Religion and intergroup conflict: modern studies of religious fundamentalism

The article contains an overview of modern approaches to the question of whether beliefs, specifically religious relations, practices or religious groups are the cause of intergroup conflict. The considered key arguments «for» and «against» the decisive role of religion in the intergroup opposition that is related to the religious factor do not allow drawing definite conclusions. Studies show that the role of a key variable in the structure of interreligious hostility - religious fundamentalism – is extremely ambiguous and strongly depends on the characteristics of the situation (for example, the nature of priming with religious texts), and on the cultural context. The specificity of micro and macro levels in a particular situation can lead to both – an increase and a leveling out of the «religion-specific» factor in intergroup opposition.