Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Religious Wars


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. The consensus is to delete.  DGG ( talk ) 00:26, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

List of Religious Wars

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

I wouldn't deny that this is a potentially viable list: however I very much doubt that a comprehensive (ie useful) list could be compiled. It would simply be too depressingly long. TheLongTone (talk) 14:24, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Military-related deletion discussions. L3X1  (distænt write)  14:25, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Religion-related deletion discussions. L3X1  (distænt write)  14:25, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. L3X1  (distænt write)  14:25, 27 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Redirect to religious war, which already gets into the listing business. XOR&#39;easter (talk) 17:57, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of History-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 02:57, 28 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Delete the fact that the article lacks French Wars of Religion, makes me sceptical of its usefulness from a broad historical context. To add to problems, what is and what is not a religious war is a complex issue, and the mentioned article better can sort this out than a free standing list. For example, to what extent was the 80 Years War a religious war, and to what extent was it a Dutch movement against Spanish imperialism?John Pack Lambert (talk) 07:09, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
 * The article is new. Maybe you should add the French Wars of Religion? :)  Malinaccier ( talk ) 20:14, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Keep. The nominator wants to delete the article because it would be too long and depressing? Neither of these reasons is a valid reason for deletion.  The topic is notable and there are many lists of wars by type that function perfectly well (see Outline of war).  Johnpacklambert's point is that it is difficult to assign a criteria for inclusion to the list.  Setting a criteria for inclusion is always an important for lists and should be determined by consensus.  This list was only started on December 26th, I am not surprised that a criterion for inclusion has not yet been defined.  Again, this is not a good reason to delete the list—it is a good reason to improve the list.  Malinaccier  ( talk ) 20:14, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Merge/redirect to religious war which already lists important events with more complete prose. — Paleo  Neonate  – 20:44, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Delete -- WP:TNT: In principle it would be nice to a list article, but this is not it, nor are the examples in Religious wars particularly helpful. Differences of religion are a factor in many wars, particularly where they become ethnicities or quasi-ethnicities, as in the Serb/Croat conflict in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, where the major difference was whether you wrote much the same language with Roman or Cyrillic script.  In Yemen the surrogate conflict is Shia/Sunni, but it is perhaps as much about whether the South should rule the North or vice versa and which tribe or clan should be the ruling group.  Peterkingiron (talk) 19:06, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  A  Train talk 14:23, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete or Userfy  per WP:TNT. Many of the 5 wars currently listed are questionable for inclusion whereas notable religious wars (say, umm, the Crusades) are not listed. This topic could be notable. At the present state it simply is not at a level appropriate for main space.Icewhiz (talk) 14:32, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. Firstly, per WP:TNT. If there were going to be an article, it would need to be restarted from the ground up. It would also need to be renamed. Since that theoretical article would have replaced every part of this article, it would actually not be this article but a brand new article, so there is no benefit to retaining this unrelated one. Secondly, it is unclear what the criteria would be for including a war as a "religious war", particularly since for most wars, countries tend to have multiple motives for entering into many of their wars.  Would both sides have to be fighting for religious reasons, or just one?  Would religion have to be the primary motivator, one of several significant motivators, or just any motivator at all?  Would a war with clearly secular motives count if you got the pope's permission first, as one contemporary chronicler suggestes the Norman conquest of England was?  Would inclusion be based on what the participants said at the time, or modern historical consensus?  (For example, a war where historians consider the declaration of a war on religious grounds an obvious pretext for something the ruler wanted to do anyway.)  Is it enough to attribute victory to divine intervention, or to thank your deity/deities for all that new territory you have after the war is over?  If the ruler is considered a living god, is any war they fight a religious war?  What about any war the Papal states was involved in?  Lists need to have clear criteria for inclusion, and this one would not.  Egsan Bacon (talk) 16:05, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete per WP:TNT. Ill-defined, possible impossible-to-define list. To be sure, there are some undeniable religious wars, ie. the Hussite Wars,  but in general it is difficult to separates a "religious" war from a war of conquest, a dynastic struggle, or other kinds of wars where the Pope,  or the Ottoman Emperor acting as Caliph declares a war to be a crusade or jihad.E.M.Gregory (talk) 18:13, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete I think that aside from the Crusades, there are few cases where reliable sources define wars as primarily religious in nature. Usually it is a religious conflict in the context of a greater war. Thus I think the list is unworkable and will invite a lot of unsourced additions over time. SeraphWiki (talk) 20:21, 4 January 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.