Why is religious history so violent?

[love]

Such as Charlemagne converting Europe to Christianity by the sword.

 

[Faraz]

what about the mongols who ravaged much of the then known world. they did not do it for religious reasons.

 

[Fly Killa B]

It is the history of humans and we are a violent people, regardless of our religious beliefs.

 

[PenHans]

Religion, land, resources, women (and i mean that in a way to criticize sexism), and control of an area, throughout history the rich have used these excuses to drum us the bovine masses into a patriotic frenzy in order to get more money and power. THAT IS WAR. History is violent because of the haves are bored and use the have-nots to amuse themselves.

 

[Patrick]

It's not just religious history, it's history in general. Typically the time periods in history that were the most noteworthy were times of great upheaval and change, which most frequently came about due to war.

 

[gumby]

History in general is violent.

BTW, I'm a direct descendant of Charlemagne.

 

[Eliaas2]

their is no empire which did not achieve its status without violence, and at one time was more of an empire than religion

 

[Leah]

Aren't you violent? dont you ever hate, curse, have mean thoughts?

 

[Hawk]

What about the current war . it will someday be written down as being extremely violent. even more than in the days of the Bible. The reason....more dangerous weapons. Violence has been here wether or not the Bible is mentioned.

 

[Mormonboy]

Because humans are violent. Take away religion, and we'd still kill each other.

 

[Patrick]

Probably because the lust for power is a very powerful one. People in all walks of life, influenced by thousands different ideologies (even secular ones, in many cases), have perpetuated acts of violence in the name of their particular beliefs. It probably has something to do with something that is innately part of human nature.

Of course, no ideology is wrong because people do violence or evil in its name. Keep that in mind, because it's very important.