“The 20th century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history: that the greatest intolerance and violence of that century were practiced by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence.”
~Alister McGrath in The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World p. 230.
If you read some bloggers and their comments, you might begin to think that religions are the sole cause of war. Miec Pearse, in The Gods of War addresses this issue thoroughly and intelligently. I don’t know that I’ve ever read one more acquainted with world history than Pearse. He begins chapter three with these words:
Although much of the history of Christian churches is disgraceful in that their creeds have been stained by bloodshed and spread by violence, the churches did not begin that way. For the first three centuries of its life, the faith of the Prince of Peace was spread entirely by pacific means, usually in the face of violent persecution.
~Meic Pearse in The Gods of War, Intervarsity Press, 2007. p. 58.
Get the book and take a read. You’ll find it refreshingly enlightening — especially if you’ve spent any time reading some of the anti-religious web sites or watching some of the pop-corn cable news.