Research On Religion | Davis Brown on Religion, Initiating War, and Data

Davis Brown on Religion, Initiating War, and Data

Date: March 26th, 2017

Does the religious composition of a nation and its leaders have an impact on whether a country will initiate a war? Prof. Davis Brown, a research fellow at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion and visiting assistant professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, uses new data to show that the answer is yes. The political science sub-field of international relations (IR) has long ignored religion as a factor explaining the occurrence of recent wars. Prof. Brown reviews why this might be the case, and also takes us on a brief tour of the different schools of thought that operate within IR, including realism and constructivism. We then talk about the construction of a brand new data set that categorizes different countries at different times according to the government’s religious preference. Davis was (and still is) instrumental in building this data set that initially examines governments on five dimensions: official favoritism of/hostility towards religion; support for religious education; financial support to religious institutions; regulatory burdens on religious groups; and the free exercise of religion. We discuss what a massive undertaking this data collection and coding is, and why such efforts should be appreciated to the social sciences writ large. Davis admits to not listening to Led Zeppelin while doing this work (though Tony would have the volume cranked up). Prof. Brown then reveals the results of a series of logistic regressions he conducted and published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. He finds that since 1946, the more Christian a nation is, the less likely it is to initiate an international conflict. Islam, on the other hand, shows the opposite trend, with more Islamic nations being more likely to start a war. No effect was found on countries that have a Buddhist influence. We discuss Davis’s ideas about a “religious war ethic” and how this would filter its way into foreign policy decisions. He talks about just war ethics versus pacifism and notes the importance of doing case study research to find the specific causal links, though case study work is inherently difficult where much of the effect religious ethics may play is subconscious. He offers up some possibilities related to Anwar Sadat in the 1970s and George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s. We finish with some of the interesting revelations Prof. Brown experienced throughout the course of his studies and data coding, including his greater understanding of Islam and the discovery of a Buddhist war ethic. Recorded: March 11, 2017.

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