The Myth of Religious Violence Pt 1

The Myth of Religious Violence Pt 1

After episodes looking at violent blemishes within Christian history, and more recently within Irreligious groups, we are led to another myth–The Myth of Religious Violence–that is a sub-myth of the overall myth we are analyzing–The Myth that Christianity is Harmful to Human Flourishing.

William T. Cavanaugh, in his book The Myth of Religious Violence, argues that there does seem to be an assumption within Western culture, that the religious are somehow more prone to violence and war than non-religious actors are. We’ve already seen in the previous two episodes that the historical evidence does not support that assumption, but Cavanaugh goes further and argues that this assumption of religious violence is actually a myth that the secular Enlightenment narrative has created in order marginalize religious groups like Christians in western culture and, more recently,  Muslims internationally.