Culturally Based Conflicts - Essay Example

Christianity as a new religion with a fresh set of ideas was accepted by the huge population of Europe and the Americas. The colonization of the Western Countries in the East also caused several conversions of the people residing in that region to Christianity. The religion when spread across border to the Americas changed its colors due to the influence of the local religions preexistent in the continent. Christianity thus survived in different forms in different continents though the main ideal remained unaltered.

There was a typical local form of this religion. The Christian missionaries however did not approve of this kind of transformation of Christianity. Islam on the other hand, came into existence much later when Muhammad who considered himself as the last prophet of God, spread his teachings among his countrymen. The main ideology of Islam was that God was unique and it was the duty of men to serve God and love his fellowmen. The religion spread very fast throughout the world and had a lot of acceptability.

The Muslims or the followers of Islam considered Quran as their holy text and held that the views in the previous versions of the religion became transformed and improvised over time. The holy men who had taken the responsibility of the spreading the religion to the rest of the world were either preachers or scholars or traders who would move around the world and grow their community. This religion also blended with the local culture and took different shape in various countries while maintaining the central theme.

However, this was not very acceptable for the Muslims who held the orthodox views of Islam. It appeared offensive and sacrilegious for them and it aroused a feeling of rebel among them. This led to many movements and agitations demanding the purity of the practice of the religion in its original form. This kind of movement was particularly seen in the eighteenth century. Scientific Revolution was commenced in the eighteenth century in Europe when a lot of research and development took place in various fields of study like astronomy, physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology along with the development of various new thoughts that would depart to change the modern world and would show a new light away from the dark medieval ages (Huff, 1993).

It was a social movement when eminent scientists and scholars put forward their new thoughts and discoveries challenging the old faith that had existed. This change mostly took place in various parts of Europe and changed the way the world was looked at. Modern Science got a new place in people’s lives and it challenged the already existing old beliefs and faiths. This had led to a lot of opposition from the religious and political authorities and it led to a lot of conflict of interest among religious groups.

The entire superstructure of scientific revolution rested on the base created by the Greek culture that had seen various stalwarts like Plato, Aristotle and Ptolemy contributing to social changes. These people had their impact on the modern scientific revolution and encouraged the people of the modern era to think beyond what is laid down in the religious scriptures. The rational minds of the people were awakened and they were encouraged to question any kind of blind superstitious belief. This had a positive effect on the literacy level of the population of the states.

Most of the religious places of worship like monasteries were set up only for the spread