Religion is the cause of war: Christianity

@LadyGrace
The statement "Religion is the cause of war" has been bandied around like the gospel truth. Let's examine it.

The Crusades were a series of religious wars - against Muslims - initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. This is probably where the notion comes from.

Christianity (Catholicism) became the official religion of the Roman Empire, a theocracy. The Pope held more power than kings that ruled the countries of Europe. The Holy Roman Empire, that lasted almost 1000 years, disintegrated, leaving the Pope in control of 121 acres of land in Rome known as the Vatican.

Europe, a land civilized by Christianity, has never been peaceful. It's warlike people exported violence beyond its borders in efforts to colonize and conquer the world. The US and NATO allies have given notice to Russia and China that they must submit to the rules-based order of the west or face nuclear war.

I don't think that religion causes war. Apparently, Christianity does. Perhaps, Christianity is not a religion. It poses as one.

@sree251
And there we finally have your agenda against Christianity... even though you denied it. Someone who claims to be a Christian, yet blames Christians for causing war. 🙄

The Crusades were organized by western European Christians after centuries of Muslim WARS of expansion. This is the reason for the crusades. Their primary objectives were to stop the expansion of Muslim states, to reclaim for Christianity the Holy Land in the Middle East, and to recapture territories that had formerly been Christian. Muslims we're trying to take over and drive out God's laws.

The result was, the Roman Catholic Church experienced an increase in wealth, and the power of the Pope was elevated during the Crusades.

@LadyGrace
I am not against anything. This thread is an inquiry. I have traced the wars to Europe, the home of western culture shaped by Christianity. Jesus' teaching of love has never took hold in the west.

Even now, amidst student protests against killing in Gaza, Congress has doubled down to crush the protests by passing law to criminalize speaking up against the venting of rage.

@sree251 In this day and age, it's pretty obvious that Jesus' teachings of love have died in the hearts of many in this whole world. That's not because of religion. That's actually a sinful condition of the hearts of people. As prophesied in the bible, their hearts have turned cold and that's why we're seeing all the wars and rumors of wars, which brings judgment upon this earth. The Bible says all have turned against Christ and his teachings. All have gone astray, and morals, right down the drain. A sinful generation that refuses to repent and turn to God. Thus, the judgments that some have brought on themselves. And God gave them plenty of time to repent, just like in the days of Noah, but they refuse and so they will face the judgment.

@LadyGrace
I don't think Jesus' teaching of love was ever understood. Life in this world is a frightening experience. There is constant toil and never enough money to live on. We don't cooperate to meet common need for food, clothing, and shelter in the elimination of poverty worldwide. You would think that the west would have done that with the benefit of Christian civilization that brought about the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution. The acquisition of superior technology was used to subjugate and colonize weaker cultures around the world to exploit their natural resources. What we have today is a powerful western bloc of Christian nations set on crushing any challenge to their hegemony.

We live on a beautiful planet. Beautiful mother nature provides. We would turn this wonderful paradise into a living hell.

@sree251 I still think we can't blame that strictly on Christians. Like I say it's a world responsibility, everyone included needs to work towards these goals you spoke of. Yes it's very sad what some have done to this world. It is beautiful and man sure seems to have a knack for destroying things. History proves it.

@LadyGrace
I do blame us Americans. Our blessed country, founded by Christians, is literally Heaven on Earth. The gorgeous Hudson River Valley is typical of America's natural beauty that inspired the transcendental movement. This is what spirituality is about. It is a living state of divinity. The earth is rich and our farms could grow everything for ourselves and the hungry of the world. And what did we do? We built the most powerful military mankind has ever known to terrorize and kill millions of people in impoverished Southeast Asia and the Middle-East.

We westerners, who were barbarians, were civilized by Christianity that gave us great art, literature, and science. How much more blessed can we get? Why didn't we share that blessing with our poor neighbors in Mexico, Central and South America? We could have done what China is doing: implement our own Belt and Road initiative and extend our road and rail infrastructure from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to Mexico, thru Panama, and all the way down to Chile and Argentina. Cost of all our wars till today since Korea is $9.5 trillion. If this money was spent to uplift the lives of those less blessed than us, we would not have to deal with migrants flooding in now.