The Pursuit of Social & Religious Justice :: Essays Papers

The Pursuit of Social & Religious Justice The pursuit of social and religious justice has been part of our societal structure since the beginning of time. The most recent, large scale, attempt at the â€Å"purification† of the human race, in the ‘name’ of social/religious justice, was put into motion by Osama bin Laden, who caught the eyes of the world by having some of his followers kill thousands of American civilians. This event was a life changing experience for me. Watching an airplane crash into the second twin tower, before anyone had any idea what was happening on September 11, 2001 opened my eyes, and many others’ eyes, to the outside world; it made me wonder, â€Å"why?† It made me think about how the world sees America. This paper will not delineate why there are lunatics intent on the extermination of certain races, religious followers, or any other group of people; what it will do is explore the basic teachings of the most influential prophets of the three main mo notheistic religions, as well as discuss historical â€Å"Holy† wars, in an attempt to show that these proclaimed â€Å"Holy† wars are in fact political wars – and not within the practices of the basic religious beliefs. It will then offer some suggestions as to implementing positive future strategies for social/religious justice. In the very beginning, men did not worship any God, but merely envisioned some higher force, which influenced much of their life. As Karen Armstrong puts it,â€Å"...he is strangely absent from their daily lives: he has no special cult and is never depicted in effigy† [1]. As man evolved, so did his belief system. Before monotheism entered their lives, they worshipped idols, demi-gods and many gods who were believed to be a part of a unity shared among the gods, nature and mankind. The development of the three monotheist religions occurred in a sequential order. The first believed prophet was Moses, born around 800BC. Moses had lived a privileged life as the son of a royal Egyptian family. He was not originally accustomed to the worship of one God, known to some as Yahweh, but that changed one day as he herded his father-in-law’s sheep.