This chapter interrogates the entanglements of religion and conflict across Africa through a historically grounded, comparative analysis of five country cases—Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Sudan/South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Mali. It argues that while religion frequently appears as a salient marker of identity in episodes of violence, it rarely operates as a singular or autonomous cause. Instead, religious idioms, symbols, and loyalties intersect with deeper structural drivers, including political marginalization, economic exclusion, weak state institutions, and unresolved historical grievances. The chapter demonstrates how diverse forms of religion-related conflict emerge—from intercommunal sectarian confrontations and militant insurgencies to secessionist struggles with religious overlays and intra-religious contestations—each shaped by distinct sociopolitical contexts. Through detailed case studies, the analysis highlights how religion may intensify or legitimize violence, as seen in CAR’s rapid slide into sectarian bloodshed or Mali’s transformation of a Tuareg rebellion into a jihadist insurgency. Yet the chapter also illuminates religion’s ambivalent capacity to foster peace, illustrated by interfaith alliances in CAR, ecclesiastical mediation in South Sudan, and Ethiopia’s long tradition of plural religious coexistence. Ultimately, the study contends that understanding religion’s role in African conflicts requires situating it within broader patterns of governance failure, identity politics, and state–society relations. Effective conflict mitigation, therefore, must combine structural reforms with intentional engagement of religious actors as partners in peacebuilding, recognizing religion as both a potential catalyst of violence and a vital resource for reconciliation.