Journal to Religious Metaphors and Violence Iwan Setiawan NIM : 11/324662/PMU/7216 October 12, 2011 Religious Metaphors The

idea of J. Harold Ellens using Freuds theory about religious metaphors can cause religious violence through unconsciousness of human is unclear. According to Freud and Jung theories metaphors are hatched in the unconscious, accrue their rich and fruitful meaning there, and carry out their function mainly at hidden levels of the psyche, not readily accessible to conscious analysis or discipline(p.255). In this case, metaphors come to id (unconsciousness). The term metaphor comes from the Greek word metapherein which means move. Thus, metaphor is moving the whole of reality, so the reality is deconstructed, formulated, and described, thus produces new meaning in the perception of society. However, the Freud's concept about id, ego, superego cannot be proven trough experiments. Thats why the explanation of J. Harold Ellens about religious metaphor come to unconsciousness of human is vague because perpetrator of violence is doing violence under consciousness. The consciousness of interpretation of religious metaphors is misleading. Furthermore, the interpretation is far away from truth because of human misinterpretation. Misinterpretation happens when the interpreter does not have adequate interpretation tool. Actually, each verse has object and goal when the object and the area are not available then we take wisdom (hikmah), moral lessons and messages to be packed in. here I say, it is importance to read the sacred texts with the involvement of consciousness. In this context religious consciousness including mastery of the appearance of the sacred text background (which in Islam called asbab nuzul), when and to whom and about whom the verse down, the objective conditions when it comes to certain society, and many more devices of understanding cannot be ignored. In fact, rejecting the relationship between religion and violence is naive, because we clearly see a lot of the phenomenon of murder, terrorism and destruction in the name of religion and perhaps one reason because there are metaphors of religious violence. The metaphor of religious violence will not lead to violence if nothing wrong to interpret. Because there are religious metaphors described in sacred texts people try to interpret. The perpetrator of violence has not adequate interpretation tool in interpreting the religious metaphors. Thus, the interpretation of religious metaphor is misleading. Misinterpretation of religious metaphors is used to justify religious violence. Cosmic war is model of misinterpretation of religious metaphor. Cosmic war is war where God is trusted as commander of war. Perpetrators of this war believe that God intervened them, while they are only actors who are driven by the scenario of God. They believe it is divine mission. The perpetrators of such a cosmic war view world in black and white. They do not recognize and accept the negotiations, because the cosmic war is a war between God versus evil and will not end throughout the ages (Mark Juergensmeyer, p. 162). This war cannot be won by weapon, propaganda and hatred, but with the power of faith. So, here I say, that religious violence caused by abusing religion function because religion is used to justify violence.