How have Christians through the ages used warfare to maintain the primacy of their religion?

Answer 1

HOW??? "BELIEVE OR DIE" comes to mind. From Wikipedia...

"The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character waged by Christians from 1095-1291, usually sanctioned by the Pope in the name of Christendom,[1] with the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the sacred "Holy Land" from Muslim rule and originally launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia..."

Read the rest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades

Answer 2

for sure, but you don't need warfare to maintain the primacy of a religion if you have a good public relations system in place. In much of Europe, warfare was not necessary, because Christianity spread with the Roman Empire. The Romans had made much of the necessary warfare against the pagans in France, Germany and Central Europe hundreds of years before the Holy Roman Empire started to send emissaries to convert local princes. In fact once it became "politically expedient" to be Christian, local wars would often be fought over the question of belief, as a cover for quelling a political rebellion.
The "primacy" of a religion, when it gets mixed up with questions of politics, and serious power, is never just a question of belief any more. It becomes part of the questions of economics, and military allegiances, and natural resources.
For example, Richard the Lionhearted was primarily a secular warrior, a great athlete and a poet, and by the end of his campaign against Salah A- Din on the outskirts of Jerusalem, he had already become personally close with his opponent, and they had established a mutual respect. For Richard the campaign was successful because of his great victories in Acre and Gaza, even though he did not capture Jerusalem.

Answer 3

Why single out Christians? All through the Bible the Jews fought other tribes simply because they weren't Jews and the Muslims have done the same. India over the centuries has had many wars between and because of the various religions in their country. There have been more wars fought and more people killed in the name of "Religion" (just about any religion you want to name) than for any other reason.

Answer 4

Some would argue yes, taking into consideration the Catholics. Consider the infamous "Bloody Mary": she was a Catholic and had people slaughtered that were Protestants. There were also Crusades back in the 9-11th centuries. However, those crusades should not be considered "Christian" as in true biblical Christianity. Check this website out concerning those crusades:

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-crusades.html

However, true biblical Christianity does not go out into the world and shed blood for the sake of religion or of God for that matter. God does not call us Christians to go slaughter people unless they believe in and live for Him. I'm a Christian myself, and He tells me to the best of my ability to "live peacably with all men," not disregarding the fact that He also calls me to be salt and light. If you have any questions concerning what I just said, just e-mail or IM me. Take care.

Answer 5

The French Crusades marched all over the place wiping out Muslims.

Answer 6

The same way other majority religions did.

I would google "Christianization" and also "The Crusades"

Answer 7

mainly by killing anyone and everyone that wasn't Christian and wouldn't convert. during the Crusades, they even killed people that were Christian, but didn't dress like one. they kept their native dress even after they converted.

Answer 8

Nope...