Moral Neutrality of Religion in the Light of Conflicts and Violence in Mediatized World

Abstract

Although only seven percent of wars in human history were caused by explicit religious motives– as it is suggested by one estimate – religious beliefs affect human attitude to the world. Especiallyin the context of the rash of contemporary conflicts and terror attacks which have a stated connec-tion to religious motives, it is important to try to understand the possible religious motivations ofsuch antisocial and dangerous behaviors. There are several different research perspectives on thistopic, but none of them by itself offers a sufficient explanation. The purpose of this essay is to showthat religious components themselves can be interpreted as morally neutral, and that their supposedimpact on behavioral patterns can, in fact, be attributed to non-religious factors. Religion is discussedas cultural phenomenon partially interacting with cognitive and adaptive patterns.