why do people say that more people have died in the name of religion?

Question

when factually more people have died at the hands of atheists. hitler,stalin,idi amin, etc. the lists goes on

Answer 1

Both sides of the argument are incorrect.

While there are many who profess to being atheists who have also killed a lot of fellow human beings, they were not killing those people in the name of atheism.

And while there have also been many millions killed by leaders who claim to be following one or another religion, the actual reasons behind the killings are usually much more earthbound and irrational than religious belief.

Greed, xenophobia, and lust for power are the primary motives all of these people actually did their killings. Whatever religious beliefs they may or may not have had are purely secondary considerations.

Answer 2

Hitler was not an atheist. These men have not even come close to killing as many people as religion has. If you think back, almost every war that ever occurred had some religous motive. Even the current war on "terror" (if you can call it that) is about religion. there have been thousands of wars fought throuout history and about 75% were over religious differences.

Answer 3

Hitler was Catholic.

Killing and killing in the name of your religion are quite different. There has not been many rulers who have killed in the name of Atheism. If you count atheist murders, you would have to count all religious murders, and since the beginning of society, a large portion of the population has always been religious, so the number would be astronomical. You would also have to count any ruler who took over another country, not because of religion, but if they had a religion, by your logic, they would have to be counted.

Either way you look at it, religion has been responsible for a number of deaths so great it is not even comparable to that of non-believers.

Answer 4

Because the crusades, The Spanish Inquisistion the conquest of the Incas and Aztecs all used the excuse of reilgion to destroy lives. Even though the real reason was power and greed. It was the religion that galvanized and in the minds of the conquerers justified the killings.

Answer 5

Those people only came about in the past roughly hundred years or so. Religion has been causing wars since the beginning of civilization. So if you were to add up all the numbers both PAST as well as present I think you'd find religion coming out on top.

Answer 6

Uh, there's a difference.

Do you know what killing "in the name of" something means? That means that the something is the reason for killing someone.

More people have killed each other BECAUSE of disparity in religious beliefs than for any other reason. How many atheists can you name who started wars with a group of people BECAUSE they aren't atheist? Not one. Stalin etc. killed for POWER--they didn't give a damn who or what their victims prayed to! Why would they? Also, Karl Marx, Mr. Communism himself, was in favor of religious freedom. Communism is NOT equal to atheism.

P.S. Hitler was a Roman Catholic (http://www.nobeliefs.com/speeches.htm); naming him for your 'cause' is just another example of you shooting your argument in the foot.

P.P.S. I think even if you counted those people, crusades and other fundamentally religious conflicts still killed more people.

Answer 7

Hitler was Christian,Stalin was an athiest.No offense to Christianity,I just want information to be clear.

People know how to die for their religion,they do it every day,but they do not know how to live for their religion,our human life is something special,its rare to be born human,our human life was meant for understanding our relationship with god and achieving a god conscious brain,so do people do this when they kill another person?Do they do it when they kill someone because they do not follow a certain religion?Are they really achieving god when they do these things?What about when the major religions frantically talk about how their doomsday prophecy is better and how their form of god will come and kill everyone and burn them in hell,are people learning how to achieve god by doing this?Obviosly not.

They should stop wasting away their life,and seek true meaning,instead of wishing for some doomsday massacre,instead of praying for an enemy to go to hell,instead of blowing themself up or murdering someone or threatening someone to convert.

Answer 8

it would desire to come as a ask your self to 3, yet conflict is unquestionably, as Clauswitz placed it, "politics through different means". maximum wars are fought for geopolitical or financial motives, no longer religious. in accordance to Encyclopedia of Wars through Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod, there have been 1783 wars for the duration of recorded historic past. of those, in basic terms 123 have been fought for religious motives. So, faith has in basic terms been the reason for approximately 7% of wars, no longer “maximum” or “all” as some have stated.

Answer 9

Hitler was a Catholic. You know where he got his ideas from? The Inquisition. It was practiced right up to the 20th century in Italy, rounding up Jews and forcing them into locked ghettos..

The others did not kill in the name of Atheism.

Answer 10

the fact that those guys you listed are athesits doesn't really mean much of anything.. :)

there are a lot more people who died like in the spanish requstion.. the wars over the holy grail..

arugements over relgion..