Christians started more wars than Muslims.
Executive summary
There is no simple, sourced metric in the provided reporting that shows “Christians started more wars than Muslims.” Historical and contemporary sources in the set show major Christian-led campaigns (the Crusades, Reconquista, colonial wars) and Muslim-led campaigns (jihadist movements, medieval Islamic conquests, modern insurgencies), and scholars emphasize mixed histories and competing narratives rather than a clear tally of initiators [1] [2] [3].
1. Religious texts and teachings do not produce a single tally of wars
Both Christianity and Islam contain texts and traditions that have been used to justify violence and to argue for restraint; neither religion’s scriptures alone convert straightforwardly into a count of wars started by their followers [3] [4]. The Centre for Muslim‑Christian Studies notes that both faiths “have a mixed history” with internal strains from pacifism to holy war, and academic work on jihad and holy war treats theologies of combat in both traditions rather than producing a numeric comparison [3] [4].
2. Medieval and early modern history highlights reciprocal conflict, not one‑sided aggression
The Crusades and Reconquista are prominent examples of Christian‑led military enterprises in the medieval period; historians and popular accounts document Crusader invasions of the eastern Mediterranean and Christian campaigns on the Iberian peninsula [1] [5]. At the same time, historians stress that Muslim forces eventually expelled many Crusader armies and that interactions included alliances, trade and accommodation as well as warfare—complicating any simple “who started more” story [2] [6].
3. Modern-era violence is driven by politics, colonialism and identity as much as theology
Contemporary conflicts cited in the sources—such as jihadist campaigns in Nigeria and broader insurgencies—are described by analysts as rooted in political, ethnic and economic grievances as well as religious ideology; reporting cautions against attributing such violence solely to religion [7] [8]. The Conversation piece also explains that modern jihadists selectively invoke history and texts and mingle grievances about colonial and hegemonic subjugation with theological claims, again undermining a simple religious-origin count [6].
4. Counting wars requires clear definitions and comprehensive data that the provided sources do not supply
None of the supplied items gives a systematic, quantitative inventory of wars “started” by Christians or Muslims across history. The Wikipedia and academic entries catalogue episodes (Crusades, Reconquista, jihads, colonial wars) and debates over interpretation but do not present an authoritative numeric comparison. Therefore the claim “Christians started more wars than Muslims” is not supported by the current reporting set because needed data and methodology are not provided [1] [4] [6].
5. Competing narratives and political uses of history are evident in the sources
Opinion and advocacy pieces in the sample frame history to support contemporary agendas: some outlets foreground a “war against Christians” or emphasize Islamist culpability, while historians and academic centers emphasize nuance and reciprocal dynamics [8] [3]. Readers should recognize the hidden agenda risk when polemical writers use episodes like the Crusades selectively to support modern political claims [9] [8].
6. What a careful historian would do instead
A rigorous answer would require defining “started,” selecting a time frame, cataloguing interstate, colonial, religiously framed and sectarian conflicts, and addressing non‑religious drivers (ethnic, economic, imperial). The current sources demonstrate the complexity but do not supply that methodology or dataset, so any definitive numeric claim is unsupported by the provided material [3] [1] [4].
Limitations and next steps: The supplied reporting highlights episodes and interpretive debates but contains no comprehensive statistical inventory comparing wars initiated by Christian versus Muslim actors. If you want a quantitative study, request sources that compile conflict datasets (e.g., academic datasets, ACLED-style records, or comparative historiographies) so I can analyze methodology and counts. Available sources do not mention a final numeric comparison between Christian‑started versus Muslim‑started wars [7] [1] [4].