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The reason for this is that a nation like Sweden has mostly Christian and humanistic ethics that have developed over the centuries such that they shun violence (BTW, all brands of Christianity are not equally peaceful either as Latin American Christians are considerably more corrupt and violent than those in western Europe).
Right, just like Americans are much more violent and bloodthirsty as a culture than Canadians if you look at history and the present.
I wouldn't call Western Europeans that peaceful though considering the history of the region--even fairly recent history.
no. man has been killing man for millennia, and will continue to do so over various resources.
religion is NOT responsible for wars and corruption, but it is an easy scapegoat. people are going to hate others for one reason or another, be it because their skin is a different color, or they disagree philosophically, or politically. we can completely eliminate religion around the world, and people will still find a reason to kill each other.
so while you can blame religion, it isnt the cause of problems. and yes i know you are going to point to various wars in history that were so called religious wars, but get to the underlying reasons why the wars were fought, and you will find that few wars were truly fought over religion.
Today, it is probably not religious differences that keep the world at war--it is America's huge Military Industrial Complex that was unwilling to disband after WWII was over and paid for. THAT is the prime force in keeping the entire world armed and in constant violent conflict. Until America's military empire is dismantled, there will ALWAYS be countless world conflicts over anything and everything.
But considering religion, let's speculate about the establishment of a nation filled with only the followers of a violent, militant religion/sect like ISIS. The new nation would be ruled by a theocracy of religious zealots, whose first task would be total control of the population via a reign of internal terror--making sure every citizen proved to be mindlessly rabid and unquestioningly obedient to authority, to the point of torture, murder, or religious suicide. Once that is done, over time there will be citizens who lose faith in the religion, convert to another religion, abandon religion entirely, etc.--and those people will have to be dealt with harshly enough to discourage further dissension. So, a peaceful nation? Not in my eyes.
And of course, there would continue to be endless wars between nations that follow different religion/sects, as they fight over borders or resources, or simply to unite the nation's citizens with a common goal or enemy. The enmity between followers of different religions is impossible to comprehend for the non-religious, but it seems intractable. I doubt that peace is possible between nations of Islam and Christianity, or Christian sect nations and Jewish sect nations--despite the fact that all 3 of these sects are extremely minor variations of the same Judeo-Christian mythology.
Finally, what about forming nations that follow relatively peaceful and non-confrontational religions/sects: say a Buddhist nation, and a Unitarian Universalist nation, a Quaker nation, and an Amish nation? Then add a nation based on spiritual enlightenment or scientific and intellectual rationality (without the subservience demanded by organized religion). Those nations might have a chance at both internal peace, and regional peace. The only problem would be preventing the growth of repressive centralized Big Government, which ALWAYS forces its citizens to pay for and fight endless, pointless wars.
Perhaps a Libertarian government, with people who either practiced non-violent religions or non-proselytizing religions, or those with no religious delusions at all? Should mankiind ever evolve to peace, I bet that's exactly what it looks like.
I think it's time for all silly superstitions to just die out. The world would be a better place.
You probably shouldn't tell that to the millions of people around the world who are alive today only because of religion. When a religious zealot attacks something, that makes the news. But when a religious person donates to charity, it doesn't. It doesn't make the headlines but there are very few corners on this Earth that don't have some sort of aid supplied by religious organizations or funded through donations inspired by the religious beliefs of the givers.
No. The marriage of church and state is an unholy alliance, and produces bad offspring. And, contrary to the proverb, it is not the love of money, but religion that is the root of all evil. As Blaise Pascal put it: "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
Evidently the differences matter more, since these different denominations all claim to be the TRUE religion, and that all the others are FALSE.
Not really; they may claim they practice it the correct way but not "true religion". All thousands of different denominations falls under the true religion of Christianity. Many of the denominations are cultural as well, such as the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, etc.
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