Rival conceptions of the allegory of the cave

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The Clash of Religions

We are now living in a world where our leaders promote unity among all nations where countries and states give assistance to one another . Such assistance may come in the form of donations from rich countries to help feed the hungry ones , by way of lending technical expertise to nations which lack them , or through extension of military support to countries with internal or external conflicts . Equality among peers is similarly advocated where differences in gender , class

, culture and race do not matter anymore . An example of this is the widely campaigned gender sensitivity and cultural diversity awareness , among others . In the meantime , international trade of goods and services is broadly encouraged to promote globalization a concept which experts say is the key to worldwide progress and development

However , despite all these efforts in maintaining good relationships with neighboring countries and speeding up economic growth worldwide we are still facing a lot of major risks and problems - whether seen as consequences of these efforts or lack thereof . Example of these difficulties are those concerning the state of our planet , the state of morals and values of humankind and the violent and destructive regional armed conflicts as mentioned in the essays of Vaclav Havel and Salman Rushdie entitled The Divine Revolution and November 2001 : Not about Islam , respectively . Both articles , although different in approach and subject matter , show the important role religion plays in upholding peace among and within nations , and in preserving our environment

So what does religion have to do with the above-mentioned issues Furthermore , how come , in a world where men and women supposedly co-exist peacefully without any regard to whatever differences they have , religious diversity , or lack of spiritual faith , take the blame in all of these

In a growth-oriented globalize world , religion has indeed been a lead actor in The Divine Revolution , Havel (1998 ) said that

In recent years the great religions have been playing an increasingly important role in global politics . Since the fall of Communism , the world has become multipolar instead of bipolar , and many countries outside the hitherto dominant Euro-American cultural sphere have grown in self confidence and influence . But the more closely tied we are by the bonds of a single global civilization , the more the various religious groups emphasize all the ways in which they differ from each other (638

The above passage suggests that religion has always been involved in global politics that it has been used as a powerful tool by dominant cultures to influence and rule over other nations

Differences in religious beliefs became more evident in that these distinctive qualities had been used to identify which cultures are strong (and which ones are weak . Moreover , religion has been also used not only to gather power but to pursue political interests and agendas no matter how noble and religious ' our leaders ' intentions are . But as Havel (1988 ) further put it , . [an important fact is] that...