Have you ever heard this? “Religion is the cause of more problems and wars than anything else.” The response: “You’re right, religion IS the cause of many wars and conflicts.”

• The Thirty Years’ War is a series of religious wars that were fought in between 1618 to 1648 in Europe, and at that time, most of the European countries participated in these wars. This period of wars is the longest and most demolishing period of fighting in the history of the world that left more than 800,000 dead, including soldiers and civilians. These short period wars were also fought between the religious conflicts in between the Holy Roman Empire and France, Sweden and Spain.
• The Crusades is just a title for the multiple religious wars and fights that were fought between the Muslims and Christians due to the religious disputes and controls over land in the Jerusalem. The first war started in 1095 and lasted until 1096, whereas the second war began in 1097 and continued until 1127. Many other wars took place that weren’t mentioned here, but they all stopped in 1303, when, in addition to the many soldiers lost in battle, more than half a million civilians shed blood in the fight. At that time, the control of the land was given to the Christians.
• There was the horror of the Inquisition, with so-called heretics burned at the stake and Jews expelled from Spain.
• There was the horrible terror and killing in Northern Ireland.
• September 11, 2001…which was hate smothered with perverted religion.
• Look at the Middle East today.
• Look at the WORLD today.

Jesus never taught this. He says to love and forgive your enemies. There has been some bad stuff in religion, but Jesus would never call on Christians to force other people to believe in Him and His word. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches that. That is man-made religion–not Jesus. Yes, a lot of religion stinks. It’s caused tons of unnecessary problems, but Jesus is the One you want to look to. Unlike misguided religion, what He teaches is always good.

 

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