Kagi for Kids

No single book has incited more violence throughout history

I don't know, there are books by an Austrian and a German both of which have sparked a large number of deaths.

More to the point though; when the violence is occurring the author's work is used as a justification. If not their work, someone else's would do.

I've gone back and forth dozens of times about how much religion is responsible for the awful stuff in history vs. just a bunch of selfish and/or very stupid people using it to justify what they wanted to do anyway.

It's easy to say "Deuteronomy says to murder all non believers!" and then point to an example of a Christian killing a Muslim (or something) and assume that that was their motivation, and maybe it was, but also maybe it was just a homicidal maniac who gravitated to this book specifically because they could use it to justify what they were going to do anyway.

It's really tough to say, and I'm not going to pretend I know the answer.

Suicide bombers (e.g. the 9/11 terrorists) might be an example in your favor though. You're probably not driving airplanes into buildings if you don't really believe in what you're doing.

I don't know. As I said, I've gone back and forth.

> when the violence is occurring the author's work is used as a justification. If not their work, someone else's would do

This statement falls on its face with any examination. You're implying the Bible is on the same level as, say, Catcher in the Rye. As in, a book that was used as an excuse to kill by an already deranged outlier.

The Bible was explicit law in the history of many countries. Non-practitioners were considered second class citizens. Entire economies were thrown into crusades to rape and pillage people specifically in the name of Christ. Generations of children were indoctrinated into believing this was okay. It's not remotely accurate to say "well if it wasn't this, it would be something else." This is a system, not an accident.

I have conversations to this day with relatives that the crusades were completely okay because it was in the name of God. This is not ancient history, this is what religion does. It's just uncomfortable to say out loud because then we'd be admitting that Christians are, mostly, okay with dehumanizing everyone else.

> The Bible was explicit law in the history of many countries.

Sources?

>The Bible was explicit law in the history of many countries. Non-practitioners were considered second class citizens.

This is true for not just Christianity but also Islam(see Suni/Shia split, treatment of Christians and Jews under Islamic rule) and Buddhists(Key quote from wiki: "However, Buddhists have historically used scriptures to justify violence or form exceptions to commit violence for various reasons." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_violence).

I would say that if you take "Catcher in the Rye" expand upon it you could get a following that reaches the same level as the Bible and have fanatics that will use it's message for justification for violence.

Look at the Hutu/Tutsi conflict, this is not based on religion but still has the same dehumanizing going on.

In the US, there have been several 'feuds' that have members of one family killing another over slights, the Hatfield-McCoy being the most famous.

All it takes is a slight difference to separate groups of people, for example going to a different school.

"The Carolina fans that week were carrying around a poster with the image of a tiger with a gamecock standing on top of it, holding the tiger's tail as if he was steering the tiger by the tail," Jay McCormick said. "Naturally, the Clemson guys didn't take too kindly to that, and on Wednesday and again on Thursday, there were sporadic fistfights involving brass knuckles and other objects and so forth, some of which resulted, according to the newspapers, in blood being spilled and persons having to seek medical assistance. After the game on Thursday, the Clemson guys frankly told the Carolina students that if you bring this poster, which is insulting to us, to the big parade on Friday, you're going to be in trouble. And naturally, of course, the Carolina students brought the poster to the parade. If you give someone an ultimatum and they are your rival, they're going to do exactly what you told them not to do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemson%E2%80%93South_Carolina...