Quote Originally Posted by BanginJimmy
Not a cop out at all. I wish I could get an accurate number for you, but the vatican hasnt released the numbers of people killed during the crusades, during the slaughtering of the Templar Knights, the Salem which trials, or the many conflicts in the middle east.

Just in the last 8 years the US has suffered nearly 8000 deaths in the name of religion.
I'd agree that religion was used as a tool for warfare. We've seen it since the beginning of civilized man. But let's be honest here, men (aka we) have used religion as the tool, not religion itself. We go to war professing that its a Holy War or it's a war to cleanse the world of the wicked... truth be told, its as much as us going to war claiming we're going to war against the threat of weapons of mass destruction... Til this day, I don't think they've found any nuclear or biological weapons in Iraq, but yet it was a legitimate excuse at the time. Men have used their personal agendas to push these wars but in the name of something else. ALL wars can pretty much be linked to a difference in belief systems... be it religion, democracy, or any other form of imperialism.