The Bible Provocateur

The "Accusation:" Religion Is The Cause of Disunity, All Wars, & Death

• The Bible Provocateur • Season 1 • Episode 22

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This is part 4 of my response to a quote from the actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, who had the following to say with regard to religion, and I quote:

“I don’t believe in religion. I believe in spirituality. Religion is the cause of all the problems in the world. I don’t believe in organized religion at all. It’s what separates people. One religion just represents fragments, it causes war. More people have died because of religious conflict than any other reason."

My response might surprise some of you!

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Part IV, ONE RELIGION FRAGMENTS PEOPLE & CAUSES WAR



INTRODUCTION:

The actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, had the following to say with regard to religion, and I quote:


“I don’t believe in religion. I believe in spirituality. Religion is the cause of all the problems in the world. I don’t believe in organized religion at all. It’s what separates people. One religion just represents fragments, it causes war. More people have died because of religious conflict than any other reason.


FRAGMENTER-IN-CHIEF



Matthew 10:34–39 (KJV 1900)

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.


Luke 12:51–53 (KJV 1900)

51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.


Deuteronomy 32:39 (KJV 1900)

39See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.


1 Samuel 2:6 (KJV 1900)

6The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.


1 Samuel 2:10 (KJV 1900)

10The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; And he shall give strength unto his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed.


There are 18 major religions in the world:



How many deaths have been caused by religion? Here's a list of religiously motivated wars and genocides and their death tolls:


  • The Crusades: 6,000,000
  • Thirty Years War: 11,500,000
  • French Wars of Religion: 4,000,000
  • Second Sudanese Civil War: 2,000,000
  • Lebanese Civil War: 250,000
  • Muslim Conquests of India: 80,000,000
  • Congolese Genocide (King Leopold II): 13,000,000
  • Armenian Genocide: 1,500,000
  • Rwandan Genocide: 800,000
  • Eighty Years' War: 1,000,000
  • Nigerian Civil War: 1,000,000
  • Great Peasants' Revolt: 250,000
  • First Sudanese Civil War: 1,000,000
  • Jewish Diaspora (Not Including the Holocaust): 1,000,000
  • The Holocaust (Jewish and Homosexual Deaths): 6,500,000
  • Islamic Terrorism Since 2000: 150,000
  • Iraq War: 500,000
  • US Western Expansion (Justified by "Manifest Destiny"):20,000,000
  • Atlantic Slave Trade (Justified by Christianity): 14,000,000
  • Aztec Human Sacrifice: 80,000
  • AIDS deaths in Africa largely due to opposition to condoms: 30,000,000
  • Spanish Inquisition: 5,000
  • TOTAL: 195,035,000 deaths in the name of religion.