The massacre of Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Empire during 1915 & 1916, at the time of World War I. Although the present government of Turkey denies that this actually happened, the evidence of the genocide appears to be overwhelming. It was perpetrated during the death pangs of the Ottoman Empire by the political party that was in power, called the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a.k.a. the Young Turks. ₂ The genocide has been denounced by many governments and religious groups.

During 2015-APR, Pope Francis conducted a mass to observe the 100th anniversary of the start of the genocide. Jim Yardley and Sebnem Arsu, writing for the New York Times, said:

"In addressing the Armenian question, Francis quoted from a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II, the Armenian Apostolic Church’s supreme patriarch, in which the two leaders called the Armenian slaughter a campaign of extermination that was '... generally referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century.'

Vatican diplomats have been deliberately prudent in avoiding the term, so in using it during the Mass on Sunday, before an audience that included the Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan, Francis clearly intended to provoke a response. He equated the fate of the Armenians with the genocides orchestrated by the Nazis and the Soviets under Stalin, while also condemning 'other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.'

'It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent blood,' Francis said. 'It seems that the human family has refused to learn from its mistakes caused by the law of terror, so that today, too, there are those who attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few, and with the complicit silence of others who simply stand by.'

Francis said it was a duty of everyone not to forget the 'senseless slaughter' of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1923. 'Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,' the pope added." ₃

In Turkey today, it remains a criminal act to talk about the slaughter of Armenians a century ago.

The civil war within Sudan started in 1955 and flared up intermittently afterwards. Over two million people died, mostly in the South, because of the conflict itself, and famines triggered by the war. On the order of five million were displaced. Tens of thousands of women and children were enslaved. The conflict was primarily religiously based, with the Northern part of the country largely composed of Arabic-speaking Muslim, while the Southern part is composed primarily of followers of Christianity and African indigenous religions. ₆

The religiously motivated genocide was partially resolved during 2005. Negotiations between the central government in Khartoum, and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) produced the Naivasha Agreement. This set up an independence referendum among adults in South Sudan. It was passed by a 98.8% majority! ₇ On 2011-JUL-09. the country was split into two independent nations: Sudan and South Sudan.

Unfortunately, the agony for the people of South Sudan continued, with a rebel group fighting the South Sudan government. Additional tens of thousands of people have died. Intense pressure from the international community led to a peace deal signed during 2015-AUG. A transitional coalition between the government and rebels became effective on 2016-APR-29. ₈ Hopefully, the killing, raping, and enslavement will eventually cease.

The 1994 genocide in which about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda lost their lives over a 100 day interval. The perpetrators were almost all Hutus, who formed the majority tribal group in the country. Unlike many other genocides, before or since, this was not a religiously-based genocide. It was caused by inter-tribal hatred. About 94% of the country are Christians -- mostly Roman Catholic. About 5% are Muslim. ₉

Martin Kimani, writing for the British newspaper, The Guardian, speculated that the people of Rwanda must find the 2010 apology by Pope Benedict XVI to the people of Ireland unbearable. The Pope apologized for the widespread sexual abuse of youths by Catholic priests. Rwandans have not received a similar apology. Kimani wrote:

"... the Vatican says that those priests, those bishops, those nuns, those archbishops who planned and killed were not acting under the instruction of the church. But moral responsibility changes dramatically if you are a European or US Catholic. To the priests of the Irish church who abused children, the pope has this to say: "You must answer for it before almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres." ₁₀

Home > Laws & religion > Genocide > here

or: Home > Religious violence > Genocide > here

Home > Laws & religion >  Genocide > God's genocides > here

Home > Religious violence >  Genocide > God's genocides >  here