Culture And Religion In Bruce Lincoln's Holy Terrors

Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain

insight on political and cultural influences on religion throughout the eras, as well as to clarify the distinct link between cultural and political influences with religion around the world. Many different times and countries will be deeply analyzed in order to create a perspective in which can clearly show the real impact cultural and political standings truly have on religious wars. The three main topics mentioned above will be dissected and referred to in order to exactly prove how political and cultural obligations, civil war and terrorism, come down to more than just religion itself, but stem out too many other aspects of a communities lives (Lincoln 4).
Holy Terrors is a novel that portrays the indifference of religion after a violent attack that is deemed towards a certain religious group or practice (Lincoln 4). The main purpose of Lincoln’s book is to prove how religion can be used as a fault for violence and how it never represents an entire religious group, only a small percentage. Lincoln shows that in events, such as the 9/11, terrorists and others who initiate war and violence use the name of God in order to justify their acts of horror. Due to their drastic interpretation of religion, these groups of violent people are able to be confident with their actions, as they feel that God would have wanted the death and mayhem to occur (Lincoln 143). Lincoln writes this novel in a very political perspective, as he mentions the acts that parliament take before and after religious violence occurs. For example, in the first part of the novel Lincoln talks about 9/11. Instead of focusing on exactly what happened during the attack, he talks about the President of the United States, George Bush; and the head of the Islamic Military group, Osama Bin Laden, and how they politically handled the traumatic event that both of them connected to different aspects of religion (Lincoln 25). Lincoln tries to show that politics rely on the aspect of religion in order to make sense of these attacks on their countries, because without it the act of violence would seem too inhuman. With the excuse of God, these acts seem somewhat more justifiable, even if they are as traumatic as the 9/11.
In order to fully understand this paper, the connection between culture and religion needs to be understood as it is explained in the novel Holy Terrors.

Culture is made up of three main components: ethics, aesthetics, and religion (Lincoln 52). The lines of culture become skewed as it often blends in with political and religious views. In Western Europe during the time of the Reformation, the Church was the central ruler of the society. This meant that religion was not only a cultural view, but also a political one. As time moved on, the Church became less important, but today’s standards still connect religion to culture. This becomes an issue as individuals who are noticeably outside the culture in forms or religion are often judged and looked down upon (Lincoln 56). Due to this outcast it can cause anger to certain religions and culture which can often lead to these acts of violence. With the hate between cultures, religion becomes the justifiable mean on which violence can occur. Many individuals can state that God wants them to make their own religion superior, and one way they can draw attention to their religion is terrorism and other forms of violence. Due to this connection to culture, religion can not be separated into it’s own personal category, as it is forever affected by the changes and culture of the community (Lincoln 57). As time and culture progress, the religion of the community will either change with it, or fight the changes which will often cause conflict. This can be seen in the results of the practice of Jihad, the Reformation and

9/11.
When religious violence occurs, it is often because a certain group of people feel politically and culturally pressured to protect their religion. Many twist the words of their religion in order resort to the extreme violence to get their point across (Cordall 1). The practice of extreme Jihad is a good example of political and cultural obligations going to the extreme. The Islamic term Jihad refers to maintaining Muslim religion. The majority who practices Jihad often maintain their religion through worship and teaching their children of their religious duties. However, because of the political and cultural pressures that some Muslims may be under, the practice of Jihad can turn into a very violent attempt of destroying other religions that may be a threat to their own (Cordall 3). The main leaders of certain extreme Jihad groups use a cultural obligation in order to recruit new members to their teams. This can be done by stating it is their duty to serve for their country, once their team becomes popular more will join. This often happens in smaller areas, often in poverty, where people are more desperate to belong. Once a majority of people join from these smaller areas, it starts to become the cultural social norm, and many start to feel obligated to join these groups (Cordall 6). After the extreme Jihad groups gain their reinforcement they use a political obligation in order to make their targets seem justifiable. They state that their country would want these main targets taken down, as these targets have caused harm to their country in the past (Cordall 6). These extreme groups that cause mayhem through political and cultural obligations, not only cause violence in other countries, but it also causes violence in their own country in the form of civil war.
Civil wars throughout the world tends to be caused by a disagreement between the ruling religion of a state, against another religion. Especially in the past, religion is often strongly connected to how the state or country is run, as the Church tended to have a say in the laws and social structure of the townspeople (Seligman 163). In today’s society religion is still strongly connected to the political rulings of a country, as a ruler often takes their own religion in account before creating, or abiding to a rule of their country. These political rulings tend to get very biased when religion gets involved, such as when the Church favoured people of a Catholic religion whom often got larger property. With the strong link to religion and political ruling, a lot of conflict and disagreement tends to rise from others of a different religion. This disagreement often becomes so strong and passionate that civil war is the main way to attempt to bring peace to the state (Seligman 160). The Religious War that broke out in France during the Reformation is a perfect example of exactly how violent a state can become while it is politically connected to religion (Cole 405). During the sixteenth century France was composed of two main religious groups, the Catholics and the Huguenots. The Catholic Church ran most of the country as it enforced the laws and social morals of France, which thus put the people of the Catholic religion at a higher power than those of the Huguenots. As Huguenots started to become larger in number, the Church started to feel threatened by the newer religion and the Catholic League was created. The main purpose of the Catholic League was to get the Protestants to either convert to Catholicism, or to leave the country. However, the Huguenots stood their ground and a civil war broke out between the two groups (Cole 407). The main purpose of this civil war was to try and find the more powerful religious group, however after many years and a lot of death, both religions still existed in France. Civil wars are attempts to stabilize the powerful religion of a certain state or country (Seligman 163). Most civil wars that occur within a country are often stemmed from a religious disagreement where part of the state feel threatened or unwelcomed. If religion did not hold so much political power throughout the state, a lot of the civil wars would cease to exist. The religion would not effect the states laws or social standards and the issue between multiple religions within a state would become a less drastic issue (Seligman 159). If civil war does not become completely resolved, it can often lead to terrorism in order for a religious group to get their point across.
As long as religion is being linked to a political and cultural aspect, terrorism is a form of violence that occurs throughout time. Many individuals become outcast by the popular cultures due to their religion, which leaves them feeling threatened and envious towards countries like the United States. These main countries, like the United States, which tend to threaten smaller countries or religious groups, become a main target for terrorism (Novak 779). Politics is also a main factor towards religious terrorism. If one is to be politically threatened by another country, via attack or news report, a group of individuals may feel vulnerable and act out in order to save their culture and religion (Novak 779). This becomes apparent through the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States. On September 11, 2001 four coordinated terrorist attacks were put in place when the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and crashed them into public locations around the United States. This terrorist attack resulted in the death of around three thousand innocent people and caused a great amount of mayhem and terror around the world. The leader of the military group, Bin Laden, stated that the attacks were nothing less then “the visitation of divine vengeance on a sinful nation” (Lincoln 29). These attacks were done in the name of God, and their main purpose was to punish the United States for their interference on the Muslim world (Novak 781). Due to the fact that Islamic religions feel like such an outcast of the culture standard of the United States, they began to feel threatened of how the United States was starting to invade their lives and culture. The Al-Qaeda felt that if the United States continued to be culturally superior throughout the world, it will eventual cause their own people to start to sin, in order to become culturally connected with the United States (Payne 37). If the culture of the United States was not connected so strongly to the Catholic Religion, this terrorist attack may have been different. Since Islamic religions feel so left out of the United State culture in many forms, such as clothes, food, music, and religion, they often feel as though the United States looks down upon them. It does not help that the United States is held at such a high standard throughout the World, as many movies and books often portray it as the land of the superior and strong (Novak 783). If the states did not include Catholic religion as such a strong part of their religion, the Islamic would not feel as threatened by the overpowering culture, as it would cause no effect to their own religion. The 9/11 terrorist attack was done in the name of God, and if the Al-Qaeda felt that the Western God was not affecting their God, it would have been less violent. In this case, many of the terrorist attacks would not have as many main targets. Despite all these tragic terrorist attacks, it can often help contribute to the academic study of religion.
Holy Terrors has contributed vastly to the academic study of religion, as it helps to prove the in order for the study to reach its full potential, it needs to multi-cultural (Lincoln 71). It is proven that many acts of religious violence occur because one religion feels unimportant compared to another. There are many theories to the academic study of religion that state political and cultural ideas can often sneak into religious view points (Gill 965). Lincoln helps to prove that cultural and political views can vastly affect the way that a religion is run. What once was viewed as religion can drastically change after a decade due to how the cultural and political environment changed in the state. A religious study that was once deemed normal quickly can change due to a new cultural advancement, like a new piece of technology or a new discovery, or a new political leader. Holy Terrors helps to prove that the multi-cultural aspect of religious study is important as every religion needs to be acknowledged with the same importance in order to avoid conflict that may occur otherwise (Lincoln 14).
In conclusion, if religion was able to stand on its own, without the influences of culture and politics, less religious conflict and wars would occur. Since politics and culture are so closely linked to religion it can cause obligations, civil wars and terrorism to occur. Politics and culture often help to accelerate and make issues worse and violent (Lincoln 17). As time progresses one needs to think about the implements that media will cause through a cultural and political disadvantage to religion. Information and ideas are becoming easily accessible and more biased, and harsh judgment are able to be put out for the entire world to see. What is already an accelerator to violence, is becoming even worse, and soon cultural statements and political newscasts can be place uncensored online. This will, and already has, led to a more drastic and quickened approach of religious violence as more people are either getting offended or brainwashed by these new ideas they are obtaining (Novak 781). As society is progressing, this generation feels the world is becoming more peaceful. However, one must start to question if our quick changes of interests and different cultural views are leading to more unnecessary violence then in the past.