Religion causes most wars and violence.

Question

The strongest form goes beyond lazy rhetoric. The Crusades, the French Wars of Religion, the Thirty Years' War, the Lebanese Civil War, partition violence in India, modern sectarian terrorism, centuries of antisemitism, colonial missions entangled with conquest, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and ongoing persecution in places like Myanmar, Nigeria, and Syria are not fabrications. When people believe they are acting for God, the stakes feel ultimate and compromise can feel like betrayal. A worldview that routinely divides humans into "the saved" and "the damned" arguably lowers the moral cost of violence against out-groups. Sociologists of religion (e.g., Mark Juergensmeyer in Terror in the Mind of God) document how transcendent framing amplifies conflict. In short: even if religion is not the only cause of war, it has been a real, repeated, and sometimes decisive one.

Christwise · Accepted Answer

Three layers of response. (1) Historical: the Encyclopedia of Wars (Phillips & Axelrod, 2005) catalogues ~1,763 wars and classifies about 7 percent as primarily religious; subtract Islamic conflicts and the number for Christian-driven wars drops further. Most wars are fought over land, resources, dynastic succession, and ethnic identity. (2) Comparative: William Cavanaugh (The Myth of Religious Violence, 2009) shows that the category "religion" as a discrete cause of violence is itself a modern construction that conveniently exempts nationalism, market ideology, and secular revolutions. The 20th century alone, under avowedly atheistic regimes (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim), produced roughly 100 million non-combat deaths - a death toll that dwarfs the entire religious-war ledger of recorded history. (3) Philosophical: if Christianity is judged by its central teacher, then "love your enemies," "turn the other cheek," and the refusal of Jesus to lead an armed messianic revolt are the benchmark. Religiously-motivated violence is a betrayal of that ethic, not its consistent application. Finally, the same impulse that critiques religious violence - the conviction that every human bears irreducible worth - is itself a historically Christian inheritance (see Tom Holland, Dominion).

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