Religion factors into most wars but rarely causes them

Evidence

If we take all the violent conflicts we know of in a given historical period, and assess the degree to which religious divisions were a factor, what would we find? Such studies are rare, but in the Encyclopedia of Wars, Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod attempted one such comprehensive analysis. They surveyed nearly 1,800 violent conflicts throughout history. They measured, based on historical records, whether or not religion was a factor, and if so, to what degree. They found that less than 10 percent involved religion at all. In a related “God and War” audit commissioned by the BBC, researchers again scrutinized 3,500 years of violent conflicts recorded in history, and rated the degree to which religion was a factor. Wars got high marks if religious leaders expressed support for the war effort, if religion was a mobilizing factor, if religious targets were attacked, and if religious conversion was a key goal of the war. Thus, on a six-point scale of 0 (no religious role) to 5 (central role of religion), the Peloponnesian War (460–445 BCE) was a zero; the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) was a 1; the United States and allied second invasion of Iraq was a 3; the Al-Qaeda terror war was a 4; and the Crusades (1097–1291) and the Arab-Muslim conquests (632–732) earned a full 5 points. In the end, religion was a factor in 40 percent of all rated violent conflicts, but rarely as the key motivator of the conflict. Religion is an important player, but rarely the primary cause of wars and violent conflicts. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 512

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 512
• XREF: connects to: Religion bundles separable traits whose conflict roles must be disaggregated; A religion’s violence depends on context, not inherent character; Religious participation, not belief, drives support for intergroup conflict (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Religion bundles separable traits whose conflict roles must be disaggregated #expands (0.85)
• Religious participation, not belief, drives support for intergroup conflict #expands (0.82)
• A religion’s violence depends on context, not inherent character #expands (0.80)
• Religion drives intergroup conflict through three mutable pathways, not belief alone #expands (0.80)
• Religious behavior depends on situational context, observable action, and intergroup competition #expands (0.80) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 19
• Attributing every social characteristic to religious texts erases contextual factors #expands (0.78) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 123
• Popular blame of religious belief for violence remains scientifically untested #corroborates (0.75)
• Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks #exemplifies (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421
• Religion and myth armed enslaved peoples for eventual impossible rebellion #exemplifies (0.72)