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Were Most Human Deaths Caused By Religion?
Sometimes when in discussion with atheists or people resisting Christianity, or religion in general you will hear the claim that religion has been the cause of the most human suffering and death in the world. Typically, events like the Crusades, the so-called "witch hunts" and the Inquisition will be trotted out as proof. And many Christians will shrink back or will say something like, "Even so, Christianity as it was espoused by Christ is non-violent." Although it is true that Christianity as espoused by Christ was to be spread not by the sword (as Islam is designed), but by the Word, by mere preaching. But why should we allow the atheist to even use the Crusades and such as evidence in their claim that most human suffering and death has been caused by religion. It plainly is not true. What I want to do is offer a detailed listing of human death from the 18th century through the 20th century and see if the claim is true. Yes, we'll also look at the Crusades, the witch hunts and the Inquisition. DEATH TOLLS18th Century Slave Trade
Seven Years War (1755-63)
French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars (1792-1802)
And these wars were supposed to be about bringing "freedom" to civilized men. War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13)
Yet another non-religious war As we leave the 1700s don't forget all of the many, many other events -- all non-religious where hairless apes killed other hairless apes. On to the 19th century... 19th Century Slave Trade
Venezuela, power struggles (1830-1903)
Colonial El Niño Famines (1876-1900)
American Civil War (1861-65)
Paraguay, War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70)
Maybe it gets better when we get to the 20th century??? I mean, mankind becomes so much more advanced....well at least advanced at killing each other.
Shall I go on? Just to be fair, how about those "Crusades"??? (which in reality was less about Christianity and more about securing wealth) Certainly that had to be the biggest death toll, since according to atheists, most people have died due to "religions". Or how about the "Witch hunts" or the Inquisition? That should really push up the numbers eh?
Wow, I guess the hairless apes have Christians beat when it comes to killing. So you see, the claim that most human suffering has been caused by religion, is just plain false. Don't let anyone use this argument ever again. sources:http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wars18c.htm
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Well, many of those deaths
Well, many of those deaths are more communism, than atheism. People aren't communists because they're atheists, they're atheists because they're communists. For Communist China's death toll, just because there is no religion, doesn't mean it's atheism either.
Also consider this random fact that Stalin also studied to be a priest of 5 years.
"Atheism itself isn't a principle, cause, philosophy, or belief system which people fight, die, or kill for. Being killed by an atheist is no more being killed in the name of atheism than being killed by a tall person is being killed in the name of tallness."
Much of these death tolls are ill-bred in blaming atheism. Such as the Afghanistan one with the Soviet Union "imposing atheism". Considering the fact that these tolls also include blaming the PRC with imposing atheism on Tibet and such, it doesn't make much sense that the PRC was on the opposition side of those skirmishes.
Some examples of large scale Christianity caused deaths:
Taiping Rebellion
20,000,000 - 40,000,000
Colonial Conquests:
20,000,000
This also fails the mention the amount of Slavery related deaths caused by Christianity and Christians themselves. How many? Over ten million as far as history can tell.
The Thirty Years War
8,000,000
France: Catholic vs. Huguenot
2,000,000 - 4,000,000
A majority of Jews consider themselves as a religion rather than a race too, in that sense, World War II had a large religious aspect to it. Even if you don't consider this true, Hitler hid behind the banner of Christianity, which many of his soldiers used too. As Hitler rose to power, he was consistently supported by the Catholic church.
Declaring WWII a non-religious war is a completely biased statement that many would argue.
If one is the believer of the stories in the Bible, we can easily enlarge these deaths by a large sum. (Such as the Worldwide Flooding)
Ultimately, these are only SOME the large scale deaths, include the many smaller scale deaths (hundreds of thousands) and the figure rises drastically.
Besides, even if one were to completely ignore this, and declare "Christianity has killed less people than anything else"
A lesser evil is still evil, and isn't Christianity a religion that is against these kinds of slaughters?
Not only that, isn't the main question here "Were most human deaths caused by religion?", should we add the death tolls of those many other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, etc. into this? That itself would easily increase this by well over a hundred million.
Also this article just divides everything into 2 causes. Either it was Christianity or it was something else. It just blends every single death that isn't completely Christianity related together. Religion does cause the most deaths if you have enough will to actually separate everything into categories. Such as famine, politics, land, resources, power, etc. And many of those have a relation to religion anyway, using religion as an excuse is still using religion as a cause.
Another typical Christian hater in the guise of an "atheist"
Also consider this random fact that Stalin also studied to be a priest of 5 years.
"Atheism itself isn't a principle, cause, philosophy, or belief system which people fight, die, or kill for. Being killed by an atheist is no more being killed in the name of atheism than being killed by a tall person is being killed in the name of tallness."
Much of these death tolls are ill-bred in blaming atheism. Such as the Afghanistan one with the Soviet Union "imposing atheism". Considering the fact that these tolls also include blaming the PRC with imposing atheism on Tibet and such, it doesn't make much sense that the PRC was on the opposition side of those skirmishes.
Some examples of large scale Christianity caused deaths:
Taiping Rebellion
20,000,000 - 40,000,000
Colonial Conquests:
20,000,000
This also fails the mention the amount of Slavery related deaths caused by Christianity and Christians themselves. How many? Over ten million as far as history can tell.
The Thirty Years War
8,000,000
France: Catholic vs. Huguenot
2,000,000 - 4,000,000
A majority of Jews consider themselves as a religion rather than a race too, in that sense, World War II had a large religious aspect to it. Even if you don't consider this true, Hitler hid behind the banner of Christianity, which many of his soldiers used too. As Hitler rose to power, he was consistently supported by the Catholic church.
Declaring WWII a non-religious war is a completely biased statement that many would argue.
If one is the believer of the stories in the Bible, we can easily enlarge these deaths by a large sum. (Such as the Worldwide Flooding)
Ultimately, these are only SOME the large scale deaths, include the many smaller scale deaths (hundreds of thousands) and the figure rises drastically.
Besides, even if one were to completely ignore this, and declare "Christianity has killed less people than anything else"
A lesser evil is still evil, and isn't Christianity a religion that is against these kinds of slaughters?
Not only that, isn't the main question here "Were most human deaths caused by religion?", should we add the death tolls of those many other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, etc. into this? That itself would easily increase this by well over a hundred million.
Also this article just divides everything into 2 causes. Either it was Christianity or it was something else. It just blends every single death that isn't completely Christianity related together. Religion does cause the most deaths if you have enough will to actually separate everything into categories. Such as famine, politics, land, resources, power, etc. And many of those have a relation to religion anyway, using religion as an excuse is still using religion as a cause.
LOL spoken like a true anti-Christian atheist. WW2 had NOTHING to do with religion. In fact in 1933, the Jews declared war on Germany FIRST by boycotting her. Thats an act of WAR. What did that have to do with religion? A vast majority of European Jews are actually atheist, which is ironic in that they build their homeland on the birthground of 3 of the world's large founding religions.
Your entire post is literally nothing but drivel. Really, famine, politics, land, resources etc?
I would love if I could read ONE atheist say the following, "MONEY is the root of all evil. MONEY and GREED are what have caused war and suffering. MONEY is the one god that everyone on earth worships equally. Religion like many other excuses, is the avenue by which those who rule get the plebs to support their cause.
Look at USA, why did it attack Iraq and kill over 1 million? Not to mention the war crimes of Blackwater. Was that for religion? Oil? Greed? How did it manipulate its people? Your freedoms and liberty are at stake yada yada?
If the plebs were better educated, isntead of being so easily indoctrinated (and literally liberal indoctrination is a huge problem in the west). The world would be a far better place.
Any new faith comes along, they are ALWAYS pushing for liberalism. Such as Marx and ENgels with their Marxism, how many deaths did that result in?
Lutharism, pushing for a more liberal form of Christianity, caused how many deaths?
Why is it that Europeans have always fallen prey to crazy extremists who push these idealogies that cause nothing but conflict? Atheism is just again, ANOTHER such idealogy. It is fact that Europeans have waged war, killed and murdered each other far more then anyone else has.
Stop falling for these bullshit politics that divide you amongst yourselves. Stop being indoctrinated by the white guilt complex! This is why there are whacko Christian Zionists in the first place! Genocide and slavery happened EVERYWHERE on earth. Stop being manipulated by the guilt of your forefathers and revel in the fact that our countries are the most multicultural and religiously diverse countries on EARTH, despite what the atheists keep saying in their hatred against "religion" but in reality its always focused on Christianity.
statistics
I'm doubtless nitpicking,but the figures for the casualties in the witch hunts sound rather low. The Encyclopedia Americana considers 15O,OOO a conservative estimate. An investigation by the German government,released in 1989,revised German deaths in the expulsions downward to 6OO,OOO. An investigation by the German clergy came up with lower numbers than that. The killings in the Sudan probably have something to do with religion,as the first genocide--before Darfur--was a campaign by a fanatical Islamist regime against Christians and polytheists.
Futile endeavor/Unknowable
Hello,
Just a couple of things and some suggested reading. First off, non-violence should be the goal of all humanity and not rest on the shoulders of one religious ideology. It is our joint responsibility as human beings to peacefully coexist and this can happen no matter what one believes. Where im coming from, is i happen to be an agnostic. Im currently pursuing my Ph.d at Dalhousie University in Canada in philosophy. That being said, I dont know everything. Nobody has all the answers and it is up to the individual to think for themselves and to continuously ask questions. I could drone on and on but i dont want you to get bored with reading what i have to say haha.
Ill just quickly take issue with a couple things you say in your piece, which for the most part is fairly well thought out and not without its points! I like that you point out that christianity is based on non-violence. For the most part, it is, except for numerous instances of homphobia, genocide, infanticide, misogyny etc present in the old testament. The core teachings are about non-violence, which obiously i can support. I think you can agree with me that a lot of christians today border on fundamentalist and arent interested in working out their differences peacefully like you and i. Thats why my first piece of suggested reading for you is an essay entitled "The worth of christianity and the unworthiness of christians" by the russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev. But you also say that Islam is based on forced conversions by the sword etc. How have you come to this conclusion? Obviously, I am not a muslim either but they deserve our respect even so. Islam is much the same as christianity. Not only are they derived from the same man (Abraham) but both groups have lost their way in the last thousand years or so. The original sermons from the prophet muhammad are all about peaceful coexistence and respect for fellow human beings. Actually, in the time when Islam made its greatest territorial gains, forced conversions were not part of the plan. For you see, they had in place a non-muslim tax, where they would levy additional taxes on jews, christians, zoroastrians etc. It was not in their financial self interest to convert the conquered people for they would be losing money if they did so. Their conquest was driven mostly by a thirst for knowledge but also by monetary concerns as i alluded to earlier. So no, islam is not based on violence and in fact is based on the total opposite, but it has fallen victim to the perversion of their faith that christianity has suffered as well. The second fantastic read that I wholeheartedly encourage you to undertake is called "Lost History" by Michael Hamilton Morgan. Its esssentially the story of the development of Islam and the harmonious coexistence between them and christians that was enjoyed for many many years. They were after knowledge and not motivated by intolerance. Some of the scientific acheievements highlighted in the book are astonishing such as Ibn al-Haytham and his calculation of the calendar. A thousand years before the Hubble telescope did the same thing with the help of a massive computer, al-Haytham calculated the length of the year correctly up to the sixth decimal place! I fear that my response is way too long and i sincerely apologize. There is just so much to say! I guess ill start with that, and simply conclude by saying there is so much to learn if one expands their horizons and attempts to learn about other ways of thinking. Thought excites me and I eagerly await what the philosopers of the 21st century conclude about the nature of our existence. I know that the universe is a gorgeous place with so much natural beauty that surrounds us. This is why I hate to see people not even attempt to resolve their ideological differences peacefully but instead immediately jump to fighting. I happen to be an amateur boxer as well (not saying im any good) and an outlet like that is extremely healthy to vent frustration. Issues like this one cant be solved in the ring, they have to be solved by intelligent, civil minded and peace-loving people.
Cheers mate,
Matt Day
How can you say WWII isn't a
How can you say WWII isn't a religious war? I don't think the 6 million Jews that got slaughtered were Jews by coincidence.
Just curious, hope you'll answer me ;)
Nice work though. Seems like you put some effort into bringing out your opinion.
Oh, don't forget how many times people have been killed 'in the name of God'.
Yeah..
I'm out.
Take carexxx
Race or religion
Hello Pypy. Thanks for the comments and the excellent question. The slaughter of the Jews was more about race than religion. Hitler was specifically concerned with race -- he was attempting to be a master race and not so much to replace or eradicate the Judaism.
Hilter wrote about his hatred of the Jews in his manifesto, Mein Kampf, wherein you'll see it was clearly about race and not about religion:
More practically, Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat in WW1.
For more on this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Revolution_of_1918–19#Aftermath
I hope this helped to show why WW2 wasn't a war about religion.
Killing in the name of God
Killing in the name of God is hypocrisy.
At least others who have killed in the name of their belief system have done so without compromising a fundamental law of that system.
Thou shalt not kill? Turn the other cheek?
Contribution of Christianity to cause of death
Thank-you for the article. It was very interesting and it is obvious a great deal of thought went into it.
I agree with all the facts presented but I don't think it was complete. Although wars are listed as prime contributors, you have not included the regression and neglect generated by the dark ages. And although it is hard to image now with the modern pluralist beliefs of current Christians, contemporary beliefs held humanity back for nearly 1500 years. It stopped us developing technologies like the power of steam and use of cast iron, which were technologies both available before the first conference of Nicea.
But what has this to do with death you ask, well this neglect set up the environment that allowed superstition and disease to flourish. It held humanity back technologically which allowed the black death to kill somewhere between 100 to 125 million people in the middle ages. It in itself was far worse than all the wars you listed combined. To put it in context, without the cultural oppression and noting that from Watt to Pasteur was 150 years only, this wholesale suffering could have been easily avoided.
This neglect was done in the name of Christianity promulgated through the bible. The death of a third to half the population via a pandemic is a horrific outcome. Horrific because it was made far worse due to ignorance promoted through dogma.
Killing in God's name is not only through direct action , but through the promotion of neglect, misinformation, denial of freedom and through technological oppression.
What worries me is that we seem to have entered another cycle (over the last 9 years) like this promoting the same oppression for the same outcomes. It also seems to be a Christian phenomenon. How long will we have to endure this dark age?
Thoughts?
PS Please don't forget the 250 thousand dead from the two gulf wars.
Dark Ages
Alec, thank you so much for interacting with this article. Your further thoughts are a great addition. It is true that death and general decline or retardation of advancement has been caused by some ideologies, but not Christianity on a whole. Your comments prompted me to write another article. Please read it here:
http://thekingdomcome.com/dark_ages
There are several citations that you may find interesting.
Thanks again.