Volume 2, Issue 3, 2014
Matthew Rowley
Pages 361-402
What Causes Religious Violence?
Three Hundred Claimed Contributing Causes
Violence in the name of God is a complex phenomenon and oversimplification further jeopardizes peace because it obscures many of the causal factors. This paper categorizes three hundred scholarly claimed causes of religious violence and then offers thirteen guidelines for navigating the complicated relationship between religion and violence. Understanding this complexity is an important step towards diagnosing the problem and moving towards reconciliation.