Editing Religious war (section)

{{Short description|War primarily over religious differences}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Holy War|Wars of religion|the 16th–18th century conflicts in Europe|European wars of religion|the EP by Subhumans|Religious Wars (EP)|other uses|Holy War (disambiguation)|and|War of Religion (disambiguation)|and|Religious conflict (disambiguation)}}
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[[File:Regaining the Provincial Capital of Ruizhou.jpg|thumb|A sample scene of the [[Taiping Rebellion]]]]
A '''religious war''' or a '''war of religion''', sometimes also known as a '''holy war''' ({{langx|la|sanctum bellum}}), is a [[War|war and conflict]] which is primarily caused or justified by differences in [[religion]] and beliefs. In the [[modern period]], there are frequent debates over the extent to which religious, [[War#Economic|economic]], [[ethnic conflict|ethnic]] or other aspects of a conflict are predominant in a given war. The degree to which a war may be considered religious depends on many underlying questions, such as the [[definition of religion]], the definition of 'war', and the applicability of religion to war as opposed to other possible factors.

According to scholars such as [[Jeffrey Burton Russell]], conflicts may not be rooted strictly in religion and instead may be a cover for the underlying secular power, ethnic, social, political, and economic reasons for conflict.<ref name="Jeffrey Russell">{{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Jeffrey Burton|title=Exposing Myths about Christianity|url=https://archive.org/details/exposingmythsabo0000russ|url-access=registration|date=2012|publisher=IVP Books|location=Downers Grove, Ill.|isbn=9780830834662|pages=[https://archive.org/details/exposingmythsabo0000russ/page/56 56]}}</ref> Other scholars have argued that what is termed "religious wars" is a largely "Western dichotomy" and a modern invention from the past few centuries, arguing that all wars that are classed as "religious" have secular (economic or political) ramifications.<ref name="Cavanaugh"/><ref name="50 great1">{{cite book|last1=Morreall|first1=John|last2=Sonn|first2=Tamara|title=50 Great Myths of Religion|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=9780470673508|pages=39–44}}</ref><ref name="p. 110">{{Cite book|last=Entick|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=21pSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA110
| page= 110| volume= 3
|title=The General History of the Later War|date=1763|language=en}}</ref> In several conflicts including the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]], the [[Syrian civil war]], and the wars in [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan]] and [[Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal)|Iraq]], religious elements are overtly present, but variously described as [[fundamentalism]] or [[religious extremism]]—depending upon the observer's sympathies. However, studies on these cases often conclude that ethnic animosities drive much of the conflicts.<ref name="Omar"/>

According to the ''Encyclopedia of Wars'', out of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 121, or 6.87%, had religion as their primary cause.<ref name="Axelrod vol3">{{cite book |editor1-last=Axelrod |editor1-first=Alan |editor2-last=Phillips |editor2-first=Charles |title=Encyclopedia of Wars (Vol.3) |date=2004 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=0816028516 |pages=1484–1485 "Religious wars"}}</ref> Matthew White's ''[[The Great Big Book of Horrible Things]]'' gives religion as the primary cause of 11 of the world's 100 deadliest atrocities.<ref name="White">{{cite book|title=The Great Big Book of Horrible Things|author1=Matthew White|date=2011|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-08192-3|pages=544}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Holt 
| first = Andrew |date=2018-11-08
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201010062737/https://apholt.com/2018/11/08/religion-and-the-100-worst-atrocities-in-history/
| archive-date= 10 October 2020
|title=Religion and the 100 Worst Atrocities in History|url=https://apholt.com/2018/11/08/religion-and-the-100-worst-atrocities-in-history/|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Andrew Holt, Ph.D.|language=en}}</ref> Such estimates and others indicate that historically, religion was not a common source for war or conflict and that other factors played a more frequent role.<ref name="Holt2022">{{cite book |last1=Holt |first1=Andrew |editor1-last=Hosler |editor1-first=John |title=Seven Myths of Military History |date=2022 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Inc |isbn=1647920434 |chapter=War and the Divine: Is Religion the Cause of Most Wars?}}</ref>