The Roots of Religious Violence
In the wake of 9/11, political scientists have sought to explain religiously motivated violence in terms of identity politics, failures or exemplars of rationality, game theoretical models and statistical regressions, power political calculations, and economic considerations. Contemporary analyses regard religious affiliation as a transnational network, religious movements as non-governmental organizations, religious leaders as political entrepreneurs, and religious identity as the basis for cultural or ethnic affiliation. In sum, political scientists have left no stone unturned in our search for the connection between religion and conflict. No stone, that is, except for one: religion itself.
Often, literature on faith and politics is reluctant to confront religion on its own terms: as a set of beliefs, texts, practices, symbols and social structures. Because dealing with religion in these terms poses significant epistemological, ontological and methodological challenges, most political scientists attempt to understand religion as strictly political behavior.
Led by RPGP Co-Director Ron Hassner, this project explores the nuanced role that religious beliefs, texts, practices, symbols, and social structures play in fomenting or impeding violence. Researchers are investigating the many ways that religious leaders either restrain or encourage conflict, and probing the significance that particular religious beliefs play in motivating combatants. The main goal of the project is to determine the religious foundations for a range of political and social outcomes.
