Members of religions have all acted to unify their society at some point in time. The Arabs in the Middle East tried to unify all the Arab states and three men tried to unify “warring states” of Japan. Those two religions acted to bring people together for a good cause.

Buddhism and Shinto were the two most popular belief systems of Japan. Shinto was a religion that was about nature, the divinity of the emperor, and the sacredness of the Japanese nation. There were three men that worked toward the unity of Japan. They were called the “ Three Great Unifiers”. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa worked to unify the “warring states” of Japan. They all worked together at the time of the end of the fifteenth century when Japan was near the point of anarchy. The rulers stayed in command until the seventeenth century. The three great unifiers achieved their goal of unifying all of Japan.

The Japanese weren’t the only ones that tried to create a unified society. The Muslims in the Middle East also wanted to create a unified society. The Muslims were monotheistic, and they followed the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. In the Middle East, the ruler of Egypt was trying to unite all the Arab states because he believed in pan-Arabism. Pan-Arabism is the belief in Arab unity. In 1957, the Ba’ath Party which advocated a union of all Arab states in a new socialist society, assumed power in Syria. Syria and Egypt then united together and formed the United Arab Republic. Other Arab states would join the union, but many of the states were suspicious because they didn’t want to share their revenues with poorer states. Nasser’s dream of improving all of the Middle East tragically came to an end when the UAR came to an end. A military coup overthrew the Ba’ath leaders in Syria. Although President Nasser tried to unify the Middle East, his support was not great enough to produce a change in the society. President Nesser worked hard to create a unified society in the Middle East.

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