In the Name of God : The Role of Religion in Rebel Groups' Violence Against Civilians

Violence against civilians and religion are two common characteristics in today’s armed conflicts. This study examines the role of religion in rebel group’s use of violence against civilians in intrastate armed conflicts between 1989 and 2015. In this paper, it is argued that religion can create a context in which certain in- and out-group attitudes are constructed. These attitudes can have a dehumanizing effect and lay the ground for out-group profiling where anyone outside the own group is viewed as the enemy. Religion in this environment can bolster the legitimization of violence in the name of God and could be seen as the link between conflicts and the warring parties’ behavior against the enemy. To test this theoretical framework, this study draws on new data on religious armed conflicts. Most notably, a positive correlation between the salience of religion in an incompatibility and violence against civilians is found which holds high statistical significance. Furthermore, the analysis supports the hypothesis that when religion is of high salience to the incompatibility of a conflict, the rebel group will conduct more violence against civilians