# Main Cause Of Wars: Religion Or Good For Economy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 27, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129 "2003-09-27T06:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/21 "2003-09-29T13:37:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > Neither. > > Testosterone. > > No cite. \*\* Yeah sure. As if women never start fights for no reason. France: “Hello!? This is France! Why are you bombing us?!!” Mrs President: “I think you KNOW why!” -Collin Quinn (I think…or some other comedian) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > There is still another group (of young men, mostly) who think that they want to fight real wars. I saw this in many of my students. I didn’t see it in anyone returning from Vietnam. > \*\* When I was in high school, we used to play paintball a lot on the weekends. It was a lot of fun running around in camos shooting each other. One day, a buddy of mine and I reflected that this game would suck if these were actual guns, not even considering mines and bombs and artillery and other stuff you can’t do anything about. Young men like the idea of blowin’ shit up and maybe even shooting up their enimies. It’s the getting shot back at that people aren’t too keen on. ---
**Author:** ![Svt4Him](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@Svt4Him](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svt4Him)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/22 "2003-09-29T15:06:28Z")
selfishness and pride. ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/23 "2003-09-29T19:41:39Z")
I think a better dichotomy would be: Internal political reasons vs. external political reasons Wars have historically rarely helped the economies or government finances of the participants. How many countries (other than the US in WWII) with other than empty treasuries and deep debt? Religion in recent years may help define the sides or rally support but as a cassus belli just isn’t really there. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/24 "2003-09-29T23:19:19Z")
Most wars are started when somebody gets the idea that if only we went over to the other guys place and killed them, we could take their stuff and have sex with their women. Or contrariwise, if we went over to the other guys place and killed them, they’d stop coming over here and taking our stuff and having sex with our women. But often people overestimate how easy it will be to do that, especially in totalitarian societies where the decision is made by one isolated dictator. If both sides agree about how easy it would be, either the aggressor will abandon the war plans, or the victim will give up and hand over their stuff to avoid being killed. So war cannot start without at least one side making a major mistake about how easy the war will be. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/25 "2003-09-30T00:22:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Assuming this is a poll, I’ll vote for economic/political reasons, with religion being most often used as a convenient excuse. It’s easier to tell your troops they’re risking their lives for a sacred cause than to tell them they’re risking their lives for cheap oil. \*\* I agree. Economics is the reason, religion is the rallying cry. And I’d count something like NAZIism as basically a religion. Even N. Ireland is really about the economic inequality between the Catholics and the (historically land owning) Protestants. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/26 "2003-09-30T05:04:55Z")
At this point even if economic equality is achieved in N. Ireland the conflict will go on. It’s about territory more than anything else now. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/27 "2003-09-30T05:20:49Z")
Ruadh: I’m not sure I fully understand how you’re using the term “territory”, but I’d still call that an economic issue in my understanding of the term. Did you mean to imply that it wasn’t an economic issue? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/28 "2003-09-30T07:38:49Z")
It is my experience that the most likely cause of any war is the previous war. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/29 "2003-09-30T08:12:33Z")
Ego. ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/30 "2003-09-30T14:55:24Z")
Depends on the region…poor areas fight over economic needs…rich areas over religious/philosophical differences (refer to Maslow’s Heiarchy of Needs) ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/31 "2003-09-30T16:29:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*Ruadh: > > I’m not sure I fully understand how you’re using the term “territory”, but I’d still call that an economic issue in my understanding of the term. Did you mean to imply that it wasn’t an economic issue? \*\* The conflict is over the fact that one group sees the land and the people as British and wants them to remain part of the U.K., while the other group sees the land and the people as Irish and wants them to unify with Ireland. **I** wouldn’t call that an economic issue, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129/32 "2003-09-30T16:33:30Z")
Well, if you’re a Marxist historian, **everything** is an economic issue! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/main-cause-of-wars-religion-or-good-for-economy/204129.md?page=1)