Do you agree that without religion, those killings would still have occurred?

Do you think the Conquistadors would have found some other reason to subjugate the Aztecs and kill them?

Do you think that Medieval Knights would have fought and killed for some other reason (treasure, land, ethnicity, etc.)?

As to the Holocaust, I wouldn't diminish what happened in the least, but let us not forget that in addition to 6 million Jews, there were also 6 million Christians who died and as many as 2 million Gypsies as well as many political dissidents. Perhaps the real basis for the killings was more scapegoating and political repression (similar to what happened under Stalin, Mao, Castro, the Khmer Rouge, Hussein etc.).

I agree however, that religion has been an excuse, and a big one. It is an easy excuse and it doesn't require any evidence, or trials, it doesn't require any support, simply a statement that this or that is "evil" and people suddenly feel free to kill. Still, I suspect that in most of these cases, it wasn't religion that was the cause, but simply a tool. Similar to saying that guns are a tool for killing, not the cause.

Yes, I agree that not all religions are good. I also strongly support freedom of religion (even those I disagree with).

-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan