Azar’s framework for analysing protracted social conflict is used to examine the roles played by religious and other actors in episodes of inter-religious violence and their aftermath in two cities in India (Ahmedabad and Mumbai) and two in Nigeria (Jos and Kano). Although the violence was apparently related to differences in beliefs and/or religious expansionism, explanations were more complicated. Religious organizations provided relief to victims from their own tradition, but played only limited roles in the longer term aftermath. Several features of the violent episodes and their aftermath help to explain why the inter-religious conflicts studied have become protracted.