In medicine we almost never use the word "cause". The reason being, nothing is ever so simple. Smoking increases your risk of getting cancer, very significantly, but a statement as bald as "smoking causes cancer" is fraught with inaccuracy (and the inevitable rebuttal "well how come my nan lived to 143 and never got cancer then).
Now as complex as the human body is, world politics is going to be more complex by several orders of magnitude. How anyone could state that this war WAS or WAS NOT "caused" by religion is beyond me. People write entire books about the causes of wars (WW1 being a good example) and still don't come close to covering every variable. To pick one factor and call it the "cause" is not, to my mind, very accurate.
I think the closest one could get is to make a list of wars in which the government used religion to galvanize the masses and / or justify the war. That is somewhat more objectively measurable, but still not very.
Take the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. That was predicated on religious sectarianism. But both religions are still there present and correct and yet the troubles are pretty much over. If your grandfather killed my grandfather over religion one might say it was religious. But then my father killed your father in revenge, and you kill me in revenge for that. Still religious?
To my mind, saying a war was NOT caused by religion is no more or less rational than to say that it WAS.
Now as complex as the human body is, world politics is going to be more complex by several orders of magnitude. How anyone could state that this war WAS or WAS NOT "caused" by religion is beyond me. People write entire books about the causes of wars (WW1 being a good example) and still don't come close to covering every variable. To pick one factor and call it the "cause" is not, to my mind, very accurate.
I think the closest one could get is to make a list of wars in which the government used religion to galvanize the masses and / or justify the war. That is somewhat more objectively measurable, but still not very.
Take the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. That was predicated on religious sectarianism. But both religions are still there present and correct and yet the troubles are pretty much over. If your grandfather killed my grandfather over religion one might say it was religious. But then my father killed your father in revenge, and you kill me in revenge for that. Still religious?
To my mind, saying a war was NOT caused by religion is no more or less rational than to say that it WAS.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
