Why is war on the decline?
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 12
Issue Numbering: 3
Section: B
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 31
Formal Sub-Theme: None
Individual Publication Date: May 8, 2024
Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024
Author(s): James Haught
Author(s) Bio: James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23 (2023), at the age of 91.
Word Count: 388
Image Credit: None.
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Keywords: Alexander the Great, Armenia/Azerbaijan conflict, Christian Crusaders, Counter-Reformation, Daylight Atheism, Enlightenment Now, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Macedonia, Mongols, Napoleon, Roman Empire, Russia/Ukraine conflict, secular humanism, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, World War II.
Why is war on the decline?
For millennia, it was considered normal for strong tribes to conquer, pillage and subjugate weaker ones.
After Macedonia annexed Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great launched a conquest machine that dominated much of the known world. Soon afterward, the Roman Empire spread via military force as far as the British Isles. After Islam developed, holy warriors spread the faith across much of Asia and North Africa. Then the Mongols pillaged a huge swath of territory.
War became more religious when Christian Crusaders attacked Muslims in the Holy Land — and scores of Catholic-Protestant wars erupted in the Counter-Reformation.
Wars of invasion also formed historical patterns. Napoleon waged armed conquest as far as Moscow, killing untold numbers for no real gain. Hitler did likewise, with the same result.
But now, strangely — wonderfully — warfare, especially wars between countries, has almost vanished from the world. Nations rarely attack each other (with the Russia/Ukraine and the Armenia/Azerbaijan conflicts anomalies) even if pockets of civil war remain on this planet.
The end of warfare is a long-sought goal of secular humanism, the progressive struggle to improve life for all people without resort to supernatural religion. What changed in civilization? Why was war once common (and horrible), but now comparatively infrequent? What brought about this magnificent improvement?
In his landmark book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Professor Steven Pinker shows how violence of all sorts dropped incredibly — from a global war death rate of 300 per year per 100,000 during World War II to less than one in the 21st century. Human values are finally modifying. Pinker, the honorary president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, has followed up that documentation with his notable book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress.
I wonder: Does the rapid erasure of war have any connection to the rapid erasure of religion? Does the relentless advance of human logic factor into these profound changes? Numerous people around the world have lost belief in magical gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, prophecies and the like. Are such people less inclined to plunge into murderous war?
Correlation isn’t causation. When two trends happen together, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one caused the other. All we can say is that two gigantic phenomena are occurring: War is dying and religion is dying. Hallelujah on both counts.
This article is adapted from a piece that originally appeared at Daylight Atheism on March 22, 2021.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Why is war on the decline?. May 2024; 12(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2024, May 8). Why is war on the decline?. In-Sight Publishing. 12(3).
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, S. Why is war on the decline?. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 3, 2024.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2024. “Why is war on the decline?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 3 (Summer). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Why is war on the decline?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 3 (May 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline.
Harvard: Haught, J. (2024) ‘Why is war on the decline?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(3). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline>.
Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2024, ‘Why is war on the decline?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 3, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Why is war on the decline?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 3, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline.
Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Why is war on the decline? [Internet]. 2024 May; 12(3). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/Haught-decline.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://in-sightpublishing.com/.
Copyright
© 2012-Present by Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Authorized use/duplication only with explicit and written permission from Scott Douglas Jacobsen. Excerpts, links only with full credit to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with specific direction to the original. All collaborators co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 