ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Christianity's relative autonomy with respect to the sanctioning of violence or peace as well as a clearer articulation of its internal cultural tools that it can use in either stance. It focuses upon with comparative work that looks at variation in religion's ambivalence across cases that allow for meaningful comparisons across important contextual factors. The book contributes to understanding of how advocates come to the supporting and critical war respective positions. It argues that people can understand taking a position on the war for religious reasons as akin to participating in a tradition. Support for the war was largely bipartisan at the beginning of the public debate, but considerable partisan gaps emerged between levels of support as the start of the war approached. The book explains how religion contributed to this foreign policy outcome.
