Today’s image: Red Leaves of Autumn, northern Spain.
“It’s religion that’s causes wars.” How many sweeping statements along these lines do we hear? This is one of those religious myths that exists because of repetition. But what are the facts?
The term “religious war” is used very loosely. It behooves us to seriously examine whether religious, economic, political, non-godly ideological or ethnic aspects are in fact the driving influences that predominate and precipitate conflict.
I was reading some of my older notes and scribbles, and came across these statistics that I had saved for a later collection on ‘Myths against Christianity’. These figures address the true relationship between wars and religion.
Below is a direct quote from source, refs given. I will expand on this later. Headlines are mine.
Take Note of the Numbers
“In their Encyclopedia of Wars, authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod attempt a comprehensive listing of wars in history. They document 1763 wars overall,1 of which 123 (7%) have been identified and listed as primarily religiously motivated.2,3,4
The Encyclopedia of War, edited by Gordon Martel, using the criteria that the armed conflict must involve some overt religious action, concludes that 6% of the wars listed in their encyclopedia can be labelled religious wars.5
And Note the Elastic Classification
William T. Cavanaugh in his Myth of Religious Violence (2009) argues that what is termed “religious wars” is a largely “Western dichotomy”, arguing that all wars that are classed as “religious” have secular (economic or political) ramifications.6
Similar opinions were expressed as early as the 1760s, during the Seven Years’ War, widely recognized to be “religious” in motivation, noting that the warring factions were not necessarily split along confessional lines as much as along secular interests.7
It is evident that religion as one aspect of a people’s cultural heritage may serve as a cultural marker or ideological rationalisation for a conflict that has deeper ethnic and cultural differences.
This has been specifically argued for the case of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, often portrayed as a religious conflict of a Catholic vs. a Protestant faction, while the more fundamental cause of the conflict was in fact ethnic or nationalistic rather than religious in nature. Since the native Irish were mostly Catholic and the later British-sponsored immigrants were mainly Protestant, the terms become shorthand for the two cultures, but it is inaccurate to describe the conflict as a religious one.”8
1. Axelrod, Alan & Phillips, Charles Encyclopedia of Wars, Facts on File, November 2004, ISBN 978-0-8160-2851-1. Deem, Richard.
2. Sheiman, Bruce (2009). An Atheist Defends Religion : Why Humanity is Better Off with Religion than Without It. Alpha Books. pp. 117–118. ISBN 1592578543.
3. Day, Vox (2008). The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. BenBella Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 1933771364.
4. Lurie, Alan. “Is Religion the Cause of Most Wars?”. Huffington Post.
5. “The Encyclopedia of War” by Gordon Martel (17 Jan 2012, 2912 pages)
6. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, W. Cavanaugh, Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-538504-5
7. John Entick, The General History of the Later War, Volume 3, 1763, p. 110.
8. McGarry J, O’Leary B, 1995. Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images. Oxford, Blackwell
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