War and Religion: An Overview

Abstract

Although largely ignored by international relations scholars until the 21st century, religion has been and remains a pervasive social force both on and off the battlefield. It affects how combatants mobilize and prepare for war. It regulates how they fight, including unit organization and strategic decision making. In addition, religious identities, beliefs, practices, and symbols shape how and when combatants pursue peace. The study of religion and war seeks to discover and understand these varied influences, even when religion is not the pretext for fighting.

State Support for Religion and Government Legitimacy in Christian-Majority Countries

“…Most studies that address religious legitimacy in politics do so in other contexts where the role of religious legitimacy is an element of an argument focusing on another topic. These studies, which mostly focus on some aspect of religion and politics, commonly assert that religion is capable of supporting (or undermining) the legitimacy of governments and their opposition (Arjomand 1993, 45; Assefa 1990, 257; Berryman 1987, 126; Billings and Scott 1994; Cosgel et al 2018; Horowitz 2007, 914; Lincoln 2003; Williamson 1990, 243), leaders (Barter and Zatkin-Ozburn 2014, 190; Brasnett 2021, 43; Cingnarelli and Kalmick 2020, 940; Ives 2019; Saiya 2019b) and other political activities and phenomena such as conflict, terrorism and violence (Appleby 2000; Dalacoura 2000, 883; Deitch 2020, 3; De Juan 2015, 766; Hoffman 1995; Horowitz 2009, 168; Klocek and Hassner 2019, 6; McTernan 2003), conflict resolution and peacemaking, (Appleby 2000; Luttwak 1994, 17, 18), political protest and mobilization (Akbaba 2019; Fawcett 2000, 8; Hoffman and Jamal 2014, 595), discrimination, (Fox 2020; Peretz and Fox 2021), populism (Cremer 2023, 172; Peker and Laxer 2021; Sandal 2021b), and fascism (Eatwell 2003), among others.…”

Relatio: Text Semantics Capture Political and Economic Narratives

“…The supporting narrative of Hussein having or using weapons of mass destruction spikes at the same time (Kull, Ramsay, and Lewis 2003), continuing over the subsequent years. Meanwhile, appeals to God blessing America surged in the wake of the September 11th attacks (Klocek and Hassner 2019). Furthermore, starting in 2003 with the Iraq invasion, a second religious narrative of God blessing the troops gained hold and persisted for a decade.…”