Quote:
Originally Posted by Lavindathar
Remember the Holy Crusades? just an example of an early religious war, far before cars were around. And most modern day killer diseases hadn't even appeared yet. I bet the % of wars where religion is a factor, is very high maybe.
|
Did you know that the American civil war to end slavery caused proportionally more deaths than any other war America has been involved in? Some things take war to achieve. War, while universally loathed, may not actually be as bad as the result of perpetually capitulating to unthinkable evils.
However, that's an aside. Let's look at the crusades.
#1 'Christendom' lost. They got their butts kicked. If anyone has a right to be bitter, it's Christendom. It was an unmitigated disaster on so many levels.
#2 I would again say that FEAR and GREED were the primary causes of the crusades, and that religion was used to motivate both poor peasants in France, and poor nomads in the middle east to kill each other.
#3 If the crusades was really about Christianity vs Islam, then why did the 4th crusaders sack Constantinople, the capital of Orthodox christianity, and an indisputably 'Christian City' (whether a Christian city can actually exist on earth at all is another discussion)
The 4th crusade didn't even make it to "the holy land".
War is not caused by religion, but by the base human experiences of fear, greed, hate, revenge, etc etc. Though one could also say LOVE may propel someone to defend a family, mixed in with FEAR of their being hurt.