(September 1, 2012 at 11:34 am)Polaris Wrote: They take into account all the wars fought throughout human history and just the sheer number of people killed violently during the 20th century, which had seen rapid growth in population. I think it came from a guy disputing religion as the chief cause of violent deaths (I studied international affairs and we also came to the same conclusion, but that had more to do with the actual cause of wars and not using excuses such as religious/ethnic differences), but his research was pretty academically grounded.
Yeah, religion hardly seems to be the main cause of war from what I know of history. Certainly it's been used as an excuse and other times enabled conflict which might have otherwise not manifested, but things like territory, resources and political disputes (especially combined) surely outstrip religion as a cause. I'd consider our own psychology as a species a fundamental cause - we're often biased and ignorant of it, accepting of in groups and hostile toward out groups, etc.
