Religion and Militarism: The Effects of Religiosity, Religious Fundamentalism, Religious Conspiracy Belief, and Demographics on Support for Military Action

摘要

Religion has been seen as one of the major causes for war, yet only few empirical studies have analyzed which aspects of religion, if any, contribute to militarism. Thus, I investigated how different aspects of religion-personal importance of God (Allah), prayer frequency, mosque attendance frequency, religious fundamen-talism, and belief in religious conspiracy-contribute to militarism. I analyzed cross-sectional data of Egyptian youth with a sample size of N = 928. Using linear regression, I found that increased support for militarism was predicted by religious conspiracy belief and religious fundamentalism. Contrarily, personal importance of God and being female predicted reduced militarism. Prayer frequency, mosque attendance frequency, age, and education showed no significant effects. Thus, religion has differential effects on militarism. Efforts to prevent military conflict should be complemented by reducing religious conspiracy beliefs, questioning fundamentalist attitudes, and emphasizing peaceful religious teachings.