
- 11 The Religious Situation in East Asia
- 12 The Relevance of the European Model of Secularization in Latin America and Africa
- 13 The Desecularization of the Middle East Conflict: From a Conflict between States to a Conflict between Religious Communities
- Afterword
13 - The Desecularization of the Middle East Conflict: From a Conflict between States to a Conflict between Religious Communities
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Society, State and Religion: Their Relationship from the Perspective of the World Religions: An Introduction
- 1 Catholic Christianity
- 2 Protestantism
- 3 The Departure and Return of God: Secularization and Theologization in Judaism
- 4 Islam and Secularization
- 5 Hinduism
- 6 Secularization: Confucianism and Buddhism
- 7 From Hostility through Recognition to Identification: State–Church Models and their Relationship to Freedom of Religion
- 8 ‘Science Doesn't Tremble’: The Secular Natural Sciences and the Modern Feeling for Life
- 9 The Religious Situation in Europe
- 10 The Religious Situation in the USA
- 11 The Religious Situation in East Asia
- 12 The Relevance of the European Model of Secularization in Latin America and Africa
- 13 The Desecularization of the Middle East Conflict: From a Conflict between States to a Conflict between Religious Communities
- Afterword
Summary
The Charter of the United Nations disapproves of a practice long a standard feature of human history, one often glorified by history books and religions. Article 2 stipulates:
3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered. 4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
On this view, when Alexander the Great acquired territories ‘with the spear’, deriving from this the right to rule without limitation, he would, according to contemporary law, have to reckon with a war crimes trial. The settlement of land by the tribes of Israel or the conquest of the Middle East by Islamic armies are also violations of current law, though they are transfigured and idealized in religious writings. ‘Conquest no longer constitutes a title of territorial acquisition’, as Graf Vitzthum sums up the modern-day conception of the law in the volume Völkerrecht (‘international law’). I would like to look into a case which demonstrates howgreat, even today, the tension can become between this international prohibition on violence and religious claims to a territory, bringing out the political turbulence to which this gives rise.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Secularization and the World Religions , pp. 296 - 323Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2009