sectarian violence
Faith-fueled bloodshed
Sectarian violence is conflict between groups divided by religious, ethnic, or political identity—Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, Sunnis and Shias in Iraq, Hindus and Muslims in India.
The violence stems not from individual grievances but from membership in opposing factions: Sectarian violence erupted after the mosque bombing.
The term implies cycles of attack and retaliation along identity lines.
- riotsViolent public disturbances
- hate crimesOffenses targeting protected characteristics
- massacresBrutal group killings
- suicide bombingsAttacks where bomber dies
- car bombsExplosives placed in automobiles
religious intolerance · holy war · civil war · ethnic nationalism · ethnic tensions · ethnic cleansing · refugee crises · proxy wars · pogroms · death squads · Troubles · discrimination · partition · religious persecution · insurgency · political polarization · historical grievances · forced displacement
- IraqBaghdad, Basra, Mosul, Fallujah, Kurdistan
- LebanonBeirut, cedars, cedar trees, Tyre, Tripoli
- Middle East WarsGulf War, Iraq War, Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, Iran-Iraq War
- religious conflictreligious war, holy war, Great Schism, crusade, schism
- sectarianismsect, schism, schismatic, faction, factionalism
- ethnic conflictethnic cleansing, ethnic conflict, ethnic tension, ethnic tensions, ethnic divide
sectarian violencereligious harmony
Peaceful coexistence of faiths
peaceful coexistence · reconciliation · religious tolerance · ecumenism · truth and reconciliation
sectarian violencenational unity
Shared identity across citizenry
social cohesion · nonsectarianism · pluralism · integration · multiculturalism
sectarian violencesecular humanism
Nonreligious ethical philosophy
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