How can people say religion is not the cause of all war and prejudice, but the extremists are?

Question

Are they not putting the cart before the horse given there would be no religious extremists if there were no religion?

If you find it necessary to point out that extremists emerge in many realms of society please try and stick to topic and answer the actual question.

Answer 1

Extremists is not exclusive to religion.  Extremeness is not exclusive to war.  This current war cannot be set as the standard for every war in history.

Answer 2

I would refer you to war time history and that of Joseph Stalin, The communist gulags, Adolph Hitler, Carl Marx  and communist China with their very poor human rights record, poor environment record and their anti religion stance.. And see if after examining all that you still want to ask that question...  

Answer 3

Religion never caused anything.  It is the people that practice it that do.  If there were no religion, humans would find some other reason to dominate or destroy each other.  The old USSR was an atheistic society that made war simply for the state.

Answer 4

Emotion, politics, media and other things cause war.

Answer 5

The Jesus is peace and such and the like

Answer 6

It isn't just extremists. Example: I HAD to to a christening. About 50 babies were being baptized at the same time. ( it was a zoo ) All the good christian parents were pushing other people out of the way and yelling at them so they could get closer to the babies who were being christened. I must say I was quite amused. ( i'm just showing you where it begins )

Answer 7

Not all wars have been based on religious grounds.

Most are ultimately due to political and economical reasons these days.

Answer 8

Because it is NOT the cause of *ALL* war and prejudice. WWI and WWII were the result of ideological clashes and the remnants of an age old power struggle in Europe.

Prejudice has been with us ever since the dawn of man. Racism has nothing to do with religion, but it is one of the most enduring forms of prejudices in the world.

EDIT: Simply put, it is human nature that is the cause of ALL prejudice and war. Whether this human nature takes economic, ideological or religious "forms" is inconsequential. If you want to stop all wars and prejudices you need to either exterminate the human race or speed up our evolution to outgrow this violent phase.

Answer 9

Extremists have an inherent quality of going to extremes. If religion was not present, probably these extremists would turn to other sectors to pursue their extremism.

Answer 10

Religious warfare is the result of ignorance, not religion.

Answer 11

im not saying religion never causes  trouble, but the reason for all war is monet and the reason for prejudice is stupidity

Answer 12

Religion breeds mindless obedience to "authority," which often includes political "leaders."  Without that kind of intellectual slavery, I doubt that many people would kill other humans just because someone else told them to.

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Answer 13

Religion is just one of many tools that extremists pervert to their cause.  It can be religious, political, etc.

Compare Arab extremists with american gangsters, italian mafia, or columbian drug cartels.

Answer 14

I think the idea is that since some people manage to be religious without war and prejudice, war and prejudice is not an inherent part of religion.

Answer 15

Religion can not cause a war.

Only people can cause a war.