Christianity has long been considered to be a religion that is characterized by peace. However, even with this connotation of peace, conflict still exists. This conflict is seen today as many Christians have differing views on controversial topics in society. These controversial topics include many of the things seen on the news today. Conflict is also seen as civil unrest, terrorism, and persecution that exists around the world in a variety of countries, and as the issue of science versus faith is still being debated heavily. Conflict is all around, and often seems like it will never go away. Conflict within the church and conflict relating to the church has been around ever since the church started. Evidence of these differing ideas since …show more content…
Examples of this can be seen today in conflicts between groups of different religious backgrounds, especially in the middle east. Fighting can be between two different sects of the same religion, two opposing religions, or between those who have a religion and those who don’t. We even see examples of violence between the church and the state. This can be seen throughout history when people were executed for heresy. In many countries still today, people can be persecuted by the government as a result of their religion. In the early church, an example of conflict leading to violence can be seen in the case of Cyril of Alexandria and the Prefect Orestes. Cyril was a bishop and Orestes was growing jealous of the power that the bishops were receiving. There were monks who lived in Nitria that were adamant about fighting on Cyril’s behalf. Five hundred monks left their monasteries, met the prefect and slandered him. One of the monks threw a stone at Orestes and several people tried to rescue him as he was covered in blood. The monk that threw the stone was eventually killed due to the torture that was imposed upon him for what he did. When Cyril found out about this killing, he ordered that this monk be considered a martyr since he had apparently died defending the religion of Christianity. However, some of the other monks did not agree with this considering …show more content…
For example, there were many who debated Christianity versus philosophy during the time where Christianity was just coming to be. Philosophy had been around longer, as seen through early philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates who were alive long before the time of Christ. One of the major conflicts between Christian thought and philosophy, especially between Christianity and Epicureanism, is the philosophical belief that the “gods” or God was paying little attention to events and people on Earth.6 This is not the case in Christianity. In Christianity, it is believed that God is always with His followers through the Holy Spirit, and that everything that happens is part of his plan. Another problem seen with Christianity with some of the philosophers who were around in the time of the early church was the belief that mercy and pity were pathological emotions, meaning that they were emotions that were character flaws. God is full of mercy and cares about His followers deeply. Some philosophers had a problem with this concept since they didn’t believe those qualities to be good qualities to have. However, for some who had previously believed in philosophical ideas, Christianity was the perfect answer for them. Christianity was able to, on some levels, allow a feeling of inward rest. This could have been helpful for those who