Empirical Perspectives on Religion and Violence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1482

Keywords:

religion and violence, religiosity, threat, aggression, religious orientation, secularism, religious identity

Abstract

The ‘religion as cause’ argument implies that religious faiths are more inherently prone to violence than ideologies that are secular. Following an evaluation of the scientific literature on religion and violence, we argue that wherever evidence links specific aspects of religion with aggression and violence, these aspects are not unique to religion. Rather, these aspects are religious variants of more general psychological processes. Further, there are numerous aspects of religion that buffer against aggression and violence among its adherents. The most distinct feature of religion, supernaturalism, is not often the focus of religion and violence researchers. Despite this, the paucity of research that has been conducted on this key feature suggests that it is associated with reduced aggression and violence. There appears very little support for the notion that there is something uniquely religious that causes violence among followers.

Author Biographies

Joshua David Wright, Simon Fraser University

Joshua D. Wright received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Western Ontario and is currently a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Simon Fraser University. He was awarded the Sukemune-Bain Early Career Research Award from the International Council of Psychologists for his research. His research spans the areas of religion and violence, political psychology, and intergroup behavior.

Yuelee Khoo, University of Western Ontario

Yuelee Khoo graduated from the University of Western Ontario with his B.Sc. in psychology. His research interests combine immigration and religion. He has examined how religiosity changes as a function of time spent in the host country and has examined the role of spirituality in immigrants’ access to mental healthcare.

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Published

2019-05-10