Has Religious or non-Religious Wars Killed more People?

VILEPLUME

VILEPLUME

Well-Known Member
I keep hearing that Religious wars have killed more people in history than non-Religious wars, but I can't find an accurate total anywhere.

I know the Crusades starting in 1095 were wars blessed by the Pope to either "covert or be slayed", and the total is not know, but estimated at around 2 Million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war

But then you look at a non-religious war like WW2 and how over 60 Million people died. It's true that Hitler hated the Jews, but his main goal in WW2 was his thinking that the Aryan race was supreme over all races. That is why along with the 7 Million Jews that died, over 10 Million Chinese died, over 20 Million Soviets died, etc.

Or even the latest Iraq war, the main goal there was to find "weapons of mass destruction" and end terrorism, but it wasnt to convert Muslims or they face death(imagine the uprising there lol).
 
mindphuk

mindphuk

Well-Known Member
Even if religious wars have caused fewer deaths than other types, religion is still responsible for a whole pile o’ death. A lesser evil is still evil. Following on from that, just because some things have killed more people than religion (and some things certainly have) doesn't mean we shouldn't work to stop and prevent religious violence as well. Doctors are still working to eradicate malaria even though cancer is more widespread and still needs curing.

You also seem to be stuck on the idea that a war is necessary to count as religious violence. The Crusades were certainly warfare but the many inquisitions were civil in nature, so were the witch hunts that decimated much of the population of Europe. Ethnic cleansing continues to this day with various degrees of religious justification.

To attempt comparisons between religious and non-religious rationales for killing sounds like an attempt to minimize the vast amount of human suffering perpetuated by religion over the years. The absolute amount of violence attributed to religion may or may not equal that contributed by other reasons but that doesn't excuse religion from it's role in the multitudes of war and death throughout the ages. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that eliminating one of the major reasons for conflict between people would actually be a good thing in the long run, whether the reason is nationalism, racism, or religion.
 
VILEPLUME

VILEPLUME

Well-Known Member
mindphuk said:
Even if religious wars have caused fewer deaths than other types, religion is still responsible for a whole pile o’ death. A lesser evil is still evil.
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Oh I know, evil exists everywhere, that is not what I am saying.

I was just looking for the facts on how many people died in Religious wars vs Non-Religious wars, thats all.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
The trouble is that there are so many categories in between, shadings, gradations. Japan's part in WWII - religious, or not? cn
 
Catchin22

Catchin22

Well-Known Member
Hitlers Catholic background was the driving force behind what he did, these were practically his words.
 
NoahEbin

NoahEbin

Active Member
VILEPLUME said:
I keep hearing that Religious wars have killed more people in history than non-Religious wars, but I can't find an accurate total anywhere.

I know the Crusades starting in 1095 were wars blessed by the Pope to either "covert or be slayed", and the total is not know, but estimated at around 2 Million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war

But then you look at a non-religious war like WW2 and how over 60 Million people died. It's true that Hitler hated the Jews, but his main goal in WW2 was his thinking that the Aryan race was supreme over all races. That is why along with the 7 Million Jews that died, over 10 Million Chinese died, over 20 Million Soviets died, etc.

Or even the latest Iraq war, the main goal there was to find "weapons of mass destruction" and end terrorism, but it wasnt to convert Muslims or they face death(imagine the uprising there lol).
Click to expand...

Hitler just wanted to be famous like Alexander and Napoleon. Even though the Crusades and all other Papal wars were started in the name of "Religion", that was just what they used to get the people to go to war for some "Cause". It was all about conquering lands and taking resources/gold to make the powers that be richer. You have to have a cause for your populace to go to war. It was also used in all the European wars to keep rebellion at home in check. If the people were off fighting some "Terrible" enemy abroad, they were less likely to want to overthrow the current monarch, think Civil Unrest Control (Same thing that has been going on in US for last 10 years).

The goal of the Iraqi invasion was not to 'Find Weapons of Mass Destruction' or 'End Terrorism'. By definition, there will never be an END to Terrorism. The war was for oil and to make defence contractors rich, b/c it is proven The Man in charge knew there were no weapons there. Wars always make the corporations that sell war-related goods to the government rich, just follow the paper trail. The "War on Terror" is the beginning of the end for Americans' Freedoms, although the gov. has been slowly working on that for the last 50 years with other wars and allowing corporations to take over our government to enslave the sheeple masses.

Yes, it sounds like all conspiracy theory, I know. JMHO
 
VILEPLUME

VILEPLUME

Well-Known Member
NoahEbin said:
The goal of the Iraqi invasion was not to 'Find Weapons of Mass Destruction' or 'End Terrorism'. By definition, there will never be an END to Terrorism. The war was for oil and to make defence contractors rich, b/c it is proven The Man in charge knew there were no weapons there. Wars always make the corporations that sell war-related goods to the government rich, just follow the paper trail. The "War on Terror" is the beginning of the end for Americans' Freedoms, although the gov. has been slowly working on that for the last 50 years with other wars and allowing corporations to take over our government to enslave the sheeple masses.

Yes, it sounds like all conspiracy theory, I know. JMHO
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I agree with you, I think everyone knows the "real" motive was for oil.

It was actually Religion that stopped the Poppy farmers in Afghanistan from producing Opium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan

But since the drug war makes many many people rich, we had to go invade Afghanistan, help the farmers start up Poppy production again and make sure we had Marines guarding it. I still think it is funny that our tax dollars are paying for U.S Marines to guard Poppy fields!

Yes, I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory as well.
 
smok3y1

smok3y1

Active Member
I think greed has killed the most people. Just because someone says its a religious/non-religious war does'nt mean they are being honest. How many times have country leaders lied to their citizens to get them to support war. They will say anything..
 
VILEPLUME

VILEPLUME

Well-Known Member
smok3y1 said:
I think greed has killed the most people. Just because someone says its a religious/non-religious war does'nt mean they are being honest. How many times have country leaders lied to their citizens to get them to support war. They will say anything..
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was thinking, same with power.

What do men with money and power want? More money and power.
 
Farfenugen

Farfenugen

Well-Known Member
The fact is: if a Muslim fundamentalist murdered your family, you would in all probability, murder, kill, execute, torture, maim or even tickle to death any Muslim that was associated with that Muslim fundamentalist in order to bring that Muslim fundamentalist to justice so that he would be tried, convicted and executed. The other fact is: if a nation of Muslim fundamentalists blew up a building in your country, as president, you would in all probability, after using intelligent resources, after sanctions didn't work (based on your nation's demand for justice) declare war on that Muslim fundamentalist nation. Most wars are fought in the name of one thing or another, be they an ideology, a god or gods, for resources, for revenge, for family or the honour of a nobleman's family, for land or basically anything, even stealing riches. But I doubt a war would be raged on the basis of one sports team's foul against another. Or I could be wrong, just look at European football.
 
Dislexicmidget2021

Dislexicmidget2021

Well-Known Member
Religious wars have taken more lives than any other so far,(hate saying so far in this context).But ask yourself what is religion?Bias and prejudgemental are 2 words i would use to describe it,so when u have people under the influence of religion,differences of mind,ideology,and aptitude become obtuse in its course,causing a lack of natural sense and true judgement of what is really going on,people clamor under the feverish signs of force from someone perpetuating holy war and the thousands upon thousands misguided into war are never the wiser.This having occured innumerous times throughout history,will add up to a sum greater than that of both world wars combined,not that i know fully what those numbers are,but the amount of time the religious has spent killing nonbelievers in the past gives leeway to greater scores of people having been slaughtered by a war of ideals.
 
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