Does religion incite violence? Jihad, crusades, religious wars?

[hue]

Is it religion itself or the followers need to feel morally superior or what? Why do some that commit murder say that "God told them to"?
What's the link?
I know not all religions overtly incite violence, but what of SO MANY church killings?

[ck4829]

1. The link

Religion plus Spirituality, Tolerance, Inclusion, the want for Freedoms for everybody, and the knowledge that God loves everybody regardless of who they are or what they believe in is a very beautiful thing.

Religion plus Fear, Bigotry, Hatred, Intolerance, the want to reduce Freedoms, the Feeling that God does not accept or even hates certain groups of people, and mix a little Right Wing thinking in with it and you get one of the most ugly things that humanity has ever seen.

[ClassWarrior]

2. People need to feel morally superior.

And if they're not blaming God for what Satan makes them do, they'll find somebody else to blame. I think that some people are drawn to religion because they're emotionally desperate - an emotional desperation that can manifest itself in tragic ways.

NGU.

[rman]

3. not in and of itself,

But religion encourages groupthink and a "follow the leader" mentality. It's easier to get religious groups *as a group* ralied in support of violence against a percieved enemy, then it would be to get a group of random people to do the same. Of course politicians know this.

[hue]

4. Like a mob mentality?

But still there seem to be so many individuals that walk into churces and start firing too!

[rman]

13. "so many"? not as much as schools or post offices

I think there's much more violence committed by churches (or better: religious movements, where churches obviously have a role), then against people in churches. You don't hear very often about people "going postal" in a church.

[Mr_Spock]

5. It makes a good justification when you want to vanquish your enemy

It is always best if you have your supreme being leader supporting your efforts over your enemy. What could be a better justification? Since within the group, the support is very very strong - it's easy to miss the extreme irony and awful nature of the endevour. I'm not sure if religion incites more or less violence, but for the most part it doesn't seem to stop violence based of the "good news".

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. religion used as an excuse

Here's a classic example: President William McKinley justified the US takeover of the Phillipines by explaining that we went there to "Christianize" the inhabitants. No matter that many of the Filipinos had been Christian for hundreds of years.....

[hue]

7. Sitting in a congregation are you a sitting duck?

How many fruitcakes have "opened up" on a congregation?

[ecoalex]

10. Cult mentalities

All religions are cults. Some are dangerous, some not. Most do indoctrinate their's is the TRUE one, and the path to "heaven " is within their midst.

Religions are a scourge mostly, quashing an individual's greatest journey, the journey within one's self.

Religion is the oppposite of Spirituality , no matter how they try to spin it, religion is outward, spirituality inward, and promotes a loving relationship with self, many religion teach this is abhorrant, as it's all about "him " and " heaven ", the recipe for inner loneliness.

More people on this earth have been killed by religious discord than all from secular wars .

Religion is the scourge of mankind.

[Warpy]

8. Monotheism

always leads to conflict over which group of people owns the real god, and which group of people is guilty of blasphemy, apostasy, idolatry.

Add the need to increase the group's numbers through conversion and you have a recipe for endless conflict. Throw in the idea of martyrdom and you have a recipe for endless war with one's fellows.

Believers, it seems, are willing to sacrifice nearly anything but their faith in the unseen and unprovable, and they are extremely hard on anyone around them who doesn't share that faith.

They externalise all this conflict, and think the world would be a perfect place if only they could legislate their belief system as the only belief system and force everyone to agree. That would bring an end to intersectarian conflict. The power of law and official establishment is their aim.

And that, kiddies, is why wiser men inserted the antiestablishment clause into our Bill of Rights, and why we have to fight tooth and nail to keep it.

[Straight Shooter]

9. I think it has more to do with a captive audience and the shock effect.

People have also been known to open fire in restaurants and on playgrounds.

People say "God told me to" at all levels. Remember that God "told" bush to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately God never "told" bush that Iraq didn't have WMD, or that it wouldn't be a "cakewalk." Or maybe bush wasn't listening, because it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

[mmonk]

11. Religion is used

to dehumanize the opponents of those that use religion as a propaganda weapon. I can assure you that many people in this country are undisturbed about the US torture policies, removal of due process in arrests and bombing campaigns as a result of this type of dehumanization.

[gizmo1979]

12. Of course it does

There are more people killed in the name of god then all the other reasons combined.Think about all the wars that are fought and been fought over religon.Since the beginning of time.

[ClassWarrior]

14. But again, do you believe religion causes emotional instability?

Or are emotionally unstable people drawn to religion as an answer to their demons?

Which way does the causality flow?

NGU.

[hue]

15. My question--which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Perhaps religion reinforces the immature mind/personality.
Yet society should recognize the religious factor when so much violence is associated with religion. Yes I mean wars, jihads, crusades, and other violence related to someone's god.

[ClassWarrior]

16. Yet society should recognize the human factor when so much violence is...

...associated with humanity. I agree that religion's been known to tip unstable individuals over the edge. But then again so has greed, poverty, and broken hearts. That doesn't mean that all lovers or all wage-earners are culpable for those evils.

NGU.