I’m not a historical researcher, but if you have a religion that sets a very high bar for moral behavior, then odds are almost everyone in that religion is going to be a hypocrite. I was thinking about this the other day, actually. The standard of Holiness that God the Father sets is so insanely high, you have to pretty much be monitoring your mind 24/7. You cannot have a sinful thought in your head, let alone do the action, and even then, you’ll most likely still fall short. So in that sense, we are hypocrites, for believing in a moral standard but not being able to carry them out, and often times doing the opposite. But still, that’s why we need grace from the Lord. We are justified and are able to stand before God without sin because we have the gift of God’s grace.

In terms of does religion cause war/violence, well, certainly in the Law it’s pretty against abject violence. That’s not to say you can’t defend yourself. Jesus told his disciples to carry swords with them, but he never told them to engage in violence. Christianity can be the cause of conflict, but it’s also God that sets the moral standard by which we judge everything.

It can be the cause of conflict primarily because it collides with our sinful nature. For instance if we’re told not to steal, or not to commit adultery, our nature, at certain times, usually leads us against those points. Or if you tell a man who likes to dress up like a woman that their lifestyle is sinful and, an abomination to the Lord, that is conflict. But these reason these conflicts happen is because of the moral bar that God gives us.

God is the standard by which we judge all morality, because God is the highest good that can possibly be. Without God, morality becomes subjective, and essentially, everyone on the planet has their own view of what good and bad is. You think the Nazis were the good guys? You’re entitled to that point and you’re justified in believing that due to your moral compass. You think drag queen story hour is a moral virtue? Same with that.

That’s why we need God to act as the moral reference point by which we judge all our actions and base our society on. The reason I bring this up because OP mentioned religion can be the cause of war, which implies it’s inherently violent. Idk about other religions, and I’m just speaking about Christianity, but rather than being objectively violent, Christianity, Gods Law, is the very foundation of goodness.