Ed Yong looks at Jeremy Ginges’s research and the connection between religion and violence:
Together, these four studies…contradict the idea that religious belief and devotion in themselves are the driving force behind the suicide bombing mindset. Nor is this mindset exclusive to Islam… Ginges studied a wide variety of religious people from various cultures and faiths – from Palestinian Muslims to Israeli Jews, and from British Protestants to Indian Hindus. Across the board, Ginges found that a person’s stance on martyrdom had little to do with their religious devotion or to any particular religious belief. Instead, it was the collective side of religion that affected their stance – those who frequently took part in religious rituals and services, were most likely to support martyrdom.
The Dish 