Christianity and violence

This is a very good essay by Croation theologian Miroslav Volf (I also recommend his Exclusion and Embrace). Volf argues that what’s needed to counter religiously sanctioned violence is not less religion, but more religion.

Specifically, the more rooted Christians are in their own “thick” tradition (rather than, say, some pale imitation civil religion) the less likely they will be to offer religious sanction to violence. He also has some good rejoinders to critics who argue that Christianity is inherently violent.

(via Faith as a Way of Life)