Is Christianity a Pacifistic Religion?

[SteveII]

You really have to separate things here. Can you even name an even moderately serious war that was not mainly about politics, power, or resources?

Oh look, Wikipedia even has an entry for it.

The European wars of religion were a series of religious wars waged in 16th and 17th century Europe, devastating the continent and killing over 10 million people. The wars were fought in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation (1517), which disrupted the religious order in the Catholic countries of Europe. However, religion was not the only cause of the wars, which also included revolts, territorial ambitions, and Great Power conflicts. By the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Catholic France was allied with the Protestant countries against the Catholic Habsburg monarchy. The wars were largely ended by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), establishing a new political order that is now known as Westphalian sovereignty.

The conflicts began with the Knights' Revolt (1522), a minor war in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation in 1545 to counter the growth of Protestantism. The conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated Germany and killed one-third of its population. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) put an end to the war by recognising three separate Christian traditions in the Holy Roman Empire: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism. Although many European leaders were 'sickened' by the religious bloodshed by 1648, religious wars continued to be waged in the post-Westphalian period until the 1710s.

Wikipedia || European wars of religion

It's true that the Thirty Years' War took on a life of its own, but there's no denying that religion was the catalyst that got the ball rolling.

And Wikipedia has this to say about a major factor in the European wars of religion:

The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also called the Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648). Initiated to preserve the power, influence and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation, the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of five major elements:

1. Reactionary defense of Catholic sacramental practice
   
2. Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration
   
3. Religious orders
   
4. Spiritual movements
   
5. Political dimensions
   

Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.

It also involved political activities that included the Roman Inquisition. One primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and also try to reconvert areas such as Sweden and England that were at one time Catholic, but had been Protestantized during the Reformation.

Various Counter-Reformation theologians focused only on defending doctrinal positions such as the sacraments and pious practices that were attacked by the Protestant reformers, up to the Second Vatican Council in 1962–1965. One of the "most dramatic moments" at that council was the intervention of Belgian Bishop Emiel-Jozef de Smedt (fr; it; nl; pl) when, during the debate on the nature of the church, he called for an end to the "triumphalism, clericalism, and legalism" that had typified the church in the previous centuries.[4]

Key events of the period include: the Council of Trent (1545–1563); the excommunication of Elizabeth I (1570) and the Battle of Lepanto (1571), both occurring during the pontificate of Pius V; the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar and the Jesuit China mission of Matteo Ricci under Pope Gregory XIII; the French Wars of Religion; the Long Turkish War and the execution of Giordano Bruno in 1600, under Pope Clement VIII; the trial against Galileo Galilei; the final phases of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) during the pontificates of Urban VIII and Innocent X; and the formation of the last Holy League by Innocent XI during the Great Turkish War.

Wikipedia || Counter-Reformation [emphasis mine]

Oh, and there's the little problem of the crusades.  Really, Steve, seriously?

My point to Vulcan was that while he implied that Christians have this long history of connection to war, that is really not the case. Religions might be a factor, but hardly any war EVER, especially in Europe was about religion in any primary way. It is always about way more than that. There are very good pragmatic reasons to put a religious face on a war that the leaders know is about something else (popular support, whipping up the troops, financing etc.). It's not hard to figure out the real reasons. See my original post with the links.  I think my post said like 7% had religion as a primary reason and half of them were Islamic wars. Seems to me it is only echo chamber atheist propaganda that Christianity is responsible for so many wars.