Is Religion Violent?

Religion is just one of many categories of power that can inform violence in the world—be it structural, cultural, or direct. When we understand these kinds of violence as interrelated, we can better work towards dismantling it and creating peace.

I want us to resist absolutist or binary claims about religion (ie: “Religion is violent!” “Religion caused all the major wars in the world!”) that release other agents of power from their accountability in the world’s problems.

These important distinctions about religion offer a real challenge to how we see other cultures and their traditions. If we’re only seeing them through our eyes, rather than challenging our gaze, how can they ever trust us to see them for who they are? How does this imposition of “religion” onto other cultures contribute to broader misunderstanding... See more

If religion has become synonymous with violence or regression or injustice, it’s not just because it is embedded in so many matrices of power. It’s also because the people who are challenging the hegemony and seeking to carve out a different future have been overlooked, erased, or ignored. This is the destructive power of cultural norms.

some of our commonly held “wisdoms” around religion are missing crucial context, and in the process, are letting many nefarious forces in this world go unchecked and under-examined. In addition, some of these talking points and universal claims about religion are unintentionally reproducing notions of othering, racism, and Western supremacy—even th... See more

I thought I came here to better understand the destructive role that religion plays in the world, so I could fight against it. I didn’t anticipate that, in exploring that work, I’d also come to appreciate the role that faith plays in brokering peace and forging coalitions in a world that’s more divided than ever.