Brief

Throughout history, power structures have been extremely unequal. Therefore, oppression takes place.

“The power structure draws its validity and strength solely from the existence of the people's struggle.” (Frantz Fanon)

Our subject is based on how historically, religion and beliefs have been used as one of the tools to divide populations creating the “us and them” mentality, which allowed violence to occur by dehumanizing the 'other’ religion. Therefore, the topic is how belief systems are used for violence and murder:

“The Christian motto 'All men are brothers', however, also means that those who do not accept brotherhood are not men.” (Zizek)

Displacement from one context to another, make our own definition.... More about people and how does it affect their lives
Taking away someone's human characteristics
In this context, the value of religion is distorted by using the belief system, which at its core is often peaceful and loving, as reasoning for violence. The forces that are displacing the value of a belief are social forces, such as manipulation, conditioning, misinformation, and deception. (Montville, Joseph V.)

By misuse of religion values, we mean the twist of religion scripts, values, and attachment to it as a reason to oppress and violate others. misusing religion values as a tool to achieve power and control, even when the intent of the religion is pacific.

This results in violence in the name of religion, determining who lives or dies. Examples:
- Reproductive rights in the US being taken away in the name of Christianity (condemning women to death/sickness/debt) (Sellers and Venkataramanan, Sidik)
- Oppression of women (and murder of women): The Iranian women struggles under the Islamic ruling force. (Yeganeh, Nahid)
- Violence against Muslims in the name of “war against terrorism” (Taylor, P. M.)
- The past and history of violence practiced in the name of beliefs and the underlying truth and motivation behind it. (Avalos)

SOURCES

Zizek, Slavoj. Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. 1st ed., Picador, 2008.

Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth. New Ed, Gardners Books, 2001.

Montville, Joseph V., “RELIGION AND PEACEMAKING.” (2001).

Sellers, Frances Stead, and Meena Venkataramanan. “Spread of Catholic Hospitals Limits Reproductive Care Across the U.S.” Washington Post, 10 Oct. 2022.

Sidik, Saima M. “The Effects of Overturning Roe V. Wade in Seven Simple Charts.” Nature, 10 Aug. 2022.

Yeganeh, Nahid. “Women, Nationalism and Islam in Contemporary Political Discourse in Iran.” Feminist Review, no. 44, 1993.

Taylor, P. M. “Perception Management and the ‘War’ Against Terrorism.” Journal of Information Warfare, vol. 1, no. 3, 2002.

Avalos, Hector. Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. First Edition, First Printing, Prometheus Books, 2005.