Stephen Crosby comments

Stephen Crosby

When discussing religion, it's common for the phrase 'religion has caused so many wars and deaths' to come up in the conversation. This is aimed primarily at Christianity because of popular misconceptions concerning the Crusades. The problem is, it is a factually baseless and persistent myth.

The 20th century (1900-2000) was by far the bloodiest century in all of recorded history. It has been called the 'Genocidal Century'. Historians refer to this aspect of this period as a 'Hemoclysm' ('blood flow'). By taking a look at the lives taken during the 20th century we can get a more accurate picture of the true motivations for the killing of other human beings. The 20th century has seen 180,000,000 people murdered. Here is a summary of just the top five 'killers' of the 20th century which account for 150,000,00 of those deaths.

1) World War I, 15 million (Geopolitical)
2) Russian Civil War, 9 million (Lenin: 4 million) (political)
3) Stalin's purges, 25 million (consolidation of political power)
4) World War II, 50 million (Geopolitical)
5) Mao Zedong (Cultural Revolution in China), 50 million.

These are ONLY the top five 20th century totals, caused by atheists and for geopolitical secular reasons. Lets add in some others:

Mongol Conquests: 35-40,000,000 deaths
African Slave trade: 20,000,000 deaths
Taiping Rebellion: 20,000,000 deaths

Now, let's take a look at deaths caused by religion. The first thing you will notice is how far back you have to go to hit some significant numbers:

All Crusades (both sides, Christian and Muslim) 900,000-1,000,000 deaths
The Inquisition: 250-350,000 deaths
Salem Witch Trials: 19 deaths
30 Years War - 7,000,000 (arguably geopolitical reasons, with religious undertones)

Deaths due to 'religion': approx. 1.3 million (8.3 million if you count the 30 Years War)

While any death of a human being in the name of Christ or religion is a moral travesty, the popular notion that 'more people have been killed in the name of religion . . .' is pure nonsense. Deaths due to 'religious reasons' are less than 1% (5.5% if including the 30 Years War) of the top five secular or atheists murderers of the 20th century. The 20th century secularists and atheists make everyone else look like amateurs in the war and death department.

So the next time you are in a conversation and this tired cliché is brought out, respond with some facts. A lie, if repeated often enough, becomes truth in the minds of hearers.

I am indebted to William Suttles, Ph.D., Raleigh, NC, for source data.