Religious difference and war: The sharp edge of sectarianism

WHENEVER conflict flares between groups of people who are divided by theology (often rather obscure points of theology), commentators will say: "Of course, it's not really about religion—the actual cause has to do with economics, or geopolitics, or just tribal identity..."

And the clever commentators have a point. In Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics do not fight because they disagree over the pope or rosary beads; they fight because the former mostly want to remain part of the United Kingdom while the latter yearn (eventually, at least) to join the Irish republic. But that doesn't mean that religion is completely irrelevant. At least in the recent past, if Protestant firebrands wanted to whip up anti-Catholic sentiment, it was convenient to portray their adversaries as practitioners of an exotic and vaguely frightening cult, and their own side as a people mandated by God to maintain the truth in a hostile land. Even if religion is not the main cause of conflict, nothing keeps conflict on the boil like a dose of fiery religious rhetoric.

Read the complete article at -- http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2013/11/religious-difference-and-war

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