War in Christianity and IslamDoes a combination of words like "a war in the name of God" make sense? The fundamental principles on which Christianity and Islam are founded are those of goodness, kindness, lack of aggression and respect for some moral laws. Christianity and Islam provide human society with an ethical code, which totally rejects war because it is something violent, inhuman and cruel. Yet, throughout human history, many wars have been justified with religion and the imposition of the "right faith". Due to the misunderstanding of some parts of the religion or their deliberate abuse, European and Islamic states have often used violence to achieve their goals. Over the years, the idea has developed that Islam is an aggressive religion. This is mainly due to the fact that the word “jihad” – a very important concept in the Islamic faith – is often misunderstood or its initial meaning is intentionally misrepresented. From the beginning of the Islamic invasion of Europe, a sense of devotion to religion was instilled in Muslim soldiers and believers. Religion was a really important part of their lives. Soldiers were taught to die for Allah in their holy war against disbelievers: this was the so-called jihad. However, if you carefully examine the Koran, the holy book for Muslims, you will discover that jihad has a completely different meaning: it is an internal struggle with oneself to obtain results in a certain area or, simply, for the self-improvement. . Even though most Islamic believers know what jihad really is, there are fanatics who still look to the above-mentioned word as an excuse for their appalling and inhumane actions. Nowadays, this is still a big problem, especially regarding... the medium of paper... a blatant example of how religion was misused. Innocent people were killed in the name of Christianity: this was a terrible travesty of religion whose fundamental principle was not to hurt or kill the enemy but to love him. Furthermore, these were not enemies but ordinary people who for various reasons were not liked by the Church. Last but not least, there were also religious wars in France and Spain. Soldiers killed their friends and compatriots because of their leaders' power struggle. Religion has always played an important role in the development of human society. This is the main reason why it has so often been used for unjust purposes. The concept of war is in total opposition to what Islam and Christianity teach their followers. However, through different means, religion has been and is often brought into play to satisfy the interests of powerful people.