This is demagoguery, basically. I like how you relate what took place in more barbaric times of the early centuries to what is now taking place in far more civilized 20th and 21st centuries.
I suspect that you believe that technological advancement and philosophical social experimentation is "civilized."
The accepted definition of civilized would be more advanced social; cultural and moral achievements. Another would be a polite or courteous society.
In ether definition, the mass murders and extirpations of the 20th and 21st Centuries would not generally be defined as "more civilized."
I will grant you that Christianity sinned greatly intheir treatment of the Jews, a total and grave matter. But Jews represented something unique to a Christian perspective where it was interpreted they were the enemy of the Christian faith which is horribly misplaced. Many theologians and even Pople John Paul II admitted and apologized for these travesties. Yes, I believe it was an abuse as great as the demonic abuses of a minority of clergy with minors. It cannot be glossed over. FYI, the Inquistion did not go after Jews, itwent after conversos, those Jews who claimed to be Christians for the sake of hiding behind it and in many cases causing turmoil within the faith itself. The Inquisition tried so-called Christians who were heretics, not those outside the faith.
FYI - the Christian persecutions of conversos was also demonic.
And, I didn't mention that particular horror, you did.
As you noted, Jews were indeed unique in that it was Christian doctrine that Jews killed their god and were therefore cursed as a race of deicides.
My response was not, indeed, to castigate modern believing Christians. My response was to your claim that, overall, Christianity was a force for good for the last 2,000 years.
My response was, simply, NO - not for Jews.
For Jews, it was a ruthless and demonic horror that was brutally visited on them by Christians all over planet Earth for most of the history of Christianity.
But to suggest that Christianity was some malevolent force that was a scourge on civilization is a total injustice. What Christianity did for Europe and the greater world, when measuring virtue vs. detriment, there is no comparison. Christianity civilzed cultures and nations and brought charity and education and goodness to a self-centered and avaricious mindset.
You are correct.
Except for Jews... and a few other persecuted sects that no longer exist because they were totally wiped out, such as the Pelagians or Albigensians.
I cannot take the time to address your other claims,such as this (dubious) 30 million dead number. Nor do I grant you that it was a Catholic Church movement behind any of that. By and large, these wars were fiefdoms and local princes waging wars against their neighbors. The fact they may have used religious claims as some justification was much more a tactic than a reason. The 30 Years War which was allegedly a Protestant vs. Catholic war was far more complicated than that description. As already noted, there were both religions on both sides of these battles.
I am not saying these were regrettable developments,but I saying it is not as one would wish were the case. And the fact these took place in more barbaric times of the 16th and 17th centuries when all forces were brutal towards their adversaries, it is unfair to make it appear as though it were only those of faith who acted in such a way back then.
Addendum: An article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times four days ago supports most of my contentions and refutes yours. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wilson-syria-iraq-thirty-years-war-20140817-story.html
The (16th century) wars that followed thatact were as much about power and economics, however, as about religion
This provides a major contrast with the present (Islamic) conflicts, which have used religion as a primary motivator
A second striking contrast between the European wars of old and today's conflicts is the virtual absence in the 17th centuryof "holy war" arguments
Thewar was still religious in the sense that it was interpreted by clergy of all hues as divine punishment for their congregation's sins. Instead of taking up arms against their neighbors, parishioners were urged to fight their inner demons, reforming their behavior to correspond to official ideals of piety and obedience.
I am not sure why you, or the author above, believe that power and economics are divorced from religion.
The entire history of the rise and supremacy of the Christian church in all of its various forms was about power and economics.
There is not enough room or time to educate you on that fact. I would suggest you do more research.
The prime Catholic power of Europe France, under Cardinal Richelieu, hired Protestant mercenaries to fight against the other prime Catholic power of Europe, the Hapsburgs.
"Bloody Mary," Mary I of England, was called that due to her relentless executions of Protestants.
Elizabeth I carried on these religious executions against Catholics.
The deaths from Catholic Spain's attempted invasion of Protestant England were over 25,000.
Cromwell's campaigns against Scotland and Ireland accounted for a few hundred thousand more deaths.
Wars between Orthodox Russia and Polish/Lithuanian Catholics ate a few more hundred thousand deaths...
From Ireland to Moscow and from Norway to Italy, Europe consumed itself in wars of religion for about 300 years, killing each other over whose Flavor of Christian god was the best.
The Thirty Years War alone ate about 8 million Europeans and - that number is as high as it is due to the fact that the majority of those casualties were civilians which, because of the vast devastation, were counted as casualties. This was not an ordinary historical practice.
And yes, ALL of these Christian wars were about power and economics.
What you fail to realize in your comparisons is that today's Great Arab/ Muslim Sectarian Civil War (similar to the Great Christian European Sectarian Civil War called the "Reformation") is also all about power and economics.
The recent million casualties in the Iran - Iraq war was fought by a secular Saddam Hussein and a newly invented heretic Shia cult, Vilayat al Fiqh, of Iran.
Every tinpot demagogue dictator from the Saudi Kingdom to the Hashemite Kings to Nasser to Qadafy to the Assads to Arafat the Rotting to Osama Who Sleeps with the Fishes to the despots of Hamas to al Sissi of Egypt to the Looney Tunes of ISIS were and are ALL striving for domination of power and economics.
It is your comparisons devoid of history to which I object.
The Great Jewish Sectarian Civil War (The Wars of the Jews) of 2,000 plus years ago decimated and obliterated the Kingdom of Israel.
The Great European Christian Sectarian Civil War decimated all of Europe and was fought all over planet Earth.
This current Great Muslim/ Arab Sectarian Civil War will ultimately kill billions and leave portions of the planet uninhabitable - unless they are stopped.