Wars are always fought for economic reasons. Religion is almost never exclusively cited as a reason. Wars and conflicts always bring about a redistribution of commercial and military power. Religion is used as a means to drum up support from the masses and to justify atrocious acts. Yes, God told me that it's justified to plunder the heathens land and then kill them. I'm not being facetious, that was their justification. In the case of the Inquisition in Spain, it was clear that the monarchy wanted to take the land and wealth of the Moors away, who had been displaced by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella from their stronghold in Granada in 1492. The Jews controlled a lot of wealth in Spain as well; they were seen as a threat to the clergy and the aristocracy. These inquisitions were used as a means to redistribute power in a way that benefited the well connected. A lot of the Jews and Muslims who used to live in Spain moved to North Africa in reaction to this. You go down this list and I can say the same things about each conflict; dates and names may be different, but the motive is all the same: greed and a lust for wealth and glory.
