Religious Rage: A Quantitative Analysis of the Intensity of Religious Conflicts

ABSTRACT

The conventional wisdom that religious conflicts are more intense than other types of conflicts is tested in this study using a cross-sectional time series analysis. The statistical test evaluates the intensity of 278 territorial conflict phases in the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway (PRIO) Armed Conflict Dataset. The results indicate support for the assumption that religious conflicts are more intense than other types of conflicts; however, the relationship disappears when the relevance of religion is taken into account. Furthermore, this study evaluates the relationship of conflict intensity with the type of religion involved in the conflict and determines that no religion exhibits a significantly higher or lower intensity than the others.