Peace, conflict and public life

Religion, civil unrest and warfare

An archival guide to conflicts in which religious identity intersects with political power, ethnicity, territory, inequality and historical grievance.

Empty chairs arranged for dialogue in a community meeting room

Identity may shape a conflict without being its only cause.

Reading the archive

Religion is rarely the whole explanation

News reports often describe violence as religious or ethnic, but those labels can conceal a more complicated history. Political alliances, discrimination, disputed territory, economic inequality, language, colonial boundaries and struggles over state power may all operate together.

Religious identity can still matter greatly. It may define community boundaries, influence political goals, provide language for solidarity, or be misused to excuse coercion. Careful analysis asks both how religion is involved and what other forces sustain the conflict.

This page preserves the scope of an older conflict survey while correcting its presentation. Historical entries are summaries of past conditions, not a live assessment of security in September 2026.

Analytical framework

Four questions to ask

These questions help separate religious identity from the political, economic and historical mechanisms that turn disagreement into prolonged conflict.

Who holds power?

Examine access to government, security, land, citizenship, education and public institutions.

How are groups defined?

Religious, ethnic and linguistic identities frequently overlap without being interchangeable.

What changed?

Elections, borders, displacement, economic shocks and outside intervention can alter relationships.

Who benefits?

Leaders may amplify identity differences to gain authority, resources or territorial control.

Illustrative cases

Different conflicts, different mixtures

The cases below show why one explanation cannot be applied everywhere. They summarize historical context without assigning collective blame.

Politics, identity and rights

Northern Ireland

The conflict commonly called the Troubles involved Irish nationalist and unionist goals, unequal treatment, constitutional status and communities that were often identified as Catholic or Protestant.

The 1998 Belfast Agreement created a political framework that substantially reduced organized violence, though questions of identity and governance did not disappear.

Ethnicity and genocide

Rwanda

The 1994 genocide primarily targeted Tutsi people and politically moderate Hutu people. Religious affiliation was not the principal dividing line, although individuals and institutions responded in sharply different ways.

The case demonstrates why the presence of religion in a society does not make every conflict religious in origin.

Nationalism and religion

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The 1992–1995 war involved Bosniak, Croat and Serb national projects whose communities were also commonly associated with Islam, Catholic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity.

Ethnic cleansing, mass displacement and genocide occurred. Religious identity intersected with nationalism rather than supplying a complete explanation.

North–south divisions

Sudan and South Sudan

The Second Sudanese Civil War included political, regional, ethnic and religious dimensions. The 2005 peace agreement led to a referendum and South Sudan's independence in 2011.

Later violence in both countries has followed its own changing political and communal dynamics. See the archived Sudan overview.

Territory and sovereignty

Kashmir

The dispute involves competing territorial claims, national identity, governance and communities with different religious majorities. It has affected residents across traditions for decades.

Read the archived Kashmir background with attention to its publication date.

Citizenship and exclusion

Rohingya in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims have faced denial of citizenship, severe persecution and mass displacement in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. State policy, nationalism and religious identity are intertwined.

The archive continues in part one and part two.

Historical index

Conflicts covered by the original survey

This condensed table records what the older page discussed. It does not classify every present-day dispute or provide travel and security advice.

Place	Identities discussed	Archival context
Afghanistan	Muslim communities, religious minorities and armed ideological movements	Foreign intervention, state collapse, insurgency and rival interpretations of governance shaped decades of war.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox communities	Nationalism, territorial ambitions and religiously marked identities intersected during the 1992–1995 war.
Cyprus	Greek Cypriot Christians and Turkish Cypriot Muslims	The island's division arose from ethnic nationalism, constitutional disputes, violence and outside intervention.
India	Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other communities	The archive noted recurring communal violence and disputes involving rights, politics and religious nationalism.
Indonesia's Maluku Islands	Christian and Muslim communities	Severe communal fighting around 1999–2002 caused deaths and displacement before peace initiatives reduced violence.
Iraq	Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, Kurds, Yazidis, Christians and others	Authoritarian rule, invasion, insurgency, sectarian politics and extremist violence affected diverse communities.
Kosovo	Mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians and mostly Orthodox Serbs	Nationalism, state repression, war, displacement and contested sovereignty were central.
Nigeria	Muslim, Christian and traditional communities	Regional inequality, governance, land disputes and armed movements overlap with religious identity. See archived details.
Philippines	Christian-majority state and Muslim communities in the south	Colonial history, autonomy, land and political representation shaped a long-running conflict. See archived details.
Sri Lanka	Mainly Buddhist Sinhalese and mainly Hindu Tamils	The civil war was rooted principally in ethnicity, language, nationalism and demands for autonomy or independence.
Thailand	Buddhist majority and Muslim Malay communities in the south	Regional identity, governance, language and religion have overlapped in a persistent insurgency.
Uganda	Communities affected by an armed movement using Christian language	The Lord's Resistance Army invoked religion while pursuing a coercive insurgency across parts of central Africa.

Selected historical milestones

How the archive developed

A concise chronology of events central to the original page, presented as historical context rather than current reporting.

1998

The Belfast Agreement established a power-sharing and constitutional framework for Northern Ireland.

1999

International forces entered Kosovo after a period of war, repression and mass displacement.

2002

Peace efforts advanced in several conflicts, including Sri Lanka and Indonesia's Maluku Islands, though outcomes varied.

2005

The agreement ending the Second Sudanese Civil War created a pathway toward a referendum in the south.

2009

Sri Lanka's civil war ended with a government military victory and grave humanitarian consequences.

2011

South Sudan became independent following the referendum established by the peace process.

2014

The rise of ISIS intensified conflict and persecution in Iraq and Syria, affecting Muslim and minority communities.

Related paths through the collection

Continue with the site's broader discussions of peace, religious freedom, hostility and violence.

Attaining peace

Approaches to reconciliation, nonviolence and cooperation across differences.

Religious conflict

Background on intolerance, social division and the misuse of religious identity.

Religion and violence

Essays examining violence associated with movements, institutions and political projects.

The Geneva Spiritual Appeal

An archived initiative asking leaders not to use religion to justify violence.

Genocide archive

Historical material on mass persecution and the responsibilities of institutions and bystanders.

Religious freedom

The relationship between conscience, equal treatment, law and public institutions.

Reader guide

Frequently asked questions

Does religious identity prove that a war is caused by religion?

No. Identity may mark the parties while political power, territory, inequality or nationalism provides the principal mechanism of conflict.

Why avoid blaming an entire religious community?

Communities contain civilians, peace advocates, dissenters, institutions and armed actors with different goals. Collective labels erase those distinctions.

Is this a current conflict tracker?

No. It is an educational reconstruction of an older website page. Current conditions should be checked through reliable, dated reporting and specialist sources.

Why are casualty figures mostly omitted?

Estimates often vary by source and methodology. The original page also contained dated figures, so this edition avoids presenting them as settled or current.

How should historical claims be evaluated?

Check the date, identify the source, compare independent accounts and distinguish evidence from the language used by participants or commentators.

Where can I report an error?

Use the contact page or email info@religioustolerance.en-html.org with the page title and the correction.