Religion, Violence, and Identity

Even through thousands of years of historical transformations, development, and rise and collapse of dynasties, Islam has never fallen in China. The Chinese incorporated Islam in social, cultural, and political aspects of their way of life. The commonalities between Confucianism and Islam contributed to making it possible for Islam to flourish in the Ningxia region of China. As a result, the Hui Muslim’s diversity of culture and religion was accepted, and this greatly influenced the way of life of Hui Muslims and opened the door for the economic boom in China.  

The term "religious violence" is frequently used to identify violence that is purportedly committed in the name of religion. In this paper, I look at examples of religious violence to demonstrate that people are misusing religion to create violence. Lastly, I suggest a more useful term than "religious violence" that better describes the motivations behind these violent acts.

As Japan is a secularized nation, minority religions could potentially be at risk of disappearing or becoming just a commodity. I argue that Christianity, in its various forms, will ‘die’ in a sense ‘die’  within Japan as it is morphed to fit the wants and demands of the Japanese environment.