Tom Petty Says Religion = War

Expressing a view that is held by a lot of people, rock star Tom Petty explained that the title of one of the tunes on his new album (Hypnotic Eye) was about cover ups of child abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. I think it's safe to say that no one supports child abuse and most people don't approve of covering it up - so Tom's tune seems pretty relevant.

Unfortunately, he then went on to make a sweeping generalization about religion as a whole by saying that "religion seems to me to be at the base of all wars."  Well, whereas it certainly has been at the base of some wars it's hard to see how any war fought by communist (and atheist) Russia or China could fall into that category.

So just how many wars, historically speaking, is religion the cause of?  Political science professor John Tures (writing in the Huffington Post) says not too many.  His research found that "religion was very infrequently a source of conflict" while issues like "regimes, riches and real estate" were major culprits.  Professor Tures also points out that many wars, like the Protestants vs the Catholics in North Ireland, weren't actually religiously based but were rather over political power and governmental representation.

So while Tom may be a great musician, he may need some more rehearsals before venturing out on the theological world stage.

Read it all here.


.