False Religion and War

TRUE worshipers of Jehovah God strive to maintain peace with their fellowmen. This is what we should expect of them, since peace is a fruit of God’s spirit. (Gal. 5:22) It has been far different with false religion, which has become deeply involved with the world‘s conflicts, even encouraging them. Religious leaders have given their full support and blessing to the spilling of other people’s blood on the battlefields. This is nothing new. Back in the time of the ancient Egyptians, the pagan priests were advocates of war.

Writing about the priests of the false god Amon-Ra (Amen-Ra), E. A. Wallis Budge states: “There is reason to think that many of the great Egyptian raids in Syria and Nubia were made as much for the purpose of supplying funds for the maintenance of the temples, and services, and priests of Amen-Ra as for the glory and prestige of Egypt. The slavish homage which the Thothmes kings, and the Amen-heteps, and the Ramessids paid to Amen-Ra, and their lavish gifts to his sanctuaries suggest that it was his priests who were, in reality, the makers of war and peace.”​—The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. II, p. 12.