Objections to Christianity can stem from non-biblical worldviews, negative church experiences, unanswered questions, or misconceptions about the Bible. They can also stem from bad information. Sometimes you need theology and philosophy to answer these objections. Sometimes, you just need to look at the facts.
In an attempt to vilify religion and criticize people of faith, atheists frequently argue that religion is the major cause of war, violence, death, and oppression in the world. In their view, the argument of whether or not God exists has been settled in their favor, and they assert that religious belief of any kind is not just foolish, but also harmful and destructive. They argue that, if religion were eradicated, the world would be a much more peaceful place.
Here are a few examples: In his book The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, atheist Sam Harris describes religious faith as “the most prolific source of violence in our history.” The late Christopher Hitchens titled his attack against theism “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” In the opening line of his 1996 speech to the American Humanist Association, noted atheist Richard Dawkins said, “I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.”
Citing past atrocities such as the Crusades, the Inquisitions, witch hunts, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 makes the atheists' claim sound convincing. After all, these are actual documented events that were motivated by religion. Even today, there are ongoing conflicts in the Middle East that are religious in nature. Does this mean the claim that religion is the major cause of war and death is true? If it is true, what are the implications?
Is It True?
The most objective way to determine whether religion really is the major cause of war is to assess each war in history and determine its cause. Thankfully, this laborious research has already been conducted, and the results have been published.
In their 3-volume work, Encyclopedia of Wars, Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod classified 1763 wars, rebellions, and revolutions from 3500 BC to the present century. They found that only 123 (less than 7 percent) of the 1763 violent conflicts involved religion. Of those that were religious in nature, more than half (66) were waged in the name of Islam. This means that less than 4 percent of wars and violent conflicts can be attributed to all non-Islamic religions. Here’s a visual to put it into perspective:
Gordon Martel edited a five-volume work, The Encyclopedia of War, which documented similar conclusions—only six percent of the wars listed were religious in nature. The evidence clearly contradicts the atheists' claim. In fact, there is evidence that demonstrates far more deaths and greater evil have resulted from non-religious ideologies like communism than from all the religions in history.
According to a 1992 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, more than 66 million were wiped out under the regimes of Lenin, Stalin, and Krushchev; Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government was responsible for 2.7 million deaths. Other sources report 20 million killed under Hitler, 40 million under Mao Zedong, and 4 million under Hideki Tojo. These leaders were all power-hungry dictators who denied the existence of God. It was institutionalized atheism, not religion, that led to this carnage.
There is also evidence that contradicts the claim that eradicating religion would result in greater peace. In a report of its extensive study on all wars that took place in 2013, the Institute for Economics and Peace noted in its executive summary, 'the role of religion in creating or undermining peace is more often than not presumed rather than systematically studied.' Some of the report's key findings indicated that 'the extent of religious belief in a country has no correlation with the level of peace of a country. Countries with the highest levels of atheism are not necessarily the most peaceful.' Russia and North Korea, two of the world's least peaceful countries, have 'two of the three highest levels of atheism in the world.' The report also noted 'There are aspects of religion and religiously motivated activity which can have a positive impact on peace.' (https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Peace-and-Religion-Report.pdf)
The evidence clearly shows religion is not the major cause of war and violence; but Christians shouldn't attempt to justify the atrocities that have been committed in the name of Christ by merely pointing out the greater number of deaths that have occurred at the hands of godless dictators. We need to provide a response that acknowledges the evil acts carried out under the banner of Christianity, and to understand and explain the implications of those acts.
What Are the Implications?
A distinction needs to be made between the actions of a person or group, and the belief system they adhere to. Any religion can be rightly judged only by examining its foundational teachings. For Christianity, those teachings are found in the Bible. The massacres and violence committed during the Crusades and the Inquisitions were not directed by the instructions for life and godliness given in Scripture. They were in violation of what the Bible teaches.
Bad behavior on the part of someone who professes to be a Christian hurts the reputation of Christianity and the church, but it proves nothing about the existence of God, or the truth of the biblical worldview. (Our sinfulness is actually evidence for the truth of the biblical worldview.) A bank executive who is caught embezzling money gives the bank a bad name, but it's not the banking system that's to blame. It's the sinful greed of an individual who has violated the bank's governing policies. A doctor who harms a patient by willfully prescribing the wrong drug has violated the Hippocratic oath. He is not a good representative of what the medical community stands for. St. Augustine stated it well when he wrote, “Never judge a philosophy by its abuse.”
"Never judge a philosophy by its abuse." - St. Augustine
The Bible instructs us to love one another, pray for our enemies, and to overcome evil with good. It also tells us what the true cause of war and conflict is: sin. We read in James, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and you do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel" (James 4:1-2). It is out of the heart of man that evil thoughts and desires come; and it is those evil thoughts and desires that lead to evil deeds. (See Mark 7:21-23 and James 1:13-15).
War is caused by greed and a lust for power that is part of our fallen human nature. The sinfulness of mankind is evident throughout history, across cultures, and among the religious and non-religious. Christianity is not the cause of war and violence, and the Bible does not condone the wicked actions of those who claim to follow Jesus. Moreover, it is the biblical worldview that provides the best explanation for the way the world is, and offers real hope for the future.
Summary
While it is true there have been lives lost in religious conflicts, those numbers are negligible when compared to the millions of deaths that have occurred at the hands of godless dictators. The atheists’ claim that religion is the major cause of war is demonstrably false.
Evil acts committed in the name of Christ are evidence of man's depravity, but do not disprove the existence of God or the truth claims of Christianity. A biblical worldview recognizes the sinfulness of man and the brokenness of the world, and acknowledges that lasting peace will only come when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, returns to establish HIs kingdom on earth.
"He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." [Isa. 2:4 ESV]
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