Since 11 September 2001 the issue of the relationship between religion and violence has attracted wide interest. As a result of religion's perceived role in such conflicts as the three on which this book focuses–Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Israel-Palestine–religion had its critics even before 9/11. In the Lebanon, in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and in Iraq itself, enmity between different branches of the same religion provokes criticism that religion causes social instability. It has almost become a cliche, to ask whether religion, because it is part of the problem, can also be part of the cure. Following 9/11, and the launch of what was at first called a ‘Crusade Against Terrorism’, many people assume that Huntington's ‘threat thesis’ has been proved right (see Huntington 1993; 1996). This posits that with the end of the Cold War, the next confrontation is likely to be a civilizational one between Muslims and Non-Muslims, with the former aided by certain neo-Confucian states. Silvio Berlusconi's comments that Islam and European values are incompatible (27 September 2001), and debate surrounding Turkey's application to join the European Union, has convinced some that, even if religion per se is not bad, Islam is.

Many of my own students, explaining their reasons for studying world religions say that they want to understand why religion causes so much strife in the world. This somewhat negative reason to choose a topic of study shows how widespread the idea has become that religion is bad for people.