Religious laws and violence
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Mass crimes against humanity & genocide

Quotations:
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"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 real evidence that he ever said it.
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 | "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.
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 | "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 |

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Overview:
A individual's greatest enemy appears to be their own national government. One
source estimates that "Nearly 170 million people probably have been
murdered by governments in this [20th] century; over four-times those killed in combat
in all international and domestic wars during the same years."
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Mass murder and genocide in recent years have involved:
 | The execution of individuals who have simply decided to change their
religion,
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 | Mass murder of followers of a minority religion by members of a
dominant religion,
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Mass murder of followers of one faith group by others who belong to the same
religion.
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 | Mass murder and genocide of an identifiable group for a variety of
reasons. |
It appears that:
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The persecution and mass murder of European
Jews by Christians from 306 to 1945 CE was the longest lasting mass crime
against humanity, culminating with the genocide by Nazis during World War II.
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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 exterminate.
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It appears that Christians are more often martyred in recent years because of their faith than followers of any other religion. Murders of Christians peaked at about 160,000 during the year 2000. This was about one Christian murdered every five minutes. A major effect of these killings is the decimation of Christian communities in the Middle East as many of them attempt to emigrate to other countries where they can life free of threats to their lives. By early 2019, murders of Christians because of religion had dropped to about 4,000 a year. 6 |
One of the main motivations for the creation of the United Nations in 1945
was to prevent future mass crimes against humanity and genocides. In this role,
the UN has not done well. Since 2010,
governments continue committing or allowing mass crimes against humanity
including the victimization of:

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Definitions of genocide. Genocide
conventions
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 | About genocide:
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 | Past persecutions, crimes against humanity and genocides --
primarily religiously based
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 | The most serious crimes against humanity and genocides of the
20th century:
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 | Currently active and recent mass murders, potential genocides, and genocides:
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Related essays at this website:

References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- 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/"
- Genocide," at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/
- "20th Century Democide," at: http://www.mega.nu:8080/
- Raphael Lemkin, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe," (1944),
Page 79.
- "Uganda passes draconian anti-gay law," Genocide Watch, 2014-JUN-25, at: http://genocidewatch.net/
- Lindy Lowry, "11 Christians Killed Every Day for Their Decision to Follow Jesus," Open Doors, 2019-MAR-13, at: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/


Copyright © 2001 to 2019by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JAN-1, at the beginning of a new millennium
Latest update: 2019-JUN-03
Author: B.A. Robinson

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