(May 18, 2012 at 5:20 pm)Annik Wrote:(May 18, 2012 at 5:16 pm)Polaris Wrote: Even when you factor the Crusades, the death toll due to religious conflict is still minimal when compared to societies that tried to succeed without it. Religion has been a great tool for keeping societies together, but maybe now in the 21st century (definitely not the 20th) we can have societies that don't need that crutch to survive.
Religion has been a great tool for oppression. Religion was not only the backer for the Crusades, but the horrors of the Dark Ages, the Witch Trials... And these are just some of the Christian ones.
Actually the Dark Ages was a time when organized religion took a back seat. The end of the Dark Ages coincided with the increase in the power of the Church and it's domination in European politics.
Salem Witch Trials? More people were just found dead along a highway in Mexico.
Religion has not been the factor except perhaps a little in Israel (mostly due to illegal land seizures in 1948). Economic stress and Western intervention are the cause of that strife.
