What do we mean when we call someone “religious”? Is there such a thing as “religious” power or “religious” violence? The answers to these questions appear simple and straightforward. Not so. In his provocative book The Myth of Religious Violence, William Cavanaugh argues that modern distinctions between “religious” and “secular” forms of violence are not only arbitrary and unhelpful, they’re damaging. He submits that the very concept of “the religious” as something distinct from “the secular” is an invention of the modern West. Shadi and Matt discuss and debate the way the term “religion” is wielded and weaponized in the modern West to destructive effect.
The Myth of Religious Violence
