Name Some Wars Caused By Religion! (beliefs)

[joeboonda]

Originally Posted by Mestemia

Some claim that Hitler was an atheist and point to his actions in criticizing atheism. However, this is nonsense! Hitler was born and bred a Catholic, he grew up in a religion and in a culture that was anti-semitic. He was motivated by a desire to purge the earth of the evil Jews and set out to 'cleanse' the world of Jews in his 'final solution'.. In Mein Kampf, he states, "Therefore, I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work." Again, in a Nazi Christmas celebration in 1926, Hitler stated: "Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews . . . The work that Christ started but could not finish, I--Adolf Hitler--will conclude." In a Reichstag speech in 1938, Hitler again confirmed the religious origins of his crusade, "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord's work." He was a Catholic until his death. Hitler discussed his Catholocism with many including Gerhard Engel, one of his generals, in 1941. He told Engle, "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so," he told . Hitler was nearly assassinated in Munich in November, 1939. His response: "Now I am completely content. The fact that I left the Burgerbraukeller earlier than usual is a corroboration of Providence's intention to let me reach my goal." The Pope also sent his special personal congratulations! Later the Pope was to publicly describe Hitler's opposition to Russia as a "high-minded gallantry in defense of the foundation of Christian culture." Several German bishops openly supported Hitler's invasion of Russia, calling it a "European crusade." Other religious victims of Hitler's wrath were in Yugoslavia, where Hitler installed a Croatian, Ante Pavelic, as his puppet, and Pavelic, a Catholic like Hitler, began extermination of the Serbs, who were Greek Orthodox.

"Hitler's Religion" from the book Lead Us Not Into Penn Station, by Anne Nicol Gaylor, 1983.

The same book I quoted from goes into great detail about why Hitler was NOT a christian but I don't feel like typing all that so believe what you will, even if you dismiss Hitler one cannot dismiss the 170 million killed by atheistic states.

[Mestemia]

Originally Posted by joeboonda

The same book I quoted from goes into great detail about why Hitler was NOT a christian but I don't feel like typing all that so believe what you will, even if you dismiss Hitler one cannot dismiss the 170 million killed by atheistic states.

And the same book I quoted from not only shows shows that Hitler was a Christian, but also references several other sources that show that Hitler was a Christian.

You are the one making assumptions here, not me.

[PureX]

Originally Posted by joeboonda

Yet millions died last century alone by godless atheistic and communist regimes...

Pogroms against religion can still be considered religiously inspired.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by PureX

Pogroms against religion can still be considered religiously inspired.

Very much so.

[Popeyesays]

World War Two was not really started by Germany and Hitler-it started in 1937 when japan invaded Manchuria.

That's in the true historical sense.

Germany's participation in the second world war actually began with the signing of the treaty which ended World War One. Now Hitloer is still a racist bigot with nationalistic overtones. The invasion of Poland was still performed on fabricated grounds. Hitler was a monster, but a self-made-not God-made sense.

Religion as a cause of wars, where religious powers provoke and initiate hostilities are not so common after the end of the Thirty Years War (1648). As a monstrosity the Thiry years War (1618-1648) is certainly in the running for first place.

Nationalism became the first place initiator of wars with the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.

Regards,
Scott

[Trey of Diamonds]

If you think about it, most wars are not caused by religion but by people using relgion as an excuse to go to war. Even the Crusades were not started because of religion and they were considered the most religious war ever.

[doppelgänger]

Religion (in many guises, i.e. nationalism) is what it takes to get large numbers of people to fight, kill and die. It is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for war.

[Trey of Diamonds]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

Religion (in many guises, i.e. nationalism) is what it takes to get large numbers of people to fight, kill and die. It is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for war.

I agree that religion can, and often is, a motivator for the soldier fighting the war but the soldiers don't start wars, leaders do. To look for the cause of wars you have to examine the motivation of the leaders involved. You will find that religion is more of a recruiting tool, motivator and justifier after the fact.

[wednesday]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

Religion (in many guises, i.e. nationalism) is what it takes to get large numbers of people to fight, kill and die. It is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for war.

I agree, but it makes me sick that this happens.

[rojse]

Originally Posted by Trey of Diamonds

If you think about it, most wars are not caused by religion but by people using relgion as an excuse to go to war. Even the Crusades were not started because of religion and they were considered the most religious war ever.

Whether it was the actual cause or not, it seems that you concede that people can use religion to convince others to leave all that they know and risk their lives to defend a patch of dirt that they have never seen before, and fight against people that they have not even met before.

I cannot think of many other ideas that can do that, apart from capitalism, communism, jingoism, and several ideals, such as slavery, and politics.