DOCTRINE TO DISSENT: TRACING TRAJECTORY OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM

History’s ledger is stained by conflicts where fervent, uncompromising religious ideology served not merely as a banner, but as the foundational justification for mass violence.

- SUDHIR S. RAVAL

While scholars correctly caution that religion is rarely the sole cause of war—often intertwining with political ambition, ethnic identity, and resource scarcity—certain historical episodes underscore the catastrophic consequences when religious zealotry becomes the central organizing principle of conflict. An examination of these pivotal, devastating events reveals the deep human cost of extremism, a pattern that echoes from the medieval period to the contemporary global landscape. The scale of death and destruction in certain historical conflicts highlights the destructive potential when faith is weaponized.

THE TAIPING REBELLION (CHINA, 1850-1864)

Often overlooked in Western history, the Taiping Rebellion may be the deadliest civil war in the world, rooted in a uniquely extremist religious ideology. The conflict was led by Hong Xiuquan, who, after reading Christian pamphlets, came to believe he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He was driven by this self-proclaimed divine mandate to establish the “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace” (Taiping Tianguo) by violently overthrowing the existing Qing Dynasty and its traditional religious practices. The sheer fanaticism and scale of the war fundamentally destabilized the Qing Empire and altered the course of modern Chinese history, resulting in approximately 20 million to 30 million people killed. Some estimates range even higher. The majority of these deaths were attributed to starvation, disease, and the widespread massacres committed by both the Taiping rebels and the Qing forces fighting a total war.

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR (EUROPE, 1618-1648)