UN: Violence committed in the name of religion
10 March 2015, Geneva, — Violence committed in the name of religion does not simply ‘erupt’, but is typically caused by contemporary factors and actors that provide the fertile ground for the seeds of hatred, United Nations human rights expert Heiner Bielefeldt said today during the presentation of his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.
"That kind of violence typically originates from geographic, historical, political, social, economic circumstances as well as communal, local, regional and international ones," Mr. Bielefeldt noted.
In his study on preventing violence committed in the name of religion, the human rights expert warns that "while it would be wrong to focus on religion in isolation when analysing the problem, it would be equally simplistic to reduce religious motives to mere ‘excuses’ for violent crimes perpetrated in their name."
Photo: UN
