Perhaps the most admirable part of the response to the conflict that began on Sept. 11 has been a general reluctance to call it a religious war. Officials and commentators have rightly stressed that this is not a battle between the Muslim world and the West, that the murderers are not representative of Islam. President Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington to reinforce the point. At prayer meetings across the United States and throughout the world, Muslim leaders have been included alongside Christians, Jews and Buddhists.
Read the rest of the article, you might realize just what a part religion plays in the Iraq conflict and others:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...C1A9679C8B 63
Generals in the US Army have cast the war in religious terms themselves:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1016-01.htm
As much as anyone may say that this is NOT a religious conflict, people who are public and international representatives of the war efforts have cast it in that light, and like it or not, have turned it into one. Anyone who ways "we should take out those damn muslims"..... well if extremist groups had religious beliefs that didn't involve killing others, would anyone even care? Religion is at the heart of it, and the ultra-religious right are the captains in charge of the ship of war.
Religion even played a part in the US Civil war, and what most people don't realize is that it played a larger part than is commonly acknowledged.
"According to J. William Jones, Confederate Chaplain and author of one of the best documentaries of the Great Revival, virtually every Confederate brigade was affected--and approximately ten percent of the soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia accepted Christ. Night after night troops participated in prayer meetings, worshipped, and listened to ministers proclaim the good news. Virtually every gathering ended with soldiers coming forward to accept Christ or receive prayer. When a pond or river was nearby, the soldiers would frequently step forward for baptisms--regardless of how cold the weather was. "
http://www.greatamericanhistory.net/revival.htm
Men in war turn to god. Men in god turn to war. The two seem to happily go hand in hand.