Published on July 10, 2024, 12:49 am

In recent years, a statement that often reverberates between college graduates is that “More people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause.” Many genuinely believe this assertion to be accurate, stemming from their understanding of historical religious conflicts. However, it’s imperative to scrutinize every word before cementing such beliefs.

When the phrase “God” is rendered in this argument, it is generally assumed to denote the God of Bible- implying Christians as the large-scale perpetrators. This notion, upon critical analysis from a trusted news source founded on Christian worldview and historic events, appears far from accurate.

Indeed, there have been instances where those professing faith in Christ were responsible for bloodshed – but these were more exceptions rather than the norm. Jews were slain by medieval Christians during crusades and millions of indigenous peoples lost their lives due to European expansion into America under puritanical banners – although facts indicate most fatalities were due to diseases rather than violence.

Unfortunate episodes like the Thirty Years’ War also showcased inter-Christian rivalry where differences in theological interpretations led to approximately 5-8 million deaths. While these events cannot be overlooked or denied, they are isolated incidents contrary to widespread peace teachings of Christianity.

Moreover, during arguably the most infamous period of church-endorsed persecution – the Inquisition – historians agree on a death toll not exceeding 5,000 individuals. Immense as these numbers sound within our contemporary context, they fade when compared with far more devastating disasters inflicted by human cruelty throughout history.

The death toll caused by Christian actions across two millennia are considerably lower than losses inflicted only within mere centuries by different societies operating outside ‘in-the-name-of-God’ defenses. Two prime examples would be Mongol invasions of Europe and China in the thirteenth century amassing an astonishing figure between 40 to 60 million deaths respectively.

Also worth noting is a similar scale of destruction laid by an expansionist Islam from the seventh century onwards. For example, Muslim rule in India alone resulted in the massacre of approximately 100 million Hindus over several centuries – a horrifying statistic often overlooked due to fears of planting seeds for civil unrest.

Another perspective-adds yet another twist to this complex narrative. While crimes committed ‘in the name of God’ cannot be denied, there exists an even more potent driving force behind human atrocities: the pursuit of “equality.”

Communist regimes advocating this premise- under Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and other autocrats- have ended up killing more than 100 million civilians and enslaving billions resulting in unspeakable horrors through their quest for “egalitarianism.”

Therefore, while mankind’s track of violence in the name of God is unwarranted and disheartening, it is essential to debunk widespread misconceptions by presenting real news based on objective historical facts. Emphasizing that humanity’s most ruinous events have been orchestrated not necessarily under spiritual auspices but often through intellectual ideologies such as “equality” may allow us a better understanding of our violent past. While arguments may pose equality as a monster or liberation depending on interpretation, exploring such nuances would lead us into another discourse altogether.