Re:They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
by frenchyatwork on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @03:07PM
(#25129006)
> Europe was home to the most horrific religious violence in human history.
I'm not sure this is true. There has been a lot of horrific religious violence in human history, most of it hasn't been well documented.
Even if it is true, it's not a useful fact. Pre-enlightenment Europe had more religious violence than post-enlightenment Europe because all official violence in per-enlightenment Europe had to be religious. I'm not a historian, but I'm pretty sure post-enlightenment wars in Europe were significantly more violent than the per-enlightenment wars.
Europe was home to the most horrific religious violence in human history. From the pogrooms of the views to the spanish inquisition to the horrors of protestant and catholic rivalry. Even nazism drew upon centuries of european religious past.
> By having a notion of some god, and a cannon, you can have a list of ideas that everyone considers good, and it makes such demagoguery a little more difficult.
Actually it makes such demagoguery much easier as it makes it easier to demonize others - infidel, unbeliever, christ killers, apostate, etc. Religion does half the work for the demogogue.