ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a set of criteria for evaluating the various impacts of religious phenomena on conflict. It reviews the empirical studies of religion and domestic conflict that are currently available. The chapter discusses the "state of the discipline" and suggests what needs to be done to understand the role of religion in conflict. A major assumption common to all of the social sciences was that religion was a primordial phenomenon that would decline in importance in modern times and would eventually lose all relevance. Urbanization would undermine the small traditional community that was part of the enforcement mechanism for religious societies. International intervention is also strongly linked to religion. First, religious conflicts attract more intervention. Another interesting finding is that religious grievances are negatively associated with ethnic protest. Religious legitimacy has multiple influences on ethnic conflict. One of the most interesting is its influence on grievance formation.
