The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category 'religion' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power.

William Cavanaugh is the Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas

• Introduction


• Chapter 1:: The Myth of Religious Violence


• Chapter 2:: The Invention of Religion


• Chapter 3:: The Creation Myth of the Wars of Religion


• Chapter 4:: The Uses of the Myth


• Notes