For the love of god? How many more?
07/01/2015
A consideration of the tragic stupidity
of the oxymoronic phenomenon that is religious violence. There could be a lot more examples here, but frankly, I got sick of the subject.
I learned some new things, such as The Peasants War, which I had never heard of, and the toll of the Thirty Years' War, which I had heard of but had no idea it was so bad, listed here as the fifteenth most lethal war in history. The majority of facts are from Wikipedia, which I donate money to because it is so useful. |
“History records the tragic fact that men have gone to war and cut each other’s throats because they couldn’t agree as to what
was to become of them after their throats were cut.”
Walter P Stacy
"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
See Wikipedia on Religious war in general
See Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong
for an apologists viewpoint.
was to become of them after their throats were cut.”
Walter P Stacy
"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
See Wikipedia on Religious war in general
See Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong
for an apologists viewpoint.
627 Muslim vs Jews & Christians. Battle of the Ditch, Medina
When the last Jewish tribe was annihilated by Muhammed and his men following what is known as the Battle of the Ditch. Eight hundred Jewish captives with their hands tied behind their backs were led to a trench and under Muhammed's order and in his presence were beheaded. Their lands, chattel, weapons, wealth and cattle were divided among Muhammed's men.
Muhammed in 630 led a large military force to the city of Tabuk, 250 miles northwest of Medina and forced the Christians there to pay a heavy tax and tribute in order to prevent Muhammed and his men from attacking the city. This was also done to other Christian towns and cities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banu_Qurayza
Various crusades:
1099 Christian vs anybody. The first Crusade
was successful in capturing Jerusalem in 1099. The siege and battle were bloody and many Muslims and Jews were massacred.
1066 Muslim vs Jewish Granada Massacre.
On December 30, 1066 Muslim mobs stormed the royal palace where Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela had sought refuge and crucified him. In the ensuing massacre of the Jewish population, many of the Jews of Granada were murdered. The massacre was apparently started by a rumor that Joseph was going to have the Muslim king assassinated.
1182 Christian vs Christian The Massacre of the Latins
A large-scale massacre of the Roman Catholic or “Latin” inhabitants of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, by the Eastern Orthodox population of the city in May 1182. The Roman Catholics of Constantinople at that time dominated the city’s maritime trade and financial sector. Although precise numbers are unavailable, the bulk of the Latin community, estimated at over 60,000 at the time, was wiped out or forced to flee.
1202 - 1204 Christian vs Christian. Fourth crusade
Catholic Christians sack Orthodox Christian Constantinople (Doh!)
711 - 1492 Christian vs Muslim. The Spanish Reconquista
7 million deaths estimated, over 781 years
1200s Catholics persecute Cathars. Albigensian crusade
Over 20 year campaign. 200,000 to 1,000,000 deaths.
1525 Protestant uprising.The Peasants War.
300,000 revolted 100,000 deaths!
European Late Medieval/Early Modern period Christian vs Christian. Witchcraft murders
Wikipedia: "Among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch, and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. Throughout this time, it was increasingly believed that Christianity was engaged in an apocalyptic battle against the Devil and his secret army of witches, who had entered into a diabolical pact. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women." I have read elsewhere that investigations, as in the Inquisition, were financed by the confiscation of victim's goods, and thus self-perpetuating.
When the last Jewish tribe was annihilated by Muhammed and his men following what is known as the Battle of the Ditch. Eight hundred Jewish captives with their hands tied behind their backs were led to a trench and under Muhammed's order and in his presence were beheaded. Their lands, chattel, weapons, wealth and cattle were divided among Muhammed's men.
Muhammed in 630 led a large military force to the city of Tabuk, 250 miles northwest of Medina and forced the Christians there to pay a heavy tax and tribute in order to prevent Muhammed and his men from attacking the city. This was also done to other Christian towns and cities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banu_Qurayza
Various crusades:
1099 Christian vs anybody. The first Crusade
was successful in capturing Jerusalem in 1099. The siege and battle were bloody and many Muslims and Jews were massacred.
1066 Muslim vs Jewish Granada Massacre.
On December 30, 1066 Muslim mobs stormed the royal palace where Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela had sought refuge and crucified him. In the ensuing massacre of the Jewish population, many of the Jews of Granada were murdered. The massacre was apparently started by a rumor that Joseph was going to have the Muslim king assassinated.
1182 Christian vs Christian The Massacre of the Latins
A large-scale massacre of the Roman Catholic or “Latin” inhabitants of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, by the Eastern Orthodox population of the city in May 1182. The Roman Catholics of Constantinople at that time dominated the city’s maritime trade and financial sector. Although precise numbers are unavailable, the bulk of the Latin community, estimated at over 60,000 at the time, was wiped out or forced to flee.
1202 - 1204 Christian vs Christian. Fourth crusade
Catholic Christians sack Orthodox Christian Constantinople (Doh!)
711 - 1492 Christian vs Muslim. The Spanish Reconquista
7 million deaths estimated, over 781 years
1200s Catholics persecute Cathars. Albigensian crusade
Over 20 year campaign. 200,000 to 1,000,000 deaths.
1525 Protestant uprising.The Peasants War.
300,000 revolted 100,000 deaths!
European Late Medieval/Early Modern period Christian vs Christian. Witchcraft murders
Wikipedia: "Among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch, and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts. Throughout this time, it was increasingly believed that Christianity was engaged in an apocalyptic battle against the Devil and his secret army of witches, who had entered into a diabolical pact. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women." I have read elsewhere that investigations, as in the Inquisition, were financed by the confiscation of victim's goods, and thus self-perpetuating.
p.s. 23/02/2015
The passage at left almost made me cry when I read it as quoted in Christopher Hitchens' book The Portable Atheist. I had to come back and post it here. |
1572 Christian vs Christian. The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre
A targeted group of assassinations followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants), during the French Wars of Religion. Modern estimates for the number of dead vary widely from 5,000 to 30,000. Only a part of.....
1562–1598 Christian vs Christian, French Wars of Religion (Huguenot Wars).
2,000,000–4,000,000 deaths
1618-48 Christian vs Christian, Thirty Years War.
Beginning as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest.
3,000,000–11,500,000 deaths all causes, disease, famine etc.
1560–1700 Christian vs mainly Jewish. The Spanish Inquisition
Principal victims were Ex-Jewish converts to Catholicism (often forced) accused of secretly retaining their faith. There are numerous records of the opinion of ordinary Spaniards of the time that "the Inquisition was devised simply to rob people". "They were burnt only for the money they had", a resident of Cuenca averred. "They burn only the well-off", said another. In 1504 an accused stated, "only the rich were burnt". …In 1484…Catalina de Zamora was accused of asserting that "this Inquisition that the fathers are carrying out is as much for taking property from the conversos as for defending the faith. It is the goods that are the heretics." This saying passed into common usage in Spain.
It is likely that between 3,000 and 5,000 were executed.
1600's Japanese persecute Christians
The number of active Christians is estimated to have been around 200,000 in 1582. There were likely around 1,000 known martyrs during the missionary period.
In the mid-17th century, the shogunate demanded the expulsion of all European missionaries and the execution of all converts. This marked the end of open Christianity in Japan. Siege at Hara Castle, After the castle fell, the shogunate forces beheaded an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers.Because the shogunate suspected that European Catholics had been involved in spreading the rebellion, Portuguese traders were driven out of the country. The policy of national seclusion was made more strict by 1639.[19] An existing ban on the Christian religion was then enforced stringently, and Christianity in Japan survived only by going underground.
1876 Muslims massacre Christians. Turkey, April Uprising
The massacre of the Bulgarians in Batak by 8,000 Ottoman troops on April 30, 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising was described as “the most heinous crime to stain the history of the 19th century.” 15,000 dead, the brutality was unparalleled. The majority of those killed were women and children who were raped, tortured, and then beheaded.
1915 Muslim Ottoman massacre of Christians. The Armenian genocide
Wikipedia: The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million. Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and the Ottoman Greeks were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government, and their treatment is considered by many historians to be part of the same genocidal policy.
1940s Christians Massacre Jews etc. The Holocaust
Wikipedia: .......approximately six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. An additional five million non-Jewish victims of Nazi mass murders are included by some historians bringing the total to approximately eleven million. Killings took place throughout Nazi Germany and German-occupied territories.
1941 Christians vs Jews and Communists. Odessa Massacre.
In Odessa and the surrounding towns of Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 by the Germans and the Romanians, resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 Ukrainian Jews with any survivors being left to freeze outdoors after their village was completely razed.
1947 Muslims vs Hindus Partition of India and Pakistan
The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths vary, between 200,000 and 1,000,000.
Sunni –Shia conflict
This is a running sore of religious conflict responsible for the deaths of many, many thousands over the centuries, and is regrettably still ongoing. There is too much for me to go into the details, Wikipedia has a thirteen thousand word entry entitled "Shia-Sunni relations".
1983-2000 Muslim vs Christian. Persecution of Christians in Sudan
Sudan's Christians were persecuted under various military regimes. Sudan's civil wars temporarily ended in 1972, but resumed in 1983, as famine hit the region. Four million people were displaced and two million people died in the two-decade long conflict before a temporary six year ceasefire was signed in January 2005.
1982 Muslims massacre Muslims. Hama Massacre
This scorched earth operation was carried out by the Syrian Arab Army against the town of Hama to stop the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood in February 1982. Estimates of the death toll range from 7,000 to 35,000 and it has been described as “one of the single deadliest acts by an Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East.”
1982 Muslims massacre Muslims. Sabra and Shatila Massacre
This slaughter of several thousand Palestinian and Lebanese Shia refugees in Beirut was carried out from September 16 to 18, 1982 by the Phalange, a Lebanese paramilitary organization, in retaliation for the assassination of newly elected Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel. Only part of.......
1975 to 1990 Christian vs Sunni vs Shiite. Lebanese Civil War
There is no consensus among scholars on what triggered the Lebanese Civil War. However, the militarization of the Palestinian refugee population, with the arrival of the PLO guerrilla forces did spark an arms race amongst the different Lebanese political factions. However the conflict played out along three religious lines, Sunni Muslim, Christian Lebanese and Shiite Muslim. An estimated 120,000 fatalities. Today, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon. There was also a mass exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war.
2000 Muslims vs Christians, The Moluccas (Indonesia)
Dec 2000 BBC: Indonesia imposed a state of emergency in the Moluccas in June, in an attempt to rein in the religious violence which has left thousands dead in the past two years.
Wikipedia: ....warfare and atrocities against the civilian population committed by both sides. The main belligerents were therefore religious militia from both faiths.
Personal note: This trouble thwarted my hopes of a trip to the obscure but very interesting island of Ternate.
Modern times: Jewish Israel subjugates Islamic Palestinians
This lot have been at it for 2,500 years. Obviously it is no use saying "God help the Middle East situation", as he is obviously not interested.
Modern times: You name the religion vs its own adherents: - Witchcraft
Wikipedia: Belief in witchcraft continues to be present today in some societies and accusations of witchcraft are the trigger of serious forms of violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in places such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal and Tanzania. Accusations of witchcraft are sometimes linked to personal disputes, jealousy, and conflicts between neighbors or family over land or inheritance. Witchcraft related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women.
In Tanzania, about 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations against them of witchcraft.[43] Apart from extrajudicial violence, there is also state-sanctioned violence in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing 'witchcraft and sorcery' is a crime punishable by death and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Children in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence related to witchcraft accusations.
Modern times: Muslim vs mainly Muslim. Islamic State empire building.
Who knows how many have yet to be killed by these unreasoning zealots?
A targeted group of assassinations followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants), during the French Wars of Religion. Modern estimates for the number of dead vary widely from 5,000 to 30,000. Only a part of.....
1562–1598 Christian vs Christian, French Wars of Religion (Huguenot Wars).
2,000,000–4,000,000 deaths
1618-48 Christian vs Christian, Thirty Years War.
Beginning as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest.
3,000,000–11,500,000 deaths all causes, disease, famine etc.
1560–1700 Christian vs mainly Jewish. The Spanish Inquisition
Principal victims were Ex-Jewish converts to Catholicism (often forced) accused of secretly retaining their faith. There are numerous records of the opinion of ordinary Spaniards of the time that "the Inquisition was devised simply to rob people". "They were burnt only for the money they had", a resident of Cuenca averred. "They burn only the well-off", said another. In 1504 an accused stated, "only the rich were burnt". …In 1484…Catalina de Zamora was accused of asserting that "this Inquisition that the fathers are carrying out is as much for taking property from the conversos as for defending the faith. It is the goods that are the heretics." This saying passed into common usage in Spain.
It is likely that between 3,000 and 5,000 were executed.
1600's Japanese persecute Christians
The number of active Christians is estimated to have been around 200,000 in 1582. There were likely around 1,000 known martyrs during the missionary period.
In the mid-17th century, the shogunate demanded the expulsion of all European missionaries and the execution of all converts. This marked the end of open Christianity in Japan. Siege at Hara Castle, After the castle fell, the shogunate forces beheaded an estimated 37,000 rebels and sympathizers.Because the shogunate suspected that European Catholics had been involved in spreading the rebellion, Portuguese traders were driven out of the country. The policy of national seclusion was made more strict by 1639.[19] An existing ban on the Christian religion was then enforced stringently, and Christianity in Japan survived only by going underground.
1876 Muslims massacre Christians. Turkey, April Uprising
The massacre of the Bulgarians in Batak by 8,000 Ottoman troops on April 30, 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising was described as “the most heinous crime to stain the history of the 19th century.” 15,000 dead, the brutality was unparalleled. The majority of those killed were women and children who were raped, tortured, and then beheaded.
1915 Muslim Ottoman massacre of Christians. The Armenian genocide
Wikipedia: The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million. Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and the Ottoman Greeks were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government, and their treatment is considered by many historians to be part of the same genocidal policy.
1940s Christians Massacre Jews etc. The Holocaust
Wikipedia: .......approximately six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. An additional five million non-Jewish victims of Nazi mass murders are included by some historians bringing the total to approximately eleven million. Killings took place throughout Nazi Germany and German-occupied territories.
1941 Christians vs Jews and Communists. Odessa Massacre.
In Odessa and the surrounding towns of Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 by the Germans and the Romanians, resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 Ukrainian Jews with any survivors being left to freeze outdoors after their village was completely razed.
1947 Muslims vs Hindus Partition of India and Pakistan
The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths vary, between 200,000 and 1,000,000.
Sunni –Shia conflict
This is a running sore of religious conflict responsible for the deaths of many, many thousands over the centuries, and is regrettably still ongoing. There is too much for me to go into the details, Wikipedia has a thirteen thousand word entry entitled "Shia-Sunni relations".
1983-2000 Muslim vs Christian. Persecution of Christians in Sudan
Sudan's Christians were persecuted under various military regimes. Sudan's civil wars temporarily ended in 1972, but resumed in 1983, as famine hit the region. Four million people were displaced and two million people died in the two-decade long conflict before a temporary six year ceasefire was signed in January 2005.
1982 Muslims massacre Muslims. Hama Massacre
This scorched earth operation was carried out by the Syrian Arab Army against the town of Hama to stop the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood in February 1982. Estimates of the death toll range from 7,000 to 35,000 and it has been described as “one of the single deadliest acts by an Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East.”
1982 Muslims massacre Muslims. Sabra and Shatila Massacre
This slaughter of several thousand Palestinian and Lebanese Shia refugees in Beirut was carried out from September 16 to 18, 1982 by the Phalange, a Lebanese paramilitary organization, in retaliation for the assassination of newly elected Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel. Only part of.......
1975 to 1990 Christian vs Sunni vs Shiite. Lebanese Civil War
There is no consensus among scholars on what triggered the Lebanese Civil War. However, the militarization of the Palestinian refugee population, with the arrival of the PLO guerrilla forces did spark an arms race amongst the different Lebanese political factions. However the conflict played out along three religious lines, Sunni Muslim, Christian Lebanese and Shiite Muslim. An estimated 120,000 fatalities. Today, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon. There was also a mass exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war.
2000 Muslims vs Christians, The Moluccas (Indonesia)
Dec 2000 BBC: Indonesia imposed a state of emergency in the Moluccas in June, in an attempt to rein in the religious violence which has left thousands dead in the past two years.
Wikipedia: ....warfare and atrocities against the civilian population committed by both sides. The main belligerents were therefore religious militia from both faiths.
Personal note: This trouble thwarted my hopes of a trip to the obscure but very interesting island of Ternate.
Modern times: Jewish Israel subjugates Islamic Palestinians
This lot have been at it for 2,500 years. Obviously it is no use saying "God help the Middle East situation", as he is obviously not interested.
Modern times: You name the religion vs its own adherents: - Witchcraft
Wikipedia: Belief in witchcraft continues to be present today in some societies and accusations of witchcraft are the trigger of serious forms of violence, including murder. Such incidents are common in places such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal and Tanzania. Accusations of witchcraft are sometimes linked to personal disputes, jealousy, and conflicts between neighbors or family over land or inheritance. Witchcraft related violence is often discussed as a serious issue in the broader context of violence against women.
In Tanzania, about 500 older women are murdered each year following accusations against them of witchcraft.[43] Apart from extrajudicial violence, there is also state-sanctioned violence in some jurisdictions. For instance, in Saudi Arabia practicing 'witchcraft and sorcery' is a crime punishable by death and the country has executed people for this crime in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Children in some regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, are also vulnerable to violence related to witchcraft accusations.
Modern times: Muslim vs mainly Muslim. Islamic State empire building.
Who knows how many have yet to be killed by these unreasoning zealots?