One god, many wars: religious dimensions of armed conflict in the middle east and north africa9/22/2023 Complicating narrative frameworks, the problematic secularization thesis causes interpretive difficulties for an assessment of popular religiosity during the war. Thus, popular religion has both centripetal and centrifugal tendencies related to established institutions and practices. One can think of popular religion during the war as a model of concentric circles, with official organized religion as the center of the model. This article will reflect both the historiographic imbalance, as well as point the way toward future global developments. Historiographically speaking, much of the literature on popular religion concentrates on Christianity, though there are indications that this is changing. For religious believers, existential questions of the human condition were not ultimately determined by whether their states won or lost the war. In particular, one must examine popular religion beyond states’ instrumental intentions. Despite the inherent difficulties in trying to convey personal religiosity, one must attempt to better understand the mindsets of the individuals who lived through the conflict. Proper historical contextualization helps, but often quickly spreads into the realm of folklore, myth and superstition – or simply unverifiable anecdotes. Whenever possible, scholars of popular religion recapture the individual expressions of religious belief using inherently impressionistic or even pointillist portrayals.
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