Religion and Genocide

Religion and Genocide by Ellen J. Kennedy

[ Article published in Sociograph, the Sociologists of Minnesota Newsletter, Vol. 29, No. 3, Summer 2011. ]

The Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews because of religion; Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Bosnian Muslims slaughtered each other because of religion:  the Sudanese Muslim government killed more than 2 million South Sudanese Christians because of religion.

Many people believe these statements and see religion as the ultimate cause of genocide.  Yet if we dig a little deeper, the causes become more complicated – and more difficult to solve or prevent.

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