8
WHY DOCTRINES,
EXCLUSION AND
VIOLENCE?
Here is a simple scenario: People in a group
tend to have a similar description of supernatural agents, a local doc-
trine of what gods or spirits are up to. The very fact that people in a
group share this religious ideology and perform important rituals
together sharpens their perception that they are indeed a group with
clearly marked boundaries. Worshiping the same gods creates a com-
munity and by implication gives that extra edge to the feeling that
people with different gods or spirits really are potential enemies.
Indeed, people who become deeply involved in religion, for whom it
is a matter of vital importance that their doctrine is the only source of
truth, will not hesitate to massacre the ones who seem not to
acknowledge this obvious fact or whose commitment is too luke-
warm. The most heinous crimes will be a celebration of the True
Faith. This is how gods and spirits lead to group cohesion, which
leads to xenophobia, which leads to fanatical hatred.
Practically everything in this scenario is misguided. Each of the
steps describes phenomena we are all familiar with: that religion is the
concern of social groups, that there are different doctrines, that there
are exclusive and incompatible claims to truth, that fundamentalist
violence is a real threat in many parts of the world. But the devil is in
the details—not so much in the facts described as in what leads from
one fact to another. It is by no means an academic question, whether
there really is a historical slippery slope down which religion is bound
to slide. Precisely because the scenario is of more than theoretical
interest, it makes sense to examine it in some detail.
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