Is it really the fault of religion?
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 1, 2012
Opposing views (Photo credit: Wolfram Burner)
I came across an article on the Internet asking why church attendance these days has dropped off dramatically. Among the comment contributers were several people who stated that ‘religion’ is the source and cause of war and unrest in the world and being atheists themselves set arguments against it, without proof I might add. I made a few comments to the contrary myself as I was reminded of an article I once read on the web site listed below. I have to admit that my eyes were opened when I first saw the article for I knew from history many conflicts brought about through religious fervour but the facts speak for themselves and although some wars have been started in the name of one religion or another, they are indeed in the minority. Take a look …….
Below is an extract taken from a site compiled and produced by Rich Deam called Evidence for God. http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/atrocities.html All credit acknowledged and directed to the author.
| TABLE 3.1 Selected Pre-20th Century Democide and Totals1 | |||
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| Cases | Years2 | Democide3 | Religious? |
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| China | 221 B.C.-19 C. | 33,519,0004 | No |
| Mongols | 14 C-15 C | 29,927,000 | No |
| Slavery of Africans | 1451-1870 | 17,267,000 | No |
| Amer-Indians | 16 C-19 C | 13,778,000 | No |
| Thirty Years War | 1618-1648 | 5,750,000 | No |
| In India | 13 C-1 9 C | 4,511,0005 | No |
| In Iran | 5 C-19 C | 2,000,0004,5 | No |
| Ottoman Empire | 12 C-19 C | 2,000,0005 | No |
| In Japan | 1570-19 C | 1,500,0005 | No |
| In Russia | 10 C-19 C | 1,007,0005 | No |
| Christian Crusades | 1095-1272 | 1,000,000 | Yes |
| Aztecs | Centuries | 1,000,0006 | Yes |
| Spanish Inquisition | 16 C-18 C | 350,000 | Yes |
| French Revolution | 1793-1794 | 263,000 | No |
| Albigensian Crusade | 1208-1249 | 200,000 | Yes |
| Witch Hunts | 15 C-17 C | 100,000 | Yes |
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| Total For All Cases | pre-20 C | 133,147,000 | 2,650,000 |
| Hypothetical Total | 30 C B.C.-19 C A.D. | 625,716,0007 | |
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| International war-related dead | 30 C B.C.-19 C A.D. | 40,457,0008 | |
| Plague dead (Black Death) | 541 A.D.-1912 | 102,070,0009 | |
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What percentage of these killings were due to religious democide? It is less than 3% of the totals. The surprising thing is that these killings occurred during a period of time when virtually all the peoples of the world were involved in some sort of religion. Here is the data for the 20th century:
| TABLE 1.2 20th Century Democide1 | |||
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| REGIMES | YEARS | DEMOCIDE2 | Atheist? |
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| U.S.S.R. | 1917-87 | 61,911,000 | Yes |
| China (PRC) | 1949-87 | 35,236,000 | Yes |
| Germany | 1933-45 | 20,946,000 | No |
| China (KMT) | 1928-49 | 10,075,000 | No |
| Japan | 1936-45 | 5,964,000 | No |
| China (Mao Soviets)3 | 1923-49 | 3,466,000 | Yes |
| Cambodia | 1975-79 | 2,035,000 | Yes |
| Turkey (Armenian Genocide) | 1909-18 | 1,883,000 | No |
| Vietnam | 1945-87 | 1,670,000 | Yes |
| Poland | 1945-48 | 1,585,000 | Yes |
| Pakistan | 1958-87 | 1,503,000 | No |
| Yugoslavia (Tito) | 1944-87 | 1,072,000 | Yes |
| North Korea | 1948-87 | 1,663,000 | Yes |
| Mexico | 1900-20 | 1,417,000 | No |
| Russia | 1900-17 | 1,066,000 | Yes |
| China (Warlords) | 1917-49 | 910,000 | No |
| Turkey (Ataturk) | 1919-23 | 878,000 | No |
| United Kingdom | 1900-87 | 816,000 | No |
| Portugal (Dictatorship) | 1926-82 | 741,000 | No |
| Indonesia | 1965-87 | 729,000 | No |
| LESSER MURDERERS | 1900-87 | 2,792,000 | ? |
| WORLD TOTAL | 1900-87 | 169,202,000 | 107,047,000 |
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Vox Day, in The Irrational Atheist, lists 22 atheistic regimes that committed 153,368,610 murders in the 20th century alone:
| Country | Dates | Murders |
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| Afghanistan | 1978-1992 | 1,750,000 |
| Albania | 1944-1985 | 100,000 |
| Angola | 1975-2002 | 125,000 |
| Bulgaria | 1944-1989 | 222,000 |
| China/PRC | 1923-2007 | 76,702,000 |
| Cuba | 1959-1992 | 73,000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 1948-1968 | 65,000 |
| Ethiopia | 1974-1991 | 1,343,610 |
| France | 1793-1794 | 40,000 |
| Greece | 1946-1949 | 20,000 |
| Hungary | 1948-1989 | 27,000 |
| Kampuchea/Cambodia | 1973-1991 | 2,627,000 |
| Laos | 1975-2007 | 93,000 |
| Mongolia | 1926-2007 | 100,000 |
| Mozambique | 1975-1990 | 118,000 |
| North Korea | 1948-2007 | 3,163,000 |
| Poland | 1945-1948 | 1,607,000 |
| Romania | 1948-1987 | 438,000 |
| Spain (Republic) | 1936-1939 | 102,000 |
| U.S.S.R. | 1917-1987 | 61,911,000 |
| Vietnam | 1945-2007 | 1,670,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 1944-1980 | 1,072,000 |
What percentage of this democide was due to religious conflict? It turns out that religious democide doesn’t even make the top 20 (although I am sure there is some in the “lesser murderers” category. Still, the total religious killings is less than 2%. In fact, the top two killers were specifically atheistic states (which had never existed before in human history). Should atheism be blamed for more than 50% of the atrocities committed during the 20th century? The answer of course is No! If one examines the nature of the regimes that committed these atrocities (even the religious ones), the key factor is absolute power (see Figure 1, right). According to Professor R.J. Rummel, in the 1816-2005 period there were 205 wars between non-democracies, 166 wars between non-democracies and democracies, and 0 wars between democracies. Lord Acton’s warning that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” seems to be more than just a trite saying.
What about Christians who commit evil?
Jesus Himself addressed the issue of “Christians,” performing evil deeds in a rather chilling prophecy:
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” (Matthew 7:22-23)
One should note that Jesus said that “many” people who think they are His followers will be rejected by Jesus when at the judgment when they attempt to claim that they are His disciples. Not all who claim the name of Jesus are actually His disciples. My guess is that in even the best of Christian churches only about half of the people have been truly born again (see John chapter 3).1 Christianity should be judged on the basis of what Jesus said and did, not on the basis of the actions of people who merely claim to be Christians. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs details the deaths of Christians who were killed because of their faith in Christ, in many cases by people claiming to be Christians.
So you see it isn’t all about religion is it? Man is born into sin. It is in his nature. Jesus Christ said ..’no-one is good, not even one’
Shirley Anne
Related articles
- democide (lechouchouduprofesseurdelacommunication.wordpress.com)
- Democide = Extermination of 5.5 Billion Written in Stone ! (2012patriot.wordpress.com)
TinaCortina said
Hi Shirley Anne
I had not come across some of the terms.
Genocide: among other things, the killing of people by a government because of their indelible group membership (race, ethnicity, religion, language).
Democide: The murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.
Your topic was ‘is it really the fault of religion?’. To me the question is, ‘is what really the fault of religion?’ Are you trying to argue that over the centuries, governments have killed less people because of religion than because of other things? Well I read you blog with interest and even followed some of the links. As statistician, or at least a number cruncher, I know that figures can be used to support anything and it all depends on defintions.
We could argue over which wars are caused by religion eg 30 years war, Ireland, WW2 etc?, and which countries are atheist…….. many I saw in the list have huge religious popluations that have ‘warred with the ‘atheist majority? Maybe you could argue that sometimes it is Religion v Religion and not Government v Religion?
You can read up on many religions being ethnically cleansed over the last 100 years or so with warring factions being delineated on religious grounds.
Iran/ Iraq, Israel/ Palestine, Burma, India/ Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Ireland, old Yugoslavia, and many many more. I see no mention of WW2. Were not the jews killed because of their religion? and so many jews/ gentiles/ islamists in more recent times. What about Stalin and his pograms? At least a part of it was about religious minorities. You could argue that Vietnam was a Christian crusade. There must be dozens of wars that have not been mentioned that are on religious grounds.
You can argue a lot of these things either way. But I guess the key thing is, ‘should anyone be killed because of religion?’.
You have recently blogged on drink driving. Drinking and driving causes deaths and therefore should be discouraged. If Religion causes any deaths should it not also be discouraged?
It would be interesting to compare the numbers killed in recent decades between drink-driving and religion.
Respectfully yours
Tina xx
Shirley Anne said
The first part of your question is in my opening paragraph Tina…’several people who stated that ‘religion’ is the source and cause of war and unrest in the world’…..In answer to that argument the article shows that most wars and conflicts are NOT caused by religion at all. Yes there have been conflicts which originated and totally driven because of religious beliefs for instance the Crusades but most have not. The argument wasn’t aimed at government religious cleansing by any country but those events would only serve to strengthen the argument that the cleansing was done for other reasons such as the war crimes committed by Nazi Germany. No-one should be killed because of their religious beliefs and that isn’t part of the argument here. To suggest that religion should be banned is totally a silly statement to make for a couple of reasons, one, that would be an infringement on a person’s right to have a belief system not dictated by another, two, it would be like saying ‘let’s get rid of all the lakes and pools, rivers and streams because someone may drown in them’ or close all roads because people get killed on them. People have to be able to make their own decisions and judgements in life. Some of the decisions they make are the reasons we have conflict and the reason for that is because they have turned away from God and His directives. ‘Religion’ is a man-made thing and bears no resemblance to the relationship those who really know God enjoy. There are indeed many ways to interpret numbers and manipulate them to fit an argument but I think the figures above are not attempting to do that. The simply show the facts. Those facts prove the point of the argument that it isn’t religion that is responsible for most of the deaths in war and conflict or to put it another way most of those deaths were caused by other motives. Essentially all wars and conflicts are the responsibility of human beings who live by their own rules and have no fear of God. By default it is atheists who have caused the higher percentage deaths by conflict.
Love
Shirley Anne xxx