Fields of Blood

Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

If you're a devote atheist adamant in your belief that religion is the root of all evil then this book isn't for you.

Karen Armstrong attempts to make the case that religion is just one factor, and a comparatively minor one at that, in the promotion of violence. For me, she doesn't quite succeed with the 'minor' part but she does expand the idea of religious violence to include other thing. To start with she points out that once societies turned agrarian, some sort of organization was required that led to an imbalance of power which in turn, necessitated violence to maintain its structure. She also points out that it was only comparatively recently that a separation of church and state was possible. Her argument is, that if religion and state were inseparable, how can one point the finger exclusively at religion to account for violence. That's a fair argument and I think I might concede her premise that religion isn't solely the prime motivation for violent acts but many of her examples suggested that it's a factor.

I found this book well written, well organized and well researched. It is a splendid history of violence and well worth reading. The conclusion I came to from reading it was that it's not religion per se that is the problem, it's irrational thinking. Whenever humans surrender rationality to belief whether it's in religion, nationalism or some other cause, violence follows.

Although published in 2014, some descriptions of historical trends and incidents display a remarkable parallelism to events happening today. If you are a history buff with a passing interest in religion and politics then I think this is a good choice to read.





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