University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

Does religion cause violence? For some, the answer seems obvious! Jihad, Crusade, Inquisition, Witch-hunt... the list seems endless. Today's atheists or secularists seem all to ready to cite from that list as a way of arguing that religion is not just irrelevant, but deleterious. Wouldn't it be better just to throw religion out for a peaceful and godless future? But Prof. Cavanaugh of St. Thomas University and author of "The Myth of Religious Violence," argues that surface-level understandings of the connection are superficial and explanatorily lacking. Join Prof. Cavanaugh in an explanation of our definitions and understandings of religion, politics, power, and violence, getting to the bottom of the issue of violence and religion.