Does religion cause the majority of wars?
By Easton Martin | March 17, 2026
President Donald Trump remarked during an address yesterday in the oval office that religious wars have claimed more lives than every other conflict in history put together.
While his point sounds credible, even sensible, on the surface, this is a common but entirely false talking point. The assertion that religion causes the most conflict lacks a basis in historical reality and ignores the massive scale of modern industrial warfare. The total death toll of the major religious conflicts throughout the centuries is significantly lower than the casualties recorded in the twentieth century.
Historians generally agree that the Mongol conquests and the World Wars stand as the deadliest events in human memory. World War II alone resulted in an estimated 70 to 85 million deaths across the globe. This single, chiefly secular conflict surpassed the combined totals of the Crusades and the French Wars of Religion by a wide margin.
The history of the last hundred years demonstrates that secular and atheist regimes are capable of far greater destruction than religious institutions. State-sponsored atheism under leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong caused the deaths of tens of millions of people through systemic violence. These regimes sought to eliminate religious influence to secure total control over their populations. Their various purges and manufactured famines are among the most horrific chapters in the recorded history of mankind. The human cost of these secular ideologies is staggering when placed alongside the religious wars of the pre-modern era.
Many scholars have argued that religion often serves as a convenient cover for more earthly motivations. Wars that appear to be about theology are usually driven by a desire for land or valuable natural resources. Rulers have utilized religious language to mobilize their populations for purely political gain. We should recognize that human greed and the thirst for power are the primary drivers of mass violence regardless of the era.
The point in clarifying this is that this talking point is one which is often used as a sort of “gotcha” in discussions on the veracity of the Christian faith. If religion is statistically the most dangerous ideology, then it doesn’t seem quite as “good” as the lack thereof. Religion certainly has caused many conflicts, and there is no denying that, but we cannot simply repeat these made up talking points to fit a narrative of our choosing.
