CatYaaak
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Posts
- 809
AWACoff said:
Although this claim that "religion causes most wars/atrocities" is oft-repeated as if it were fact, history doesn't bear it out, and it hasn't been true for centuries (if ever). Most certainly, the major wars during the bloodiest century on record (the 20th) were mainly caused by differences in political ideology and the disassembing of colonialism. Communism/Maoism/Stalinism(officially atheist by decree, btw) caused a human death toll in excess of 80 million of it's own citizens alone. Toss in National Socialism (Nazis) and Facism (Mussolini) and the toll rises even further. None of these ideologies were religion-based, let alone tried to further their aims because of it.
Probably the closest you can get to finding a major "religious war" in the 20th century was the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war (Muslim vs. Muslim) in which 1 million lives were lost, but even that had more complex underlying issues than the obvious difference between Iranian Shiites and Iraqi Sunnis . A National Socialist Party such as the Baathist is of course at odds with the religious fundamentalism that took power in Iran. In addition, there was also the historical differences regarding race at work (Persian Iran vs. Arab Iraq). Even the last full-fledged genocide of he century (Hutus vs. Tutsi in Rwanda) was caused by ongoing tribal strife.
In the western world, the last major "religious" war fought was arguably the 30 Years War, after which ensued a couple centuries of conflict based primarily on colonization and trade issues.
You admonition for others to "wake up and pull the wool out of your eyes" is really asking us to close them, throw away what we know of even recent history, and adopt a world view based on John Lennon's little ditty "Imagine". No thanks; Being "anti-religion" can become a religious-like crusade in itself, and that leads to tunnel-visioned via the oversimplification of issues and ignoring the lessons of history.
