More of a focus on violence would help to correct the preoccupation with rational “meanings” that can flaw work in this area. Religion is sometimes rational and sometimes it is not. Emotions in religion are sometimes understandable as part of a broader system of mean- ing and sometimes they are not. When we examine cases of religious frictions and especially religious violence—undertaken by groups against their own members as well as against other groups—we see more of the ways in which emotions are less predictable and less systematically arranged in religious life than we might otherwise