Hector Avalos: Relationship Between Religion And Violence

Theorist Hector Avalos believes that religion is inherently violent, to support his claim he concludes that “most violence is due to scarce resources, real or perceived” (Avalos, 18). Avalos also brings to my attention that religions tend to create new scarce sources as they grow (Eller, Module 11.4.4). Furthermore, he realizes that religious conflict relies on scarce resources made from unproven logic (Avalos,18). In making his claim Avalos has convinced me of the position he holds when discussing the relationship between religion and violence.

The idea of most violence being due to scarce resources is a great way to paint the bigger picture. When people start to notice that there is not enough of something to go around, a problem then occurs. They feel left out and isolated. This is something that vary from extremely serious terms to terms that one might find mediocre. For instance, a significant scarce resource in todays society is oil as well as gas. There has been an outbreak of tension throughout the Middle East in order to obtain oil from various countries. Then there are scarce resources that doesn’t seem as major such as love in a family. One member of the family may feel as if love is not being distributed property and that can cause conflict as well. Resources are anything that is desirable such as

land, food, power, and money. It doesn’t stop there, the term resources is broad and leaves a lot of room for disputes.
Religion is thought to be the creator of additional scarce resources (Eller, Module 11.4.4).

For example, religions create holy sites, and rituals that exclude anyone of another religion. Just that is enough to cause violence amongst one another. Not welcoming everyone to the holy sites or allowing everyone to participate in the rituals brings about isolation. Again, the feeling of not being accepted can cause violence. Things such as “salvation, knowledge of God’s will, and moral certitude” (Eller, Module 11.4.4) are also some of the resources that religions provide that can later cause conflict. These resources are things that are not accessible to

all.
Along with, scarce resources exposing the violence of religion, Avalos also believed that because the resources were reliant on problematic rationales they do the same. When there can not be any conformation of the propositions, then violence becomes an option. Avalos believes this is what makes religious violence more tragic than nonreligious violence, and I agree with his opinion.
Throughout history there has been numerous accounts where Avalos theory is proven to be correct. Isolation almost always result in some sort of conflict. When it comes to resources, if someone values something that isn’t available to them they may feel the need to to retrieve that item under any means necessary. If the item is valuable to them, it is safe to say that the item is probably just as valuable to the person obtaining it. Both sided wanting the same thing and neither being willing to compromise generates violence.
Avalos does a great job in justifying his argument. I believe that religion is inherently violent although that may not have been and is not its ultimate purpose. Religions being different from one another creates a demeanor amongst the practitioners that is unwelcoming to religions other than their own, causing unpleasant behavior. The fact that religions have different beliefs that cannot be proven ass to the unpleasant behavior as well. This is something that naturally occurs from religion and with religion there will always be some sort of conflict or dispute.