If everyone wants to stop violence, why has religion been involved in battles and wars in the past and even in the present?

Violence for religious reasons is the deepest contradiction of religion. To kill in the name of God is to deny God and his plans for us humans. One of the reasons of war for religious reasons is what has been called ethnocentrism. It is a human tendency to think that we are the bearers of all truth and that this truth belongs to us exclusively and therefore it should be imposed by force on those who don’t want to receive it peacefully. The Second Vatican Council helped us Catholics to overcome this tendency when it developed the theology of the SEEDS of the WORD and explained that there are seeds of Christ (seeds of truth) in all cultures and religions of the world. All religions are different and they have lights and shadows that are marked by human weakness. All religions are called to collaborate and dialogue for the common and most important goal of all religion: the dignity of human beings in the world. For this to happen, we need to end any religious fanaticism and learn to live in environments marked by religious, cultural, political, and racial pluralism. All religions must understand that God loves in the first place the human person. From this conviction, all must be committed to preserving and defending life with all their strength.