Quote:
Originally posted by Colin
Religion is societal glue. The jews survived a more than millenia long diaspora because of religion.
Religions which inspire violence or can be used to inspire violence have a chance to spread quickly. It's a self-promoting cycle. The religion inspires violence which spreads the religion which inspires violence and so on.
Consider the rapid spread of Islam under the Caliphates or the spread of Christianity under the Conquistadors. (Like you said).
Thought experiment:
Two small tribes live next to each other and are roughly the same in size. Both are religious. One of them is violent and the other is not. What will happen?
Eliminating religion won't eliminate violence though. Religion is just one of many unifying ideas which people use to form an "us" and a "them".
Once the Greek city-states fought each other. Later leagues of Greek city-states fought each other. Still later the Greeks fought the Persians. The Arabs fought the Christians. Communism squared off against Democracy. Democracy squares off against Dictatorships.
Round and round she goes. We're not getting off this ride.
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Religion is pain relief for existential angst.