From the outset, we must recognize that ‘there is an extreme variation in religious experience’. 5 Therefore, how people experience God will impact how they understand war and violence. John Crossan, one of the world’s leading authorities on Christianity, concludes that our understanding of war and violence is dependant upon the ‘character’ of our God. 6 But there is room to doubt that, at the end of the day, the difference in the tendency of states to go to war depends on which religious tradition primarily influences them. The better indicators may be.
