... the crusades were not religion based attacks (learned that in 10th grade history class)... they were power hungry nations looking for an excuse... using christianity as a front was a 'good' political move (*hey look - politicians still use religion for power and publicity*)
The Crusades were fought to reclaim the holy land from the Muslims (jeez... they've been fighting for quite some time). What made it instantly attractive to the "power hungry" was the Pope decreed since the Muslims were heathens in the eyes of God, it was not a sin to steal from them.
Using religion as BOTH the reason to claim land as well as the driving force for your armies to claim said land. Religion had a LOT to do with it, most people just fought to get gold and jewels (which that area had no lack of).
the salem witch trials were not about christianity... read "The Crucible" or any commentary on it... it was about jealousy, and once again... power and land (on a smaller scale)...
Still religion is a front for this. Unless you know other people who would burn a person alive for making "an unlawful covenant with the Devil".
systematic destruction of culure? do you mean immigration... or mebe... bigger nation beats smaller nation and takes it's stuff? the exploration and settlement of the america's had little to do with religion... it was about gold, merchantilism and finding new markets... it had nothing to do with indians who worshipped sun gods vs. white men who worshipped one god...
Every single time someone says that, I bring this up:
The Mayan culture, once a great and prosperous culture who were, for the time, extremely advanced are now gone. Only six written texts from this entire civilization exist. Why? Because in order for the priests to convert these "savages" to Christianity, their books (READ: HISTORY) were destroyed. This happened to many cultures. Their entire way of life was eradicated because the Pope (and we love this guy?!) said that God instructed the people to cleanse these "savages" and convert them to Christianity.
Once again, yes... gold, land, goodies. People were after that. The Church was after a bit more.
i don't even know where you are pulling this one from... how many verses in the New Testement call for genocide? uhm...0... "love your neighbor as yourself"... sound familiar? thats christianity...
Riddle me this: Why is it that Christians love to use the New Testament as a way around the rather "unsightly" things in the Bible. Flip a few pages back. To that part called the Old Testament. Read a few pages in there.
Didn't God kill the first born of the Egyptian people? Something about slavery and splitting a body of water in two...
muslims in general (i say in general because i don't want to draw absoulutes on muslims)... hate thier neighbor unless he prays on his mat facing Mecca at the right time of day... thats why we keep hearing about the mal-treatment of women, the bombings, the beheadings...
And Christians in general (ditto on the generalization) love their neighbor UNLESS they believe in a different religion. Hell, I think the "God Warrior" from whatever reality show kinda shows that. In the Christian mind, you are damned to Hell for all eternity unless you believe what they believe. There's no "Oh, that's cool... you're doing the Hindu thing" or whatever... it's "YER GOIN TO HAEIL!!!".
yes, christians have done evil things too - its the nature of man...
but one thing is for sure - i'd feel much safer in america next door to a christian than in arabia surrounded by people whose holy book tells them to persecute and hate me...
If you blame the "nature of man" on Christianity's errors, then you have to do the same with Islam's errors. If a person from that part of the world were brought up an athiest or agnostic, they'd bear no ill will towards someone because of what the Koran says. This is all religion, nothing more.