Does religion cause war?

The idea that religion is bad because it causes wars is an article of faith among British atheists and agnostics. The most frequently quoted examples are the Crusades and the English-Spanish wars during the reign of Elisabeth I. But this argument — which seemed very strong in 1900 — is now out of date. Humanism, atheism and nationalism caused more deaths by war in the 20th century than all of the other wars in the history of mankind put together. Historians now also accept that the causes of war are complex — even the apparently 'obvious' cases of the Crusades were not caused purely by religion.

Jesus Christ taught his disciples to 'love your enemies'. Of all the philosophies and religions in the world, it is the teaching of Jesus which is most opposed to war.

The track record of atheism in the 20th century [see Wikipedia article].

50 million people are estimated to have died in World War II, 40 million under Mao Zedong's regime in China, 20 million under Stalin's regime in the USSR, 15 million in the first World War, and 8.8 million in the Russian Civil War. Within a total of 170 million estimated to have died in the 30 most serious conflicts of the 20th century, almost 140 million are directly attributable to atheistic political ideologies, principally Marxism and Nazism — although, of course, there were other causes in all cases. The causes of the first World War are still undecided. Most of the remainder were caused by nationalism or racism.

Complete figures are harder to come by for the preceding centuries. However, Wikipedia lists some 77 major wars and military actions. This list is accepted as being incomplete. Nonetheless, excluding rebellions, colonisations and conquests of effectively undefended territory, which are not usually referred to as 'wars', Wikipedia's list total comes to 156 million if averages are taken for disputed figures. Of these, 83 million deaths are from conflicts directly attributable to atheistic political ideologies in the 20th century.

But what about "Christian Wars" in the Middle Ages and after the Reformation?

The Crusades, from the 11th century, were sanctioned by a succession of Popes and church figures. The Reformation from 1518 split Europe along Protestant/Catholic lines. But. The key contention of the Reformation was that the practices of the medieval Roman Catholic church were so distant from the teachings of Jesus that they were no longer properly Christian. We can point to a large number of practices, since stopped by the later Roman Catholic church, which went against the teachings of Jesus. The Crusades were a tragedy in which thousands lost their lives for no purpose. But they were not in any sense Christian, even if they were sanctioned by the then church hierarchy.

The wars that followed the Reformation are more complicated. Theological arguments were advanced on both sides. Nonetheless, in each case the aggressors failed to take seriously the command of Jesus Christ to love your enemies.

So does Christianity cause wars?

There is no possible way that Christians acting consistently with the teaching of Jesus can start wars of aggression. But there are possible circumstances when Christians acting consistently may start a war. These could be to rescue others from genocide, to defend people who cannot defend themselves, or to remove an intolerable injustice. Christians disagree on these, and even disagree which wars are 'legitimate'. Most Christians agree that Britain was right to fight against Germany in the Second World War. Many Christians believe that America and Britain were not right to go to war against Iraq in the second Gulf War, although many other Christians, especially in the USA, believe that they were.

On the other hand Christians acting inconsistently — what the Bible calls 'sin' — are as likely as anyone else to commit crimes, start wars and make worse the general lot of mankind.

Stechford Baptist Church • Victoria Road • Stechford • Birmingham B33 8AH. Map. Stechford is in the Stechford and Yardley North Ward, and is close to Hodge Hill.