thWhen people say things like "More people have been killed in the name of Christianity...?

Question

Than from all the wars combined..."?

Am I just a dolt? I can point to some very, very bad things that have happened in the name of Christianity --- but a lot of people have died in wars. Am I missing something? It seems like a tiny fraction of people have been killed in the name of Christianity as opposed to 'all the wars combined'.

Am I missing something? If I am, could you please link me to a source (or tell me where I can find one) that backs up a claim like this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

That is a very common statement on this forum, but repeating it over and over won't make it fact.

The top numbers: World War II tops everything with 50 million, followed by the 40 million Mao killed, then Stalin's 20 million. Those three alone total 110 million and it's just the top three "body counts" in history. Not one of those wars was religious or "in the name of God."

The highest death toll from a religious war is the French Wars of Religion, Catholics versus Huguenots (aka French Calvinists). One source says 4 million died and another 14 million.

There is no agreement on how many died as a result of the Crusades. Estimates vary from tens of thousands to 1 million on each side.

Regardless of how you add it up, the statement is a provable lie.

Answer 2

I don't have the numbers handy but some purely Christian killing sprees are:
Salem Witch trials - a couple dozen or so but puritans killed a lot of people for lack of sufficient devotion to Christ

The Inquisition - Spain and France were ravaged by claims of witchcraft and thousands were killed

The Americas - "heathens" were slaughtered at will by the missionary armies of Spain. No idea how many died in the 14 and 1500's. convert or die - also nice that they burned all the Mayan texts cause they were written in "Satanic Symbols"

Crusades- We are still paying for the slaughter that the Christian armies committed in Jerusalem, thousands of Muslims and Arab Christians were cut down.

Beyond that I'm not sure you could ever say the numbers would catch up with the Holocaust but it's not small and has had lasting effects.

Answer 3

I think a more correct statement would be "more people have been killed in the name of religion........". There have been some downright evil, to put the term bluntly, popes throughout Christianity's earlier days, but those days have long passed. Really the points unprovable either way because tons of full on wars have taken place almost solely on the differences of religious views.

As far as my proof on the Popes and early Christianity goes here is my cited source:
The Heritage of Worlds Civilizations, Volume One : To 1650 AD 5th Edt. This is one of my Collegiate text books from the World Civilization II class I took in 2001. Read it and Learn of past inter-church bloodshed, times of dual Papalship, the council of Basel (1431-1449), and the council of Constance (1414-1417) when there were actually three different warring popes
The religious war end of my statement is obvious. You can read the same text book and see cross continent fighting throughout time, all in the name of whatever god they happen to align to.

Answer 4

I too would turn the statement more toward "religion" than Christianity, although as you say, a LOT of people have died as a direct result of a decision by a nominal Christian. If you take out those rulers, leaders, etc., who SAID they were Christian but could not be known by their fruits (i.e., "Depart from me, I never knew you"), then there's not a chance that one can place all those deaths at the feet of Christianity.

Answer 5

One could most likely find a "source" that will show anything their heart desires, as true, but.........
My point is I have read many things that are simply not true,
here and elsewhere.
Having read many of your posts, learning in the process that you are an avid reader, I believe you would agree.
The following are liberal estimates as to how many people died as a direct result of Adolf Hitler. 8,000,000 Jews
4,000,000 pols 80,000 Americans 2.5 million others.
Abortion 60,000

For the hateful remarks of some to be true the population of the world would have had to be nearly what it is now, during all the "Killing in the name of Christianity" that some will refer you to.

Answer 6

The "claim" is logically flawed.

People making that "claim" have a very, very shallow (if any) knowledge of history, and are comfortable blaming one single issue as the root or cause.

They can't point to anything other than "well, THEY said 'God is on our side' so therefore it must be in the name of Christianity".

I say "more people have been killed in the name of people taller than 42 inches than from all the wars combined".

Makes as much, if not more, sense.

Answer 7

There are no hard and fast maxims one can assess when discussing war. The closest one may come is assigning greed as the root cause of war. Only outrageous, out of control greed could cause one to value a human life so little as to justify its taking in the name of Nationalism, Patriotism, Imperialism, or, yes, even Christianity. These listed reasons may be cited, but the real cause is always greed.

All wars, in one way or another, have been fought in the name of greed.

Answer 8

It's more accurate to say that more people have been killed for a religion than for any other reason. Northern Ireland, the Crusades, the Inquisition, Israel and Palestine, 9/11, 7/7, and many more lend credence to this.

Answer 9

I don't find that statement accurate...
I would probably say something like more people have been killed in the name of Communism or socialist/ globalist agenda or politics.

One link / example is Mao Zedong (China)(10's of millions killed from this one man...and of course there are others who have done the same thing)(I actually read elsewhere that it was 100 million people)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong

Starving people to death (by evil leaders) is probably the most common way people have been killed on this planet if I had to guess...

Answer 10

I don't know who told you this (those exact words) but it can't possibly be true, we don't even know the exact number of wars that existed before christianity even begun. It was probably just an expression, meaning a lot of people died in the name of religion, period