| Actually, violence and religion do sometimes equate. That is a matter of circumstance. However, in a religiously saturated culture, religious rationales will be sought for activities motivated by a normal range of human desires, like greed, power lust, and social competition, and it is wrong to mistake such use of religious speech and symbols as meaning that the activity is either motivated, or actually sanctioned, by the religion. In the Crusades, religious conviction was one motive among many. (Besides, the Crusades were justified, in principle, for they were helping the Byzantine Empire against predators). In general, one should look at what is most representative of the tenor of religious teaching, not at what is least representative. St. Francis exemplifies some actual Christian ideals, Cortez was an adventurer with a streak of piety. |
