Religious Opposition To Modern States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Religious Opposition To Modern States - Essay Example Several deadly terrorist attacks by radical Islamic fundamentalists have targeted American citizens and interests. But the hatred reached a new intensity with the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 5,000 people and demolishing global symbols of American economic might. Now, even as the United States and its allies seek to destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, critics are questioning America's sensitivity to the concerns of the Islamic world and beyond. In his article, Juergensmeyer continued to cite about how politics have come to become inclined to subsume religious issues:Insofar as the US public and its leaders embraced the image of war following the September 11 attacks, the US view of the war was also prone to religionization. "God Bless America" became the country's unofficial national anthem. US President George Bush spoke of defending America's "righteous cause" and of the "absolute evil" of its enemies. However, the US military engagement in the months following September 11 was primarily a secular commitment to a definable goal and largely restricted to objectives in which civil liberties and moral rules of engagement still applied.   In purely religious battles waged in divine time and with heavenly rewards, there is no need to compromise goals. There is also no need to contend with society's laws and limitations when one is obeying a higher authority. In spiritualizing violence, religion gives the act of violence remarkable power.