It is often difficult to separate religion and culture. Although religions often promote the highest ethical ideals, they often get entangled with aspects of human life, including conflict, and are frequently implicated in violence. Religion is known to influence political spheres and create issues. This is true even in countries where there is a distinction between religion and political matters. This is true in countries like the US and UK where the matters of church and the state are kept separate. In countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, many laws are created and implemented keeping in mind the religious beliefs of the people. It can be said that these countries violate human rights within their countries. In fact, some of the most oppressive countries in the world use religion to influence and control people. In earlier times, the clergy played the role of being consultants to the monarchs which led to the oppression of the serfs in the past. Religion when transcends from personal belief to influence political beliefs can lead to corruption of government and oppression of people. Religious corruption needs to be avoided to maintain a healthy and harmonious society.
Religions generally go to a great deal of trouble to stress how consistent, how changeless, how solid they are, but change is, in fact, an observable and constant factor in religion. Religion develops over time and/or in different milieus. We can learn a lot by seeing what remains constant and what changes over time, what it is thought necessary to maintain in a new situation, and what can be compromised upon. What works when religion is a dominant force in society (as, for example, in Christian or Islamic theocracies) must be reappraised in the context of religious pluralism, communism or civil society.
Religion often also creates rifts between people, this is because people want to fulfil their own personal agendas. Extremism and fundamentalism are terms that are used in discussions of the relationship between religion and violence. For example, in many religions’ extremist acts are carried out in the name of religion. Ideas propagated in certain religions can be misconstrued. For example, in Islam, the concept of Jihad is misunderstood. For most Muslims, jihad is used in two different ways. The “greater jihad” is the most common. This is the constant struggle against personal sin, involving repentance and seeking God’s mercy, avoiding temptation, and pursuing justice for others. The “lesser jihad”, although less common for Muslims, is the more widely known. It involves the legitimate use of force, sometimes militarily, against those who do evil.
Religious violence has increased in across the world. These range from Islamic extremists waging global jihad and power struggles between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East to the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and outbreaks of violence between Christians and Muslims across Africa. According to Pew, in 2018 more than a quarter of the world's countries experienced a high incidence of hostilities motivated by religious hatred, mob violence related to religion, terrorism, and harassment of women for violating religious codes.
