Is religion the cause of most wars?

No, and scholars who study this say the answer is more complicated than either side usually admits. An Encyclopedia of Wars (2004) identified religion as the primary cause in fewer than 7% of 1,763 wars in recorded history. The deadliest wars of the 20th century, World War I, World War II, Stalin’s purges, Mao’s Great Leap Forward, were driven by nationalism, ideology and power, not religion. Religion has been used to justify violence. It has also been used to end it.

1 · MindWhat people believe, and how they know

Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod’s Encyclopedia of Wars (2004) catalogued 1,763 wars in recorded history and found that approximately 123, about 7%, could reasonably be classified as religiously motivated. The remaining 93% were driven by territorial expansion, resources, nationalism, dynastic succession, ideology, or personal power.

Psychologist Steven Pinker argued in The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) that secular wars, including the two World Wars and the violence carried out by explicitly atheist regimes in the 20th century, produced more deaths than all historically religious conflicts combined.

This does not mean religion has been harmless. The Crusades, the Thirty Years’ War, partition violence in South Asia, and religious persecution across centuries caused immense suffering. Religion has also motivated abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and humanitarian movements. Both histories are real.

Sociologist Mark Juergensmeyer argues that religion doesn’t cause violence on its own but amplifies conflicts that already have social, political, and economic roots. When people feel humiliated, dispossessed, or threatened, religious identity can provide the language and community that turns grievance into organized action.

What each tradition or community says

History

The most lethal conflicts in recorded history, World War I (17 million dead), World War II (70–85 million dead), and 20th-century communist regimes, were not fought in the name of religion. They were fought in the name of nations, races, and ideologies.

Sociology of religion

Religion rarely causes conflict alone. It mixes with ethnicity, land, politics, and identity. The Northern Ireland conflict, sometimes called religious, was also deeply about colonial history, economic exclusion, and national belonging.

Christian tradition

Christian history includes both violence carried out in Christianity’s name and Christians who died resisting state violence. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed by the Nazi state. Corrie ten Boom hid Jews from it. Both were Christians.

Islam

The same pattern holds. The Prophet Muhammad’s farewell sermon explicitly prohibited killing civilians. Many contemporary acts of violence attributed to Islam are rejected by the majority of Muslim scholars as departures from the tradition, not expressions of it.

2 · HeartWhat it feels like

If someone hurt you, or someone you love, in the name of God, this question isn’t abstract. It’s personal. And you deserve a real answer, not a defensive one.

The honest answer is: religion has been used to justify terrible violence. It has also been the primary driver of some of history’s most powerful movements for justice. Which history you grew up hearing matters a lot for which story feels more true.

Blaming all religion for all violence is as inaccurate as blaming no religion for any of it. Both let someone off the hook.

The wars that killed the most people in the last century were fought by people who had thrown off religion entirely. I’m not saying that to score a point. I’m saying the question is harder than it sounds.Neighbor Radio

3 · HandsHow to be a good neighbor

If this question comes up in conversation, it often means someone has been hurt by religious people or religious institutions. That’s worth understanding before you argue about it.

Ask what they’ve seen or experienced. The data matters, but so does their story.

This weekThink of a conflict you know. How much of it was actually about God, and how much was about land, power, belonging, or fear?

Plain wordsWhat do these words mean?

Secular: Not religious, or not tied to any religion. A secular government doesn’t take a side on faith.
Atheist: Someone who doesn’t believe in God or gods.
Prophet: Someone believed to speak a message from God.
Sermon: A talk during a worship service that explains a passage of scripture and what it means for life. Catholics call it a homily; Muslims call the Friday sermon a khutbah.

All the words →

Four questions to take with you

From Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, about the stranger who stopped to help. We call it the Samaritan Test.

Did they see? Or look right past?
Did they stop? Even when it was inconvenient?
Did it cost them? Time, money, comfort, reputation?
Did they treat the person like a person? Not like a label?

Try it on: a tradition that has been blamed for violence you know something about. What’s the internal story that tradition tells about those events?

Quick questions

What percentage of wars are caused by religion?

One major reference work found about 7%. Most historians say religion is rarely the sole cause; it usually mixes with power, identity, and resources.

Didn’t the Crusades prove religion causes violence?

The Crusades were violent and were carried out under religious authority. They were also driven by political goals, papal power, and Byzantine appeals for military aid. Religion was real; it wasn’t the only thing.

Do most religious people support violence?

No. Pew Research consistently finds that majorities in every major tradition oppose violence in religion’s name. Violent actors are almost always a small minority.

Sources and research

How this answer was made

Written in plain words by the Neighbor Radio team. Each faith's and community's section is checked by someone from that faith or community. Until then, this page says so. Spot something wrong? Tell us. We read every note and fix mistakes.