As Islamic extremists explode bombs and spray bullets across Baghdad and Bangladesh, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, it’s surely impossible to deny the reality of religious violence.
But renowned religious scholar William Cavanaugh of De Paul University in the United States disputes the idea. His book, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, argues that violence in the name of faith is no greater, maybe even less, than religion in the name of secular ideologies.
Bill Cavanaugh is in Australia this month to speak at a conference at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, and at the Centre for Public Christianity in Sydney. How does he explain the latest bout of Islamist carnage if it isn’t religious?
You and listen to this podast on ABC Radio National.
