In Europe in the 16-17 centuries, wars between representatives of different Christian denominations (most often between Catholics and Protestants), which arose Ch. arr. because of contradictions on religious grounds (see Art. Reformation, Counter-Reformation).

The most important cause of religious wars is the struggle for faith; political and economic contradictions receded into the background. Religious wars were notable for their particular cruelty, a combination of military operations with continuous ideological struggle. They took place in the German lands, in France, in Switzerland, England, in combination with the national liberation struggle - in the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland.

In the German lands in 1530, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Reichstag rejected the "Augsburg Confession" proposed by the Lutherans. This became the starting point of a long conflict between the Catholic and Protestant princes, which was especially acute due to the political fragmentation of the empire. Protestant princes sought to seize the possessions of the Catholic Church (bishoprics and monasteries).

In 1531, they formed the Schmalkaldic Union, which in 1532-46 was connected with allied relations with France, and from 1538 with Denmark. During the Schmalkaldic War of 1546-48. the empire crushed this association of Protestants. However, they managed to gather new forces, and military operations resumed in 1552 brought them victory. The Treaty of Nassau in 1552 recognized the freedom of religion for the Lutherans.

According to the Augsburg Religious Peace (1555), the princes received the right to determine the religion of their subjects (the principle of "whose power, that is the faith"), and Lutheranism, along with Catholicism, was recognized as the official religion of the empire. Calvinists and Anabaptists did not receive such rights, which caused a number of local religious conflicts in the 16th and 17th centuries.

In France in 1562-98. civil wars took place, during which 2 noble groups fought for power - Catholics, based on Ch. arr. to the central and northeastern provinces of the country, and the Huguenots, who concentrated in the southern and western provinces. Both sides turned to the help of the allies: the Catholics - to Spain, the Huguenots - to the Protestants in the German lands and in the Netherlands. After the events of St. Bartholomew's Night (1572), the Huguenot Confederation of Cities and Nobility (essentially a state within a state) and the Catholic League (1576) were formed. The Huguenot wars ended with the Edict of Nantes. In the 17th century the isolated position of the Huguenots prevented the strengthening of absolutism in France. This led to the war of 1621-29. By peace at Ala, the secret articles of the Edict of Nantes were annulled, but the Huguenots retained freedom of religion until 1685.

In Switzerland, the confrontation between the Catholic and Protestant cantons resulted in the Kappel (1529, 1531) and 1st Wilmergen (1656) wars. The nature of the religious war was the first 3 stages of the Thirty Years' War (until the open speech of Catholic France on the side of the anti-Habsburg coalition in 1635).

The confrontation between the Anglicans (see Art. Anglicanism) and the Puritans largely determined the events of the English Revolution of the 17th century. and the civil war of 1642-46. The features of religious wars were to a certain extent inherent in the Spanish-Dutch wars of the 2nd half. 16 - beg. 17th century (see article Dutch Revolution).

The religious aspect was part of many conflicts in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Council of Trent adopted a program of irreconcilable counter-reformation. Its striking force was the Habsburgs (primarily Spanish). The countries that adopted the Reformation did not have a generally recognized leader, they were torn apart by contradictions between the currents of Protestantism. There was also no unity in the Catholic camp: Catholic France, being an opponent of the Habsburgs, was looking for allies among the Protestant powers. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 stated the impossibility of resolving the religious conflict by military means. From that moment on, the confessional factor in European politics fades into the background.

Religious Wars. Anti-English and anti-Catholic riot in Edinburgh in 1637

The "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" and "Electronic Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius" give only a religious war in France between Catholics and Huguenots. It says nothing about the Crusades and the religious of the twentieth century. It turns out a clear definition, "war of religions" does not exist.

However, conflicts on religious grounds occur all the time in the world. In many countries of the Muslim world, even today there is a "holy jihad", which implies the widespread spread and establishment of Islam, up to a "holy war" against the infidels.

There are signs by which a "war of religions" can be defined. These include: religious rituals by military personnel, participation in hostilities by clergy, and the direct involvement of spiritual images. But the main sign is that the opposing forces belong to different religions.

Unfortunately, it is often used as a tool to settle scores and unleash a bloodbath. In order to raise a wave of indignation in society, and get many supporters on your side, it is enough to publicly burn the Bible or the Koran.

Often billions in profits are behind the "war of religions". This has been the case since the time of the Crusades, when those who did not even have the moral right to wear a Christian cross joined the Crusaders.

What factors can serve as an impetus for the start of the "war of religions"

The desire of the people to gain autonomy, based on the difference of religions. In this case, it is a kind of generator that fuels the desire to form a new national state.

A unifying religious war, which is based on the desire of the people scattered across the territory of different countries to reunite. At the same time, the divided people profess a religion that differs from the generally accepted one in the state where they live.

Communal or internal religious conflicts that occur within the same state between different sects within the same religion. Today, the confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites is happening throughout the Middle East.

Religious-absolutist conflicts arise in countries where, on the basis of the propaganda of one religion, intolerance towards representatives of another religion is manifested.

It is indicative of how one thoughtless provocative act on religious grounds can lead to the death of people. American pastor Terry Jones staged an action with the burning of the Koran, which caused massive attacks on employees of international organizations in Afghanistan. The pastor himself got off with a small fine, and the result of his act was the death of innocent people.

Religious wars are the same as civil wars

Religious wars - a period of French history of the 17th century, when the citizens of the country - Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) fought each other. There were eight wars in total.

The years of religious wars in France 1562-1598

Who are the Huguenots?

Huguenots are French Protestants, followers of the reformist teachings of the preacher J. Calvin.
Protestantism entered Catholic France at the beginning of the 17th century from neighboring Germany and Switzerland and quickly gained popularity. Its emergence was facilitated by the work of the philosopher Jacques Lefebvre of Étaples (1455-1536), who translated the New Testament into French and published it in 1523. Lefebvre's students were such well-known reformers and humanists as Guillaume Farel, Gerard Roussel, Michel d'Arand. According to Wikipedia, by 1557, 35% of the French adhered to the new doctrine.

Causes of the Wars of Religion

The “vile idea” (Surprise in Meaux) forced the Queen Mother to change her attitude towards the Huguenots. They declared war not for life, but for death. In this declaration, Charles IX expressed regret over the concessions made earlier to the Huguenots, which did nothing to pacify the country, on the contrary, the Reformers stubbornly continued to fan the confusion. He demanded that the Huguenots immediately transfer to royal jurisdiction all the fortresses they occupied, all Calvinist preachers had to leave the French kingdom within two weeks, all religious cults, except for the Catholic, were prohibited under pain of confiscation of property, government officials who professed Calvinism were deprived of their posts. As an act of mercy, an amnesty was announced for all Huguenots who lay down their arms within seven days.

• 1569, March 12, May 7, June 25, September 24-1570, June 27 - battles of Jarnac, La Roche-l'Abel, Moncontour, d'Orne-le-Duc, death of Prince Condé, alternate successes and defeats of the parties
• 1570, August 8 - Peace of Saint-Germain. The Huguenots were granted freedom of religion throughout France, except for Paris, the right to hold public office, as well as the fortresses of La Rochelle, Montauban, Cognac and La Charité

1572-1573 - fourth religious war

• 1572, August 22 - wedding of Henry of Navarre and Marguerite of Valois
• 1572, August 24 -. Death of de Coligny
• 1573, February 11-July 6 - unsuccessful siege of La Rochelle by the Catholics, Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism, the third son of Catherine de Medici Henry took the Polish throne
• 1573, June 11 - Edict of Boulogne. It severely curtailed the rights granted by the Saint-Germain Edict of 1570: with a general freedom of conscience, freedom of worship was limited to La Rochelle and some other cities, the rights to freedom of religion for noble landowners were now preserved under certain conditions
• 1573, June 24 - Treaty of La Rochelle, confirming the Edict of Boulogne
• 1573 - the creation of the so-called "party of the discontented", striving for reconciliation between Catholics and Huguenots, the party was headed by the youngest son of Catherine de Medici, the Duke of Alençon

1574-1576 - fifth religious war

• 1574, May 30 - the death of King Charles IX, the third son of Catherine de Medici ascended the throne under the name of Henry III, the Polish king Henry of Anjou
• 1574, November 4 - the third Duke de Montmorency, being an almost independent ruler of Languedoc, demanded from the new king the restoration of rights for the Huguenots, and not having received what he wanted, began hostilities
• 1575 - the so-called Huguenot Confederation of Cities and Nobility took shape in Nimes, which actually represented a state within a state, had its own army and tax system, its supreme body was the States General.
• 1575, autumn - an army of Protestants invaded France, led by Heinrich de Bourbon, second prince de Condé and Count Palatine of the Rhine Johann Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern
• 1575, October 10 - Battle of Dorman, in which the Catholic army of Henry of Giese defeated the German Protestants of Condé
• 1576, February - Henry of Navarre joined the rebels

Conde claimed the governorship in Picardy, Damville - in Languedoc, the Duke of Anjou, hoped to carve out for himself part of the hereditary land holdings as part of Anjou, Berry and Touraine, Johann Casimir demanded the bishopric in Metz, Tula and Verdun. The rebels had an army of 30,000 men and threatened Paris. Having no funds for his defense, Henry III entered into negotiations with his younger brother. Negotiations were led by Queen Mother Catherine de Medici

• 1576, May 6 - Edict in Beaulieu ("Peace of Monsieur" or "Peace of the king's brother"): Protestants gained eight fortresses, representation in each of the provincial parliaments and the opportunity to freely practice their worship throughout the kingdom, except for Paris and its suburbs. Damville retained the office of governor of Languedoc, with powers that made him an independent viceroy, the Duke of Anjou received Anjou, Touraine and Berry. Condé was given control of Picardy. Johann Casimir was offered 300,000 ecu as compensation. Henry of Navarre received the governorship of Guyenne

1576-1577 Sixth War

• 1576, May - Duke Genich de Guise created the Catholic League in order to unite Catholics and moderate Protestants around him and, with their support, take possession of the crown of France. Soon, under the banners of the League, there were already about 50 thousand cavalry and 30 thousand infantry.
• 1576, December 6 - meetings of the Estates General, the highest class-representative institution of France, which rejected peace in Beaulieu, opened in Blois. most of the deputies shared the ideals of the League, they readily voted for the suppression of Protestantism in France, thereby provoking another, already the sixth in a row, civil war, which lasted for several months in 1577 and unfolded mainly in Saintonge and Languedoc.
• 1577, September 17 - Bergerac world ("peace of the king"). He confirmed the provisions of the “peace of the brother of the king”, but with an additional edict of Poitiers, where the Huguenots were guaranteed the right to free worship and a number of fortresses were placed at their disposal. The victims of the Bartholomew night were rehabilitated. The dissolution of the League and the Protestant Confederation was announced, which allowed the king to take his rightful place as the spokesman and defender of the interests of all his subjects. The secret articles of the treaty determined the legal and administrative conditions for the peaceful coexistence of Catholics and Protestants.
• 1579, February 3 - peace conference in Neraka, the thirtieth since the outbreak of civil wars, but the first at which the assembled, discarding talk of religion, discussed only political issues.

  Under the influence of Condé, the Protestants at first put forward quite unthinkable demands. A strong royal army led by Montmorency forced them to accept the more reasonable proposals of the Queen Mother. Catherine swore that within six months the Catholics would fulfill their promises under the treaty concluded at Bergerac. As a guarantee, the Protestants will receive for this period eight fortified fortresses in Guienne and eleven in Languedoc, which they will have to vacate after six months.

1579-1580 Seventh War ("War of the Lovers")

Henry of Navarre heard rumors spread by the royal court that his wife Margarita was unfaithful to him, Henry pretended not to believe the "slander" and declared war on his brother-in-law in order to wash away the shame of the insult with blood. This is the romantic version of the cause of the war. In fact, the time has come for the Huguenots to return to the French crown the fortresses temporarily provided under the treaty in Nérac at their disposal.
The hostilities were started by Prince Condé, who was prevented by the Catholics from taking control of Picardy. On November 29, 1579, the won captured the city of La Fère. then Henry of Navarre intervened in the war, on May 29, 1580, he began the siege of the city of Cahors. The battle and capture of it by the Huguenots became the main event of the "War of Lovers". However, in general, the royal troops prevailed. On the northern front, Henry III retook La Fère, which provoked Condé's flight to Germany. After success in Cahors, Henry of Navarre, whose military resources were exhausted, was forced to switch to defensive tactics.
• 1580, November 26 - peace in Fle, according to which Henry of Navarre received fortresses for six years, granted to him by an agreement in Nerac only for six months

1584-1589 the eighth war ("The War of the Three Henrys")

• 1584, June 10 - François of Alencon, the last son of Catherine de Medici, died. Henry of Navarre became heir to the French throne. In the same year, the Paris League was formed.
• 1584, December 31 - The Duke of Guise and the Spanish ambassador Mendoza signed a secret treaty in Joinville, according to which a "permanent League for the preservation of the Catholic religion" was established.

At the end of 1584, the "Great Fear" arose in Paris, instilling confusion in the souls of the population. There was a rumor that Henry of Navarre received 200,000 crowns to equip the army. Feared Bartholomew's night for Catholics, the priests acted as a united front against the Bearn devil with harsh speeches that excite the crowd. For most Parisians, the Catholic religion was the highest value. The organizers of the Paris League were virtuous and serious people with a thorough classical and religious education and belonged to the wealthy bourgeoisie.

• May 21, 1585 - Henry de Guise starts another war
• 1585, July 7 - Treaty of Nemours. Protestantism was banned. The edict annulled all peace treaties concluded earlier, outlawed heresy, ordered the Huguenots to convert or leave the country within six months
• 1585, August 9 - Henry of Navarre, together with Montmorency, the leader of moderate Catholics, led the "Counter-League of Law-Abiding Citizens", turning to the Queen of England and Germany for help
• 1585, October 7 - Kroloj issued an edict according to which Protestants must convert to Catholicism or leave France within two weeks. The King of Navarre was about to start negotiations with his brother-in-law and express his protest to the king, but the Prince of Conde immediately occupied Saintonge, thereby unleashing a war
• 1585, December - a truce for negotiations
• 1587 - an army of German Protestants invaded France, it was supported by local Huguenots under the leadership of Henry of Navarre
• 1587, October 20 - the battle near Kutra of the royal and Huguenot troops, the victory of the Protestants, the German mercenaries were sent home by bribery
• 1588 March 5 - Henry de Bourbon, 2nd Prince de Condé dies
• 1588, May 12 - Barricade Day - an uprising of Parisian Catholics against the moderate policies of King Henry III. Heinrich de Guise became the owner of the city
• 1588, summer - Guise forced Henry III to sign the Edict of Unity, approved by the Paris Parliament on July 21. The king promised never to make a truce or peace with "Huguenot heretics", to ban anyone from holding public office who would not take the public oath as a Catholic, and not to transfer the throne to a non-Catholic
• 1588, October 16 - A meeting of the Estates General opens in Blois. The delegates demanded that the king reduce taxes to the level of 1576, persecute the Protestants "without any pity or compassion", take the most severe military measures against Henry of Navarre, and solemnly recognize the impossibility of accession to the throne of "a prince ever seen in heresy." Henry III refused, which meant open confrontation with Henry of Guise
• 1588, December 23 - Assassination of Henry de Guise by order of King Henry III
• August 1, 1589 - Assassination of Henry III by Dominican monk Jacques Clement. the mortally wounded king ordered his supporters to swear allegiance to Genikh Navrre
• 1589-1590 - successful battles (at Arc, at Ivry) of Herich IV with the Catholics

End of the Wars of Religion

• 1591, July 4 - Henry issued an edict in which he restored the provisions of the Edict of Poitiers of 1577, which markedly limited the freedom of worship of Protestants
• 1593, July 25 - Henry IV solemnly renounced Protestantism
• 1594, February 27 - coronation of Henry IV
• April 13, 1598 - The Edict of Nantes by Henry IV ended the thirty-year period of the Wars of Religion in France. The edict granted full equality to Catholics and Protestants. The first article of the edict consigned to oblivion the events of the Wars of Religion and forbade any mention of them.

the remembrance of everything that happened on both sides from the beginning of March 1585 until our coronation and during the other preceding troubles will be blotted out as if nothing had happened. Neither our Attorneys General nor any other person, public or private, will ever be allowed to mention this for any reason.

Outcome of the religious wars

Paradoxically, after the Wars of Religion ended, France became stronger. The highest feudal lords ceased to rebel against the royal power. France became the strongest European centralized state and remained so for more than two hundred years.

On October 17, 1685, Louis XIV signed the edict at Fontainebleau repealing the Edict of Nantes. It was ordered to destroy the temples of the Huguenots and their schools. The consequences of the abolition of the Edict of Nantes for France were sad: trade fell into decline, Protestants, the most enterprising, hardworking, educated citizens of the kingdom, emigrated in hundreds of thousands - to England, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Prussia, Canada

Religious wars Religious wars (Huguenot wars) - wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots) in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Contemporaries called them civil wars. The Dukes of Giza stood at the head of the Catholic camp, while the Calvinists were led by members of the side line of the reigning dynasty (Antoine Bourbon, Prince of Condé, then Henry of Navarre) and Admiral Coligny. Both those and others sought to limit royal power. The beginning of the Wars of Religion is dated differently in the historical literature: March 1, 1562, 1559, or 1560. In 1559, popular unrest began in many provinces of France, and in the South, the Calvinist nobility began to seize church possessions. In 1560, the Huguenots, led by Prince Conde, tried to capture King Francis II in the Amboise castle. The attempt of the Bourbons, who hoped to remove the Guises from the rule of the country and actually take power, failed. The Amboise conspiracy was exposed. On March 1, 1562, praying Calvinists were killed in the town of Vassy by the detachment of the Duke of Guise. This was the signal for open hostilities. The leaders of both camps sought help from other states: the Huguenots from the German princes, Holland and England, the Catholics from Spain. The first three wars (1560-1563, 1567-68, 1568-1570) were followed by the Peace of Saint-Germain (1570), by which the Huguenots received four important fortress cities, the right to hold public office, the Calvinist worship was allowed throughout the kingdom. The strengthening of the Huguenots prompted Guise and Catherine de Medici to organize in 1572 a massacre of the Huguenots in Paris (St. Bartholomew's Night), which led to the resumption of wars (1572-73, 1574-76). According to the peace in Beaulieu (1576), freedom of religion was confirmed to the Huguenots and, in fact, the so-called Huguenot confederation of cities and nobility in the southwestern provinces, which had formed by 1576, was recognized, which meant the separation of the South from the rest of France. In the north of Giza, they tried to create a similar confederation - the Catholic League of 1576. In 1580, the struggle between the Huguenots and the government ceased. The south remained Huguenot. In the second period of the Wars of Religion (1585-1596, often dated 1585-94, sometimes the Edict of Nantes of 1598 is considered the end of the wars), the Catholic League led by Paris opposed absolutism. The head of the Catholic nobility, Duke Henry of Guise, who claimed succession to the throne after the childless King Henry III, acting in alliance with the Catholic cities, forced the king to re-start the war with the Huguenots and their head, Henry of Navarre, the legitimate heir to the French crown. In the so-called War of the Three Henrys (1585-89), on the orders of Henry III, the Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, were killed. In 1589 Henry III was deposed. After that, Henry III went to an agreement with Henry of Navarre, and they laid siege to Paris. During the siege, Henry III was killed by a monk sent by the Paris League (1589). Henry of Navarre became king, but Northern France and some southern cities and provinces did not recognize him. The introduction of the Spanish garrison into Paris in 1591 only aggravated the political anarchy. Peasant uprisings began. The Catholic clergy and the bourgeoisie, frightened by the magnitude of the popular movement, recognized Henry of Navarre (Henry IV), who had converted to Catholicism in 1593, as king. In 1594, he entered Paris, by 1596 he had subjugated almost all the provinces that had fallen away from the central government; The religious wars are over. The Edict of Nantes in 1598 settled the position of the Huguenots.

Historical dictionary. 2000 .

See what "Religious Wars" is in other dictionaries:

Wars of Religion A series of armed clashes in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries between Protestants and Catholics. Contents 1 Reasons 2 History 2.1 XVI century 2.2 ... Wikipedia

Wars between Catholics and Protestants at the end of the 16th century. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

In France (Huguenot wars) wars between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots) in the 2nd half. 16th century, for religion. the complex struggle of various social forces was hidden behind the shell of the krykh. Contemporaries called R. v. civil wars, this is the name. often… … Soviet historical encyclopedia

religious wars- Cloue Francois. Portrait of Francis II Clouet Francois. Portrait of Francis II Wars of Religion () Wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists () in the second half of the 16th century. Contemporaries called them civil wars. At the head of the Catholic camp ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"

In France, in 1562 1594 (or 1562 1598), between Catholics and Huguenots. Both camps were headed by the feudal nobility (who sought to limit royal power): the Catholic Dukes of Giza, the Huguenots Antoine Bourbon (soon, however, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

religious wars- wars that were fought under religion. slogans (e.g. crusades, Albigensian wars, Hussite wars, etc.). Under the same slogans, the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs and the Reconquista, the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, etc. took place ... Medieval world in terms, names and titles

Huguenot wars, wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots (See Huguenots)) in the second half of the 16th century; Behind the religious shell of these wars was a complex struggle of various social forces. In historical literature... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

See Reformation... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

religious wars- Religious wars (in France, ist.) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Religious wars: Religious wars (politics) armed conflicts based on religious differences. Religious wars (slang), also a holivar messaging in Internet forums and chat rooms, which are meaningless discussions, in ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Wars of Religion in 16th-Century France, South Dossy, Vladimir Shishkin. The collective work of leading domestic and French historians, dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the beginning of the armed confrontation between Catholics and Protestants in France in the 16th century, reflects…
• , Dossi Yug, Shishkin Vladimir. The collective work of leading domestic and French historians, dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the beginning of the armed confrontation between Catholics and Protestants in France in the 16th century, reflects…

People differ from each other. Their values ​​also differ. Without a value foundation, neither a community nor an individual is possible. The denial of the right to have one's own values, the disavowal of these values ​​and their desecration - this, in fact, is an anthropological verdict.

This is exactly how the question was raised in the anti-Islamic "Manifesto of the Twelve" signed by a group of Western intellectuals, also known as "Together Against New Totalitarianism." “After fascism, Nazism and Stalinism have been overcome,” wrote Salman Rushdie and his associates in the Manifesto, “the world is facing a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism. We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equality of opportunity and secular values ​​for all... This battle will not be won by weapons, but in the realm of ideas. This is not a clash of civilizations or East-West antagonism, but a global struggle between democrats and theocrats… We reject the “cultural relativism” of the recognition that men and women of Muslim culture should be denied the right to equality, freedom and secularism in the name of respect for cultures and traditions… We stand for the universalization of freedom of expression, so that the critical spirit can be exercised on all continents, free from all abuse and all dogma. We appeal to democracy and the free spirit of all countries, our age is the age of light, not obscurantism.”

This text, in fact, was a declaration of war. It is characteristic that at the time of its appearance, then in 2006, it was first published in Charlie Hebdo. This is how xenophobia is fomented, this is how wars are provoked. And this is a war - not a war of religions, but a war, as the manifesto proclaims, against all religions. Liberal ideology, as you know, is based not on group, but on individual identity. The main value is a person, his rights and freedoms. Individual representatives of liberal thought could well be religious people. But essentially liberalism, which puts the freedom of the individual at the center of the value system, came into conflict with the theocentric religious approach consolidating the community of believers.

The theory of civilizations, it would seem, has a fundamentally different, in comparison with liberalism, axiological basis. Religions are recognized by both Toynbee and Huntington - the leading figures in the popularization of the civilizational approach, as the fundamental basis of civilization genesis.

However, within the framework of Huntington's concept of "civilizational wars" this literally means the following:

1. Civilizations are in conflict with each other;

2. At the base of every civilization lies one religion or another;

3. Religious wars are inevitable. Religions are said to be inherently confrontational.

The assessment of the supporters of the theory of civilizational wars and the supporters of liberal social science models, thus, at the level of conclusions, paradoxically coincides.

Otherwise, in the Huntingtonian version, modern Western civilization is being formed. For the first time in history, not a religious, but a secular foundation was laid at its foundation. And since civilizations are allegedly programmed for conflict by religious differences, the non-religious civilization of the West overcomes the paradigm of conflict. In the presented model of the world order, it turns out to be outside the world inter-civilizational struggle. Secularism thus turns out to be a suggested practice for mankind to get out of the impasse of confrontation.

The famous work of Samuel Huntington was first published in 1993. The topic of religious wars was not then in wide discourse. More was said about the end of the story. Almost a quarter of a century has passed and religious wars are at the core of the problems discussed by mankind. We have to admit that Huntington's book was ingeniously visionary, or design. And there are more and more empirical grounds for the assertion that a great sectarian war is projectable.

The principle of "divide and conquer" has been known for a long time. The classic of its application is considered to be, in particular, the policy of the British Empire in India. One of the main factors in the division of the Indian population was the division of religion. Hindus clashed with Muslims, exterminated each other. And for a long time after the departure of the British, the India-Pakistan conflict was one of the most acute "hot spots" on the map of the post-war world. The experience of fomenting inter-religious wars has thus been accumulated sufficiently large, and it would be strange for it to be abandoned in modern political design.

The clash of two parties, as a result of which all the dividends are taken by a third party, is also a well-known political practice. The world wars of the twentieth century unfolded precisely in this scenario matrix. Islamic and Christian communities may turn out to be parties to the new projected conflict. Christians - 33% of the world population and Muslims - 23% noticeably outnumber all other confessional groups. At the same time, the proportion of Muslims is rapidly increasing. In the future, it is predicted that they will reach the first position in terms of their share among the religions of the world. And this, accordingly, raises the question of changing the zones of territorial settlement.

Pictures of a new religious war - terrorist attacks, broadcast executions of heretics, destroyed cultural monuments are already shaking the consciousness of mankind. Mankind is prompted by a seemingly natural way out - the prohibition of "religious fundamentalism". But where does religion end and religious fundamentalism begin? Under the banner of the fight against religious fundamentalism, real de-Christianization and de-Islamization will take place. The result will be the establishment of real secular totalitarianism instead of imaginary religious totalitarianism. The history of pan-European solidarity with the militant secular magazine Charlie Hebdo confirms this scenario trend.

It is well known who created Al-Qaeda and other extremist organizations under the guise of belonging to Islam. And this creation was not a systemic error, a manifestation of the unprofessionalism of the American intelligence services. It will soon be two years of the US military operation in the fight against ISIS. The concept of “strange war”, which is usually used to characterize the policy of Western states that imitated the fight against Hitler, but in reality channeled fascist aggression against the USSR, can be applied, with even greater grounds, in this case. The military operations of the US and NATO forces in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya have been counting for days, and with the ISIS quasi-state for years. There is no doubt that if the United States had a desire to defeat ISIS, it would have been destroyed long ago. So there is no such desire. It follows from this that the United States needs ISIS for some reason.

The fact that the context of Islamic culture was chosen for the formation of groups of war provocateurs is quite understandable. On the one hand, there is no Church in Islam in its institutional Christian understanding, and hence there are much more opportunities for the emergence of various interpretations. Jihadist groups are positioned as such rumors. In order to separate them from Islam, there is no single institution that could implement this solution.

But the main thing that encourages the use of the Muslim factor to provoke a big war is the unique geographical position of the countries of Islam. This position can be characterized as the middle one among the civilizations of the old world. The traditional Islamic distribution area is bordered by the zones of Western Christianity, Orthodoxy, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and traditional tribal cults of Africa. In the funnel of war, if it takes place, virtually the entire Old World will be drawn into it. The American continent is again withdrawn from the field of development of the main conflict. This war, unlike the wars of the twentieth century, is projected not only as an intercountry clash. Today there is not a single mono-confessional country in the world. This means that the war will also receive an intra-national refraction. And then it will be impossible to hide from it behind the might of the armed forces and state borders.

A sharp increase in tension in interfaith relations is a global trend recorded by sociologists. And this escalation of tension is not limited to Europe and the Middle East. It is not limited only to the attitude towards Islam.

Let's take a look at this year's LifeWay Research survey of Christians in the United States. The United States is positioned, as you know, on the one hand, as a more religious country than the countries of Europe. On the other hand, the value of freedom of religious choice for American society has always been emphasized. Today, 63% of Americans agree with the statement that Christians in the US are facing increasing intolerance. For three years, the share of solidarity with this assessment increased by 13%. The share of those who believe that Christians complain too much about the wrong attitude towards themselves and their beliefs has increased to 43%. And who can discriminate against Christians? Muslims make up about 1% of the American population and cannot be a significant discriminating force for 2/3 of Christian Americans. Only secularists can discriminate against Christians. This means that the point is not in Christian-Muslim contradictions, but in contradictions between religious traditions and militant secularism.

Technologies for provoking inter-religious conflict lie on the surface. The resonant terrorist attacks in Europe were preceded by a large-scale anti-Islamic campaign in the Western media. It is a chain of successively carried out speeches, which in religious vocabulary could be defined as "blasphemy" and "blasphemy". The incident with the Charlie Hebdo cartoons was not an isolated incident, but was one of the links in a single chain. This sequence convinces of the design basis for the development of an intercivilizational conflict. Blasphemy breeds blasphemy. In response to the publication of Muhammad's cartoons by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri organized an international Holocaust cartoon competition.

But the Charlie Hebdo cartoons are not only anti-Islamic. They are equally anti-Christian and anti-Jewish. By and large, any system of values ​​based on a religious worldview turned out to be the focus of desecration. And if neither the law nor the attitude of the public protects a person from insulting his values, then war and terror turn out to be a programmed result.

Another example of provoking conflict. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, the Americans decriminalized homosexual relations as one of the first measures. And this is in an Islamic country! The Muslim reaction was predictable. And is it any wonder that gays are being massacred in Iraq today. What did the decriminalization mean - ignorance of local specifics or a deliberate provocation? The non-singularity of such actions makes us lean towards the second answer.

The extrapolation of Western experience as a universal experience for mankind produced a number of cognitive traps.

One of these traps is the idea that religious wars are inevitable when religion dominates public life. A specific phenomenon in the history of Europe began to be presented as a universal practice. Europe has found a way out of the mutual extermination of religious wars in secularism. This reduced the degree of confrontation for some time. But then a series of wars followed, already on a secular platform. The bloodiest wars in the history of mankind were unleashed on the European continent and had no religious basis. This means that the cause of wars is not religious differences. The initial message in favor of secularization turned out to be wrong. But the essentially unsuccessful experience of Europe is offered as a high road for all mankind. Today, the world is being brought back to the transformation that the West went through in its transition to a new Western civilization in the 16th and 17th centuries. Then, following the mutual extermination of Catholics and Protestants, there was a transition to a way of life that broke with religious value foundations.

The wars of fanatics, acting under Christian banners, turned into the de-Christianization of Western Europe. Isn't it proposed today to repeat the past scenario - the religious war and the subsequent de-Christianization and de-Islamization?

Meanwhile, the experience of religious wars is not the only model of civilization genesis. There is also a positive experience of religious coexistence. And it is not a precedent, but rather a general rule of civilizational development.

Contrary to Huntington's classification, none of the civilizations historically developed as a religiously homogeneous system. Traditionally, a multi-confessional model existed in India. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism - all these religions have developed on Indian cultural soil. The Confucian tradition of China coexisted with the Taoist and Buddhist. Shinto and Buddhism coexisted in Japan. In Iran, Muslims coexisted with Zoroastrians. The Middle East was the cradle of the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The civilizational experience of Russia is especially indicative for illustrating inter-religious complementarity. All three religions, defined by religious scholars as world religions - Christianity in the version of Orthodoxy, Islam and Lamaist Buddhism are traditional Russian confessions. Russia, unlike Europe, despite its polyconfessionality, did not know religious wars. Therefore, the cause of the conflict is not in religious differences, but in the system within which the respective religions are placed.

Every day there are disturbing messages from Syria, embedded in the matrix of religious war. But Syria, even before the expansion of ISIS, was an extremely variegated region in terms of confession. The ruling group was mainly co-opted from the Alawites. With regard to them, there is still no consensus on the legitimacy of referring to Islam. Yezidis and Druzes profess special beliefs. Assyrians - Nestorians and Maronites - represent specific trends within Christianity. All these exclusive forms of religiosity date back historically to the early Middle Ages. They could not survive without the factor of interreligious peace. ISIS breaks with this tradition of coexistence, declaring the goal - the destruction of everything religiously different. This attitude distinguishes the pseudo-religious provocative doctrine and traditional religions proper.

So what is modern religious extremism if it cannot be attributed to traditional religions? Let's try to determine its place in the system of worldview coordinates. The polar opposite of religion is secularism.

Classical ideologies - liberalism, communism, fascism - do not coincide in their semantic core with either a religious or secular view. But they can use forms, ideological packaging, and both. Thus, the Christian Democrats are, in essence, a liberal social trend, although they appeal to religious tradition. Liberation theology is a communist trend. There are, accordingly, religious packages of fascist ideology. An increasingly obvious trend in the development of the modern world is its new fascisization. Fascism can take many forms. And it is unlikely that these will be exact copies of fascism of the 30s of the XX century. Fascism can also put on a religious mask. This is what we are seeing today. Religious cover is especially effective, in view of the historical connection with the religions of the broad masses of the population. In connection with this understanding, it is necessary to carry out the labeling of information that fits under the concept of "religious war". Terrorist acts are organized not by Muslims, but by fascists.

ISIS is not an Islamic state, but a fascist state. Execution of people is not a Muslim practice, but a fascist practice. The ideological sources of modern extremism are not Mohammed and not the Koran, but Hitler and Mein Kampf.

The differences between traditional religions and religious fascism are paradigmatic. The list of these differences can be addressed to the general world community.

If traditional religions are built on the idea of ​​philanthropy, then fascism is based on misanthropy, expressed in attitudes towards genocide. Traditional religions condemn violence, command "thou shalt not kill." For fascism, violence is the main method, and the killing of the enemy is presented as the highest manifestation of heroism. Traditional religions proceed from the priority of God, his commandments and revelations. For fascists, the interests of their own group, which is in a struggle with all other group identities, are priority.

In traditional religions, the central theme is love of neighbor. God in Christianity is himself positioned as Love. For fascists, love for one's neighbor does not exist. The driving motivator is not love, but various phobias. Humanity is one for traditional religions. “There is no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision, no uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but all and in all Christ,” says the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians. For fascism, there is no unity of mankind, people are anthropologically unequal, the higher and righteous exterminate the lower and unrighteous. Traditional religions aim at the salvation of mankind. The target setting of religious fascism is the extermination of the infidels.

But what about religious differences? How right Huntington is in asserting the determinism of the religious and, accordingly, the civilizational conflict.

The proposed concept is to distinguish between different levels of religious traditions. At the civilization-forming level, religions contradict each other. Differences at the level of localities are even more obvious. In the local dimension, even a single religion is often structured into rumors, diverging in local specifications. If one focuses solely on these differences, conflict may seem inevitable. But there is an even higher level of consideration - the level of the highest values ​​of humanity, the level of understanding of good and evil. With regard to this level, traditional religions are united. Consequently, the solidarity of traditional religions is fundamentally possible. Solidarization, not as the ecumenical eclecticism of a single religion, but the unity of adherence to traditional values ​​in their diversity.

The challenge of attacking each of the religious traditions of militant secularism can also be considered as a solidarity factor.

The “I am Charlie” actions of 2015 showed that it is not Christianity and Islam that oppose each other, but, on the one hand, extremist secularism, on the other hand, equally extremized jihadism - secular fascism and pseudo-religious fascism. Global anti-civilization threatens each of the traditional religions, and the awareness of this common threat makes it possible to overcome internal historical conflicts. In theology, in understanding the principles of life, religions diverge from each other. And this is understandable, bearing in mind that each of the traditional religions was formed in specific environmental conditions and dealt with the specific mentality of the population. But the identification of global Evil in traditional religions is close enough. And what is happening in the world today falls under this understanding in many aspects.

In "Three Conversations" by Vladimir Solovyov there is a story about the coming of the Antichrist, who established power over the world. Three people exposed him - the Orthodox elder John, the Roman Catholic Pope Peter II and the Protestant theologian Professor Pauli. The surviving righteous forces in all Christian denominations united in the face of a common threat. Theological and historical contradictions, which seemed insoluble, were removed, put aside, for the sake of a joint struggle against the Antichrist. Antichrist is for Christians, Dajjal is for Islam - the union here is even wider than just the union of Christians.

The above parable gives a fundamental understanding that the conflict does not consist in the contradictions of religions, but in the contradiction of good and evil. Each religion has contributed to the spiritual development of mankind, and competition between religions (if such a concept is at all appropriate) is competition in doing good deeds. The provocation of religious wars is identified as not just an anti-religious project, but as an anti-human project, opposing the perspective of “deification” to the prospect of dehumanizing a person.