Religious laws and violence

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Mass crimes against
humanity & genocide

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Quotations:

	"The death of one man is a tragedy; The death of a million is a statistic." This is commonly attributed to Joseph Stalin, although there is no evidence that he ever said it.
	"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god." Jean Rostand.
	"People don't simply wake up one day and commit genocide. They start by setting themselves apart from others, diminishing the stature of those adhering to dissenting beliefs in small, insidious steps. They begin by saying, 'We're the righteous, and we'll tolerate those others.' And as the toleration diminishes over time, the inevitable harms are overlooked. It is for that reason that James Madison wisely wrote that 'it is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties'." Michael Newdow 1

Overview:

Mass murder and genocide in recent years have involved:

	The execution of individuals who have simply decided to change their religion,
	Mass murder of followers of a minority religion by members of a dominant religion,
	Mass murder of followers of one faith group by others of the same religion.
	Mass murder and genocide of an identifiable group for a variety of reasons.

It appears that:

The persecution and mass murder of European Jews by Christians from 306 to 1945 CE was the longest lasting mass crime against humanity

The mass murder by the communist government of the USSR of 20 or more million of its citizens  (1917 to 1987), and by the communist government of China of about 35 million of its citizens  (1949 to 1987) probably involved the greatest loss of life. It is difficult to be certain because accurate data is impossible to obtain. Governments normally do not publish figures for the number of their citizens that they murder.

Topics covered in this section are:

	Definitions of genocide. Genocide conventions Genocide Convention Implementation Act: The U.S. Proxmire Act Genocide-lite: the term "Ethnic cleansing"
	About genocide: Events leading to genocide Discouraging future genocides by holding perpetrators responsible Preventing future genocides through government action
	Past persecutions, crimes against humanity and genocides -- primarily religiously based A brief list of some genocides in biblical and modern times Genocide during biblical times Pagan and Christian persecution of Jews 70 CE to now   Description of genocides from 1450 to 1945 CE Against Armenians (1915-1922) Christian persecution of "Satan worshipers" and other heretics 1450 to 1792 CE Against Native Americans   Description of genocides from 1946 until now
	The most serious crimes against humanity and genocides of the 20th century: Genocide in the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium   The Nazi genocide / Shoah / Devouring: Admission of governments' complicity in the Nazi Holocaust Anti-semitism and the Catholic church Financial compensation for Nazi slave laborers 2006 conference in Iran of Nazi Holocaust deniers An anti-Muslim hoax Email about the teaching of the Holocaust
	Currently active and recent mass murders, potential genocides, and genocides: Against aboriginals In the Sudan In Chechnya in Papua In North Korea

Related essays at this website:

	The 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
	Human rights defined, denied and restored: State sovereignty vs. individual human rights
	Currently active civil disturbances and wars with a religious component

References:

1. Michael Newdow, "Judge Roy Moore Deserves Jail. How is this in any way different from David Koresh's refusal to abide by the commands of the federal agents in Waco?," Beliefnet.com, 2003-AUG, at:  http://www.beliefnet.com/

2. "Genocide," at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/
3. "20th Century Democide," at: http://www.mega.nu:8080/ 
4.  Raphael Lemkin, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe," (1944), Page 79.

Copyright © 2001 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JAN-1, at the beginning of a new millennium
Latest update: 2008-DEC-16
Author: B.A. Robinson

Web ReligiousTolerance.org