DOES RELIGION CAUSE WAR?
Some atheists have claimed that religion frequently causes wars. However, the evidence suggests that this is not at all the case.
The following quotes are from the book Not in God’s Name – Confronting Religious Violence, by Jonathan Sacks (Professor of Law and Ethics at King's College London.), published by Hodder, 2016:-
Page 11:- “Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod surveyed 1800 conflicts in The Encyclopaedia of Wars and found that less than 10% of them involved religion at all.”
Page 15:- “The “new atheists” - - - - making the claims, palpably false, that all religion leads to violence, and most violence can be traced back to religion.”
My comment:- I conducted my own survey, perusing the book 101 Battles That Changed The Course of History, edited by R. G. Grant, published by Cassell Illustrated, reprint, 2017. I checked out all the battles between the years 1800 and 1900. There are 193 battles in all. Of these battles, 188 involved no specific religious factors.
The fact is that the species Homo Sapiens is extremely warlike and belligerent. Religion is not a determining factor in most warfare. Here are some quotes from authoritative sources that tend to substantiate this claim:-
The following quote is from the book Main Currents in Sociological Thought, by Raymond Aron (Professor of Sociology at The University of Paris), published by Penguin Books, 1968, page 56:-
“(Thomas) Hobbes - - - - posited war as primeval and inherent in human nature.”
The next quote is from the book Ideology of Death, by John Weiss, published by Ivan R. Dee (Chicago), 1996, page 133:-
The author quotes (Heinrich von) Treitschke (In 1863 Treitschke was appointed professor at Freiburg; After holding appointments at Kiel and Heidelberg, he was made professor at (what is now called) Humboldt University in Berlin in 1874.)
“History is nothing other than the eternal struggle of race against race.”
The next quote is from the book The Better Angels of Our Nature. A History of Violence and Humanity, by Steven Pinker (Professor in The Department of Psychology at Harvard University), published by Penguin Books, 2012, page 279:- “The backdrop of European history during most of the past millennium is EVER-PRESENT WARRING - - - Peace was regarded as a brief interval between wars, and war was an almost automatic activity, part of the natural order of things - - - the motives were - - - predation (primarily of land), preemption of predation by others, and credible deterrence - - - conquest and plunder were the principal means of upward mobility.”
The next quotes come from the book The Blank Slate – The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker (Professor in The Department of Psychology at Harvard University), published by BCA 2002:-
Page 306:- The author quotes Winston Churchill – “The story of the human race is war. Except for brief and precarious interludes there has never been peace in the world; and long before history began murderous strife was universal and unending.”
Pages 329 to 330:- “Hobbes’s analysis of the causes of violence, borne out by modern data on crime and war, shows that violence is not a primitive, irrational urge - - - - Instead, is a near-inevitable outcome of the dynamics of self-interested, rational social organisms. - - - The shockingly high homicide rates of pre-state societies, with 10 to 60 percent of the men dying at the hands of other men - - - ”
Sun-tzu’s book The Art of War begins with the following statement:- “Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the way (Tao) to survival or extinction.”
The next quote comes from the book The Territorial Imperative, by Robert Ardrey, published NY., by Atheneum, 1968, 7th printing, page 244:-
“In his Essays on Human Evolution - - - Sir Arthur Keith (Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.) expressed his view that to discover the cause of war we need to look no further than territory.”
The next quote comes from the book Human Aggression, by Anthony Storr (who studied medicine at Cambridge University), published by Penguin Books, 1970, pages 57 to 58:-
“Man is a territorial animal, and therefore possesses a great deal of hostility towards his neighbor. - - - - Primitive man - - - - would tend to live in a state of perpetual war with other tribes.”
The next quote is from the book The Nature of History, by Arthur Marwick (Professor of History at The Open University), published by The Macmillan press, reprint, 1976, page 112:-
“Konrad Lorenz (Professor of psychology at the University of Königsberg) - - - described the conditions in which the nastiness is liable to break out in the form of large scale violence or war; one such condition is overcrowding.”
The next quotes are from the book What Happened in History, by (Vere) Gordon Childe (Abercromby Professor of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.), published by Penguin Books, reprint, 1946:-
Page 60:- “Each and all are competing for the - - - - land, and the supply is not unlimited. Such competition might itself lead to war.”
Page 89:- “Metal war gear forms a prominent item in the furniture of all early graves.”
Page 231:- “The Hellenistic world - - - was split up into - - - a varying number of city states and confederacies. All these units fought each other continually with senseless ferocity. - - - - extolled violence and slaughter in the name of patriotism.”
The next quote is from the book Critical Transitions in Nature and Society, by Marten Scheffer (Professor of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2009, page 317:-
“Wars hit poor regions most often, a deep poverty is considered one of the main impediments to sustainable peace in many places around the world.”
The next quote is from The Spectator (magazine), issue for February 2nd 2019, page 32. Article – The Biggest Story on The Planet, by Lionel Shriver (Book review of the book – The Human Tide; How Population Shaped The Modern World, by Paul Morland, published by John Murray):-
Shriver provides the following quote from the book:- “There is a proven link between the youthfulness of a society and its proclivity to go to war.”
The next quote comes from the book Warlords and Coalition in Politics and Post-Soviet States, by Jesse Driscoll (Assistant Professor of Political Science at The University of California), published by Cambridge University Press, 2015, pages 53 to 54:-
“For certain young men ritualized kinds of violence are a great deal of fun. - - - Certain men found that they enjoyed the psychotic rush of breaking taboos against violence. - - Militia organizers - - - ride free on masculine norms of honor.”
The next quote is from The Economist (magazine), issue for July 14th to July 20th. Article – Jihad’s Next Battleground.
The article discusses Islamic jihadism in Africa – but makes the following comment:- “In each country, CONFLICT MAY BE FUELLED LARGELY BY LOCAL GRIEVANCES. But the insurgents share some ideological traits.”
Here is a further quote suggesting that Islam does NOT promote war. The quote is from the book Muslim, Actually. How Islam is Misunderstood, and Why it Matters, by Tawseef Khan, published by Atlantic Books, 2022, pages 93 to 94:- “In Islam, only defensive wars are permitted:- “Fight in the way of God those who fight you” the Quran says, “but do not begin hostilities; God does not like the aggressor” [2;190]”
(My comment:- Even wars that APPEAR to be about religion often originate with other entirely NON-religious issues. The next quote tends to substantiate this statement.)
The next quote comes from the book Religion – The Missing Dimension of Statecraft, edited by D. Johnston and C. Sampson published by Oxford University Press, 1994. Essay – Looking Ahead Towards a New Paradigm, by Douglas Johnston (Executive Vice President of The Centre For Strategic and International Studies, and Project Director of The Religion and Conflict Resolution Project)), page 323:-
Discussing The Northern Ireland conflict:- “Many observers view the conflict as a religious confrontation between Catholics and Protestants, but Northern Ireland is not a battleground - - - - - in which one party seeks to force the conversion of the other. BENEATH THE RELIGIOUS LABELS ARE ECONOMIC DISPARITIES, RIVAL NATIONAL IDENTITIES, AND CONFLICTING POLITICAL OBJECTIVES.”
I will also provide a couple of quotes from this same book – quotes which suggest that RELIGION CAN SOMETIMES ASSIST IN THE PEACEMAKING PROCESS!
Page 5:- “Transformational possibilities that exist when the parties involved in a conflict can be appealed to on the basis of shared spiritual convictions or values - - - The parties can operate on a higher level of trust than would otherwise be possible.”
Pages 81 to 83:- The Conciliation Commission - - - - helped the parties move from armed conflict to a cessation of hostilities. - - - - The documented ability of the Commission members to sustain religiously grounded trust among all participants - - - few other leaders - - - would be viewed as capable of the “balanced partiality” the situation required. Religious leaders opened a window to a transcendent dimension - - - - - Looking through this window, it was easier for individuals - - - to see beyond their individual preoccupations to goals shared by the other - - - - Their infusion of - - - trustworthiness - - - - into the negotiation process created unique opportunities for human contact across a great political gulf. When the gulf appeared insurmountable - - - a uniquely spiritual bridge to which both sides frequently resorted.”
Here is another quote showing that religion can often deflect war, and help to bring about peace. This quote is from the book The Shortest History of War, by Gwynne Dyer (whose twice-weekly column on international affairs appears in 175 newspapers in 45 countries), published by Old Street Publishing, 2022, pages 51 to 52:- “The Sumerians very early hit upon the device of using religion as a non-military source of authority to settle disputes - - - priests whose role was - - - to settle disputes peacefully - - - THE TEMPLE PRIESTS BOUGHT SUMER FIVE, MAYBE TEN CENTURIES OF RELATIVE PEACE.” (My capitals.)
I gave the above chapter (ie:- Does Religion Cause War) to a friend to read and critique. His comment was that I had not properly taken into consideration The Middle East, where (currently) various Islamic groups are waging war against one another, and against The West, and against various other countries. Surely (my friend insisted) the state of The Middle East and other Muslim countries does indeed support the notion that religion causes war. He made an interesting point that requires my response. My argument is as follows:- There is a high level of unemployment amongst young men in some Muslim countries. Certain wealthy people (mainly in Saudi Arabia – it would seem) decided to “fund” various groups to carry out acts of war against various other groups. The young unemployed men were suddenly offered good salaries plus “status” and “comradeship”. They could either turn down these advantages or seize them. Some of these (previously unemployed and therefore low “status”) young men decided to accept the challenge to become “mercenaries”, in order to enjoy money and “status”. Just exactly how strong was the “religious” motivation of these “mercenaries” is difficult to gauge. However, here are some quotes from specialists in Middle East politics that tend to show that “religion” is not entirely at the forefront of the various fighting in The Middle East:-
These quotes are from the book Disordered World, by Amin Maalouf (Director of the daily newspaper An-Nahar, winner of The 1993 Prix Goncourt, and The 2010 Asturias Prize), published by Bloomsbury, 2011, pages 167 to 168:-
“Given that nationalist struggles - - pitted Muslims against Christian or Jewish adversaries, they could be conducted more easily in the name of a religious community than a linguistic one. - - - Why would someone have declared himself a Maoist, Guevarist or Leninist in the past? Because he wanted to fight effectively against “American Imperialism”. Today he pursues the same objective in the name of Islam.” (My comment:- It is arguable that the “war” waged by certain Islamic parties against America is NOT a war of “religion”, but an uprising against (perceived) American “meddling” or “interference” in some Muslim countries (which may or may not be due to America attempting to protect its oil “interests”).
The following quotes are from the book The Rise of The Islamic State, by Patrick Cockburn (Middle East correspondent for the Independent – winner of The Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize in 2006, and The Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2009, and was named Foreign Commentator of the Year by the Comment Awards in 2013), published by Verso 2015:-
Pages 50 to 51:- “Different jihadi groups compete with each other in this region and, since early 2014 have been engaged in INTERNECINE COMBAT. In 2012, ISIS founded JAN - - - the two groups (ie:- ISIS and JAN) became involved in a complicated INTRA-JIHADI CIVIL WAR. The Islamic Front - - - is also fighting ISIS, DESPITE SHARING ITS AIM OF STRICT IMPOSITION OF SHARIA. When it comes to social and religious mores, ISIS and JAN do not differ markedly. - - - The fighting between ISIS and the other jihadis IS REALLY A BATTLE OVER SPOILS - - - than of any differences with respect to their long term aims.”
Page 56:- “Citing a CIA report from 2002, the official 9/11 report says that al-Qaeda relied for its funding on “a variety of donors and fundraisers, primarily in the Gulf countries and particularly in Saudi Arabia.”
Page 84:- The author discusses the “uprising” in Syria (against Assad). Apparently four years of drought had pushed 3 million Syrian farmers into extreme poverty, so they moved into shanty towns on the outskirts of various Syrian cities. This finally caused an “uprising”. The author tells us:- “The ICG conceded that there was “an Islamic undercurrent to the uprising,” but it was not the main motivation for the peaceful protests that were mutating into military conflict.”
Page 91:- “Many of the INTRA-REBEL BATTLES have been fought over the control of border crossings that - - - provide a source of revenue.”
Page 100:- “During the 1980s, an alliance was born among Saudi Arabia, Pakistan - - - and The US that has proved extraordinarily durable.” (My comment:- Saudi Arabia is Muslim, and the US is NOT Muslim, and yet they are on the “same side”. (My capitals and highlighting.)
(My comment:- These above quotes suggest that the various conflicts in The Middle East may have a religious “undercurrent”, but religion is not their root “cause”.)
My comment and summary:- The claim made by some atheists that religion causes war is undermined by the following facts:- Most wars do NOT have any religious element. Wars occur over territory. Wars occur due to overcrowding, demographic factors, poverty, and human nature (amongst other factors). Conflicts that are APPARENTLY religious in origin are very often due to NON-religious factors. Religion can actually assist in the peacemaking process. The atheist claim that religion causes war does not stand up to scrutiny.