Is Religion the Greatest Cause of Murder? (PLEASE READ DISCLAIMER)

I named an instance in my post.

Fear of reprisal for general wrongdoing from an invisible source. It makes people act better.

People act like damned cowards with each other, back stabbing and back talking.
Because they feel they are beyond reprisal, hence "one can hide from another"
but if people fear something that is all powerful, all knowing, and vengeful, well...
evil would have no safe harbor.

you have to understand why people act the way they do before you can realize what would change it.

People act the way they do because they are cowardly.
Eliminate the ability to be a coward and they might just start acting right for once.

im not sure if its the greates cause of murder, but its up there. Many people through the years have been killed and slaughtered in the name of a god. crusades, sacrifices earlier on, wars held by other countries today. Holocaust could be in there. but i dont think that was deaths in the name of a god though. just a twisted ideal by a sick man.

I asked classmate who was an atheist why he didnt believe in god once, in a normal conversation, (oh im christian by the way, cathoilic if you want in detail) and he said it was cause of how people werew crazy like that and killed for god. But what i just wanna say is, and dont follow this on cause its off topic a bit, but thats not necessarily Gods fault that those wars happen its man's so dont always blame God. Just putting that out there.

Im not trying to push anything just saying a viewpoint.

It's religion itself, it is te religious differences. Like back then Catholics were burning protestants at the stake just because they refused to honor the virgin Mary

Originally Posted by Cody

Also, nobody directly kills in the name of atheism, but there are those who kill the weak in the name of Social Darwinism, which is directly related to Atheism.

Eh, no it isn't.

I don't know really what it's related to, other than the fallacy that if it occurs in nature then it must be good.

I don't really care what is behind a murder (like religion). The point is that murder was committed.

Is religion the greatest cause of murder?

Of course not. Tomcat and Master K have said it best. Religion provides an excellent tool for mobilizing the masses into war for economic power. There are very, very few wars that have no primary motivation in finances, land, or influence.

I would say that Religion is perhaps the greatest excuse for murder, the greatest way to sugarcoat it. Saying that Religion actually causes murder is incorrect, however.

Christianity is a form of social coercion and control used to uphold the dominant norms and values of a particular society. An engine for murder? Many conquests have been committed in the name of Christianity, but truth be told, the motives behind those often had much less to do with religion than with economics.

Religion, actually, tends to be a force working against murder. I see people here throwing around the inquisitions and crusades like they know what they're talking about, but sparing you all some boring historical beat-downs, let's just say institutional religions have most always been the law and order types. Jews attacked in medieval pogroms would rush to mosques and churches for protection from the mob. The Catholic Church and Caliphal shariah courts handled heresies and crime like a courtroom. Most were let off, some were fined, some were physically punished, and very few were executed. This is in sharp contrast to the mob riots claiming vigilante justice, and in the case of Catholic vs. Protestant, a largely Protestant affair.

Religion is far away from the greatest cause of murder. Even greatest cause of warfare runs suspect.

If people want to know how we come to murder, we need only look in the mirror.

People keep bringing up simple body counts. Well the fact of the matter is, most of the big holy wars (Crusades, Inquisition, etc) happened hundreds if not thousands of years ago. There were less people on the planet, much less, and they less effective weapons. SO do you really think the body counts would be so "low" if they had had the weapons of today? Yes Hitler killed more people, so did Stalin, but they had much more effective weapons of mass killing, not to mention there were just more people to kill. World population

I think it is stereotypical that everyone is bringing up Christianity when we are talking about religion as a whole.

You do know that if you go into Mecca without being Muslim, they kill you?

Originally Posted by Gudder Snype

I think it is stereotypical that everyone is bringing up Christianity when we are talking about religion as a whole.

You do know that if you go into Mecca without being Muslim, they kill you?

Isn't Christianity the biggest Religion in the world? Doesn't it make sense to bring up Christianity in this case? That's not stereotypical that is logical.

Why would you want to go to Mecca if you're not Muslim?

Originally Posted by Gudder Snype

I think it is stereotypical that everyone is bringing up Christianity when we are talking about religion as a whole.

I agree yknow there were sacrifices even earlier on from people who believed in gods that needed human lives every so often. I dont know details but a lot of tribal communities. I think the aztecs did it.

Originally Posted by hypno_toad

People keep bringing up simple body counts. Well the fact of the matter is, most of the big holy wars (Crusades, Inquisition, etc) happened hundreds if not thousands of years ago. There were less people on the planet, much less, and they less effective weapons. SO do you really think the body counts would be so "low" if they had had the weapons of today? Yes Hitler killed more people, so did Stalin, but they had much more effective weapons of mass killing, not to mention there were just more people to kill. World population

If they had the weapons of today we wouldnt be here. All the earth would be is a rock surrounded by nuclear clouds. Yeah then i guess it would be the biggest cause.

Probably not the greatest cause, but it sure is a convenient scapegoat.

Originally Posted by CJB

im not sure if its the greates cause of murder, but its up there. Many people through the years have been killed and slaughtered in the name of a god. crusades, sacrifices earlier on, wars held by other countries today. Holocaust could be in there. but i dont think that was deaths in the name of a god though. just a twisted ideal by a sick man.

I'm half-Jewish, but you can't just called eugenics a twisted ideal from a sick man. Many people believed in it, Hitler won the election fair and square with almost the majority of Germany voting for him. Hitler, himself being rather smart himself and a master of warfare and would have won if he kept bombing the UK.

Plus, Hitler was most likely an atheist.

Originally Posted by DarKnite92

I'm half-Jewish, but you can't just called eugenics a twisted ideal from a sick man. Many people believed in it, Hitler won the election fair and square with almost the majority of Germany voting for him. Hitler, himself being rather smart himself and a master of warfare and would have won if he kept bombing the UK.

When the allies lost at a particular landing, he ordered that they be allowed to get away because he wanted a challenge. The man also couldn't strategize for **** if you look at half the military undertakings he took. I mean it was his idea to invade Russia instead of focusing on the west, that probably lost him the war in and of itself.

Plus, Hitler was most likely an atheist.

He probably was, but there's an interesting wiki article that indicates he may have at least had interest in a good few other religions.

I appear to have forgotten one of the more recent "Murders caused by religion":

Mountain Meadows massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia