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Does it appear that some people disproportionally blame religion for the bad things which currently occur or which have previously occurred? I am certainly aware that religion and religious beliefs caused many bad things to occur (the Inquisition, the things that the Taliban did when it was in power in Afghanistan, possibly witch hunts, et cetera). However, it is also worth noting that atrocious things occurred in some/many countries which were under atheistic Communist rule (for instance, look at what Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot did). Likewise, as far as I know, while Hitler used religion (specifically the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic Center Party that it supported) to help consolidate his power, I don't think that religion (as opposed to psuedo-science and/or other things) was the reason that Hitler launched the Holocaust. After all, Hitler killed ethnic Jews who were Christians as well.
Thoughts? Does it seem like religion get a disproportionate amount of blame from some/many people for the bad and atrocious things which occurred throughout history?
I agree, and so does the evidence. For example, 93% of wars have a non-religious cause according to this study...
I wonder if any war has ever had "a", i.e. single cause? Politics, economics, culture, etc. all play roles in the relationships between nations...and even more simple societies. Mixed in there are religious attitudes, assumptions, etc. galore.
The source you cite is highly biased and disregards historic facts.
Of course not all wars and violence are motivated by religion but I feel confident the majority are.
I'm sure this study doesn't take into account the bloody Crusades, the suppression of Paganism, the Spanish (and Portuguese) Inquisition, the Counter Reformation, the Reconquista, the Pograms against the Jews, the African Slave Trade, etc. Even the conquest and subsequent genocide of native peoples in the New World was justified on religion. The spread of Islam and the Mughal conquest of Hindu India as well.
Make no mistake about it ... the history of religion is a bloody one.
Make no mistake - HISTORY is bloody one.
What is used to cover up true reasons for wars - should it be religion, politics, ideology, or whatever - is truly irrelevant and serves only those in power to dumm down those naive.
The Bible never ordered the slaughter of Muslims, Jews, Protestant Christians. Orders for those deaths came from men who used others' admiration of the Bible to achieve their own selfish or political ends. Religion is not the cause of all evil. Religions are often times the scapegoat for greed, and human cruelty.
The Bible never ordered the slaughter of Muslims, Jews, Protestant Christians. Orders for those deaths came from men who used others' admiration of the Bible to achieve their own selfish or political ends. Religion is not the cause of all evil. Religions are often times the scapegoat for greed, and human cruelty.
Religion is neither the cause of all evil, nor the solution to the problem of evil. Morality is dictated by the conscience of the individual, not some religion.
The source you cite is highly biased and disregards historic facts.
Of course not all wars and violence are motivated by religion but I feel confident the majority are.
Feel free to conduct you own study. Unfortunately, I suspect that you would never believe a study no matter who did it unless it matches your preconceived conclusions.
Thoughts? Does it seem like religion get a disproportionate amount of blame from some/many people for the bad and atrocious things which occurred throughout history?
It's common knowledge atheist play the "victim" role and point fingers at religion for every bad thing in the world because of their own bias and extreme beliefs. Other liberal groups play the same role when there is a perceived threat to their beliefs and lifestyle. Feminist think women are victims. Gays think they are victims. Blacks, Latinos, etc. It's a joke.
Feel free to conduct you own study. Unfortunately, I suspect that you would never believe a study no matter who did it unless it matches your preconceived conclusions.
Glacierx is right. If you look at all human history, you will find that religion has not been the major cause for conflict. Ancient wars were mostly territorial, and not religious. Plus, millions of deaths during the World Wars I and II, skew the statistics quite a bit.
In their recently published book, "Encyclopedia of Wars," authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare, and from their list of 1763 wars only 123 have been classified to involve a religious cause, accounting for less than 7 percent of all wars and less than 2 percent of all people killed in warfare. While, for example, it is estimated that approximately one to three million people were tragically killed in the Crusades, and perhaps 3,000 in the Inquisition, nearly 35 million soldiers and civilians died in the senseless, and secular, slaughter of World War 1 alone.
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