By mid-2015, the world population had reached just over 7.2 billion people. World population increases at the rate of more than 227,000 each day; that’s approximately the number of residents of Richmond and Salem, VA combined.
Of the most significant denominations, Christians number slightly less than 2.4 billion including 1.2 billion Catholics, 535 million Protestants and 410 million Independents. The Muslim faith is embraced by nearly 1.7 billion followers of which about 14% are Shiites while Sunnis account for most of the other members.
The Hindu faith has about 975 million followers; Buddhists report membership of about 516 million and the Chinese “folk religionists” boast membership of more than 450 million. Judaism is embraced by just over 14 million worldwide. Total religious membership throughout the world amounts to 6.4 billion adherents of various denominations. This amounts to about 89% of the world’s people who have faith in some kind of representation of God.
Of almost 1,800 wars in history only about 6% can be defined as religious or holy wars (bellum sacrum). One of the first of this nature was called The Battle of Megiddo in 1468 BC between Pharaoh Thutmose of Egypt and the King of Kadesh. The Egyptian Pharaoh seeing Kadesh as a threat in Syria attacked and achieved a decisive victory.
Many of us remember the song that goes like this: “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down” (Joshua: C6, V20). Following the Lord’s instructions to destroy the city, He then asked Joshua to destroy nearby Ai; 30,000 warriors set the city alight killing all 12,000 residents. This was the Battle of Jericho and Ai; 1200 BC and the 2nd recorded holy war.
IN 167 BC, a Jewish priest named Mattathias and his five sons took on the Greeks who wanted to take over the Holy Land for its agricultural value. In spite of being outnumbered by the Greeks, Mattathias’ son Judah defeated the Greeks at Mizpah and took over Jerusalem. This battle was called The Maccabees (meaning hammer in Hebrew) the name adopted for the triumphant warriors. Orthodox Judaism was restored to the city; the last holy war of the B.C. period.
The first holy war after the birth of Christ (After Divinity) was at Malvian Bridge over the Tiber River in Italy in 312. Constantine’s victory over his opponent Maxentius assured that Christianity would thrive in Europe.
The Crusades ignited on November 8, 1095 when Pope Urban II decided to take over Jerusalem from Muslims. Though captured by Christians in 1099 it was retaken by Muslims through Jihad (holy war) after several years. Other Crusades were carried out until 1588, a span of 493 years. Next came the French Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598. The Thirty Years War in Bohemia ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the deaths of about 20% of the German population.
During the modern era the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990 left the country in a jumble of religions. The American Embassy was attacked by a suicide bomber killing 58 people including 17 U.S. citizens. The Sudanese Civil War begun in 1992 has been partially quelled but could begin anew at the drop of a hat. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have been killed, raped, starved and slaughtered as a result of ethnic cleansing.
Although some of our leaders have been unwilling to admit it, a religious war was detonated on September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers were reduced to twisted steel and micro-dust. An estimated 160,000 people have died in conflicts since that terrible day in 2001. Evil men and women throughout the world are plotting havoc as investigators worldwide try to intercept and prevent their malicious acts.
Mankind is at the intersection of advancement and regression. The development of deadly weapons works both ways; advancing technology sustains the same two courses of high risk and great achievement. Has our resolve of negotiation, compromise and mediation fallen behind our willingness to accept beheadings, mass hangings, barrel-bombing, chemical killing agents, suicide attacks and nuclear weapons?
While we dream of peace, wicked fiends plot death and destruction. As the UN debates, the Pope issues encyclicals and politicians spew unheard and unheeded condemnations.
Dick Baynton
