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Religiously-motivated violence, murder,
mass murder, terrorism & genocide

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See also two closely related sections which
discuss other, less serious, dark sides of religion:

Religiously motivated hatred, animosity and intolerance

Religiously motivated  conflict, oppression, discrimination, etc.

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Quotation (repeated elsewhere on this website because we are so fond of it):

bulletA man told his grandson: "A terrible fight is going on inside me -- a fight between two wolves. One is evil, and represents hate, anger, arrogance, intolerance, and superiority . The other is good, and represents joy, peace, love, tolerance, understanding, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, and compassion. This same fight is going on inside you, inside every other person too."

The grandson then asked: "Which wolf will win?" The old man replied simply:  "The one you feed." - Anon.

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Why is there so much religiously-based conflict, oppression and discrimination? (Also repeated):

Why does religion encourage some people to perform ethically and others to commit discriminatory and even violent acts?

bulletTo our knowledge, no mathematician has ever intentionally flown an airplane into a building, or blown up a subway, or exploded a bomb in a crowded marketplace. But many people have done these things, motivated by their religious faith.
bulletMunicipalities have voted to turn down a building permit for a mosque or Muslim cemetery, while approving a construction of a church.
bulletMost Americans do not consider race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or a history of multiple marriages to be much of an impediment for a presidential candidate. But most people would not vote for a generally well-qualified Atheist.

A partial list of some of the factors involved includes:

bulletMany people are motivated to adopt a religious faith out of a need for security in a dangerous world. When their religion is challenged, they react emotionally and sometimes violently.
bulletReligious beliefs are largely based on faith rather than reason. This means that conflicts among religions cannot be easily settled through dialogue. Disagreements can often escalate.
bulletMany people believe that there is only one "top-down" religion: i.e. there is only a single religion revealed by God to humanity. That sole religion is, of course, their own. Meanwhile they believe that all other religions are "bottom-up" faiths: i.e. religions created by humans to express their concept of God. It is difficult for a person to respect other religions if they "know" that their religion, alone, is the true one.
bulletMany feel that they are God's only representatives on Earth; in effect, they are God's arms and legs. They feel a need to be God's defenders

There are no quick fixes to this situation.

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Topics covered in this section:

bulletA historical overview
 
bulletViolence directed at specific groups:
bulletAnti-Judaic and Anti-semitic persecution
bulletThe real story of the Witch burning times
bulletAgainst Native Americans
 
bulletReligiously motivated violence in the Bible:
bulletFour major genocides in the Bible ordered or managed by God
bulletPassages advocating violence and genocide in the Bible and other holy texts
bulletSlavery: in the Bible, in the  past & now
 
bulletRecent religiously motivated violence:
bulletRecent examples of religiously motivated violence in Abrahamic religions
bulletRecent media accounts of individual incidences of intolerance, discrimination, conflict, violence etc.
bulletGenocide & mass crimes against humanity (often motivated by religion)
bulletReligiously based civil unrest and warfare
bulletConflicts in the Middle and Far East
bulletConflicts in:
bulletNazareth in Israel,
bulletKashmir,
bulletNigeria,
bulletPhilippines,
bulletYugoslavia-Kosovo,
bulletYugoslavia-Vojvodia
 
bulletReligiously motivated corporal punishment:
bulletChristianity: Spanking/whipping children
bulletIslam: Corporal punishment of women

bulletSources of religiously-motivated violence:
bulletA study linking a violent biblical text to aggression
bulletA Church of England 2006 report links its teaching to spousal abuse
bulletPersonal opinions on sources of violence:
bulletWhile prayer is peaceful, violence is often in name of God, by Jon Brodkin
bulletChanging holy books to modify beliefs and alter behaviors, by Vladimir Tomek
bullet"Spare the Rod:" an essay describing partnership and dominator cultural models by Riane Eisler

 
bulletReligiously-motivated terrorism:
bulletThe 9-11 New York City - Washington terrorist attack
bulletReligiously-motivated terrorism by extremist Muslims, Christians & Jews
bulletThe 'secret' FBI Megiddo report on religious terrorism
bulletThe Canadian CSIS report on religious terrorism
bulletThe potential for religious violence in Jerusalem
bulletStatements by Muslim leaders condemning terrorism
bulletPersonal opinions on religiously-motivated terrorism:
bulletOn Islam and violence by Harun Yahya
bullet10th anniversary of Oklahoma City bombing by Ibrahim Hooper
 
bulletSexual and ritual abuse topics:
bulletSexual abuse by clergy
bulletRitual Abuse of children (RA): All aspects; all points of view
bulletStudies of over 35 MVMO (multi-victim multi offender) cases
bulletSatanic/Sadistic Ritual Abuse (SRA): All aspects; all points of view

bulletVictims of memories and false allegations of sexual & ritual abuse:
bulletRepressed and Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT)
bulletMultiple Personality Disorder (MPD); Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
bulletHow Children Disclose Sexual Abuse
bulletHow Children Disclose Ritual Abuse in Day-Cares, etc.
bulletFalse Confessions by Adults
bulletParents Victimized by Children's Protective Services
 
bulletOther topics relating to violence:
bulletCan religious proselytizing trigger hate crimes?
bulletReligious intolerance, violence etc mentioned in comic strips
 
bulletExamples of institutional violence: We don't want to give the impression that Canadians extremely violent. We just haven't gotten around to studying institutional violence in the U.S. and elsewhere
bulletResidential schools for Native students in Canada
bulletThe extermination of Canada's Innu people
 
bulletViolence and murder:
bulletIn schools -- generally related to harassment or mental illness, not religious influences
bulletTargeting Christians

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bulletAttempted solutions to religious persecution:
bulletBy removing passages from holy books that promote hatred, violence, etc.
bulletA listing of some of the above passages in the Bible
bulletFreedom from Religious Persecution Law
bullet"International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church" Held annually in mid-NOV
bulletThe menorah incident at Billings, MT

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bulletOther related menus on this web site: 
bulletReligiously "hot topics" from abortion access to equal rights for homosexuals
bulletLaws restricting and protecting religion from school prayer to the wearing of religious jewelry

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Special note for survivors of ritual abuse:

Many tens of thousands of North Americans have recovered memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) during therapy sessions or through self-hypnosis --mainly during the 1980s and early 1990s.. But, we are trying to locate a person with SRA memories that have always been present since the abuse occurred. If you are one, please send us an Email. We will keep your information in strictest confidence. (We have had this message in place since 1995-AUG with only one response to date.)

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Amazon.com found the following books in their inventory that discuss religious violence:

If you see a generic Amazon.com ad, please click on your browser's refresh button.

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