PodcastIn this episode you’ll hear William Cavanaugh’s 2016 lecture, The Myth Of Religious Violence.
It’s a widely held assumption in Western societies that religion has a peculiar tendency to promote violence. Indeed, much of our domestic and foreign policy assumes this – but is it a fair assumption? Are religions more inclined to promote violence than things like nationalism and access to oil? What even counts as “religion”? And what role have “secular” ideologies as well as “religious” ones played in fomenting violence? American philosopher William Cavanaugh offers some provocative arguments.
William Cavanaugh is Professor of Theology at DePaul University in Chicago. He holds degrees from Notre Dame, Cambridge, and Duke University, and has worked for the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the Notre Dame Law School. His areas of specialisation include political theology and economic ethics. He is the author of The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, and Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World.
Check out CPX’s other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.