Death toll throughout history: religion vs non-religion

[Conductor42]

I suspect that is true, but only because you are dealing with an empty set.

There have been a few governments which were highly successful and peaceful until they let their religious/anti-religous sentiments get in the way of their politics.

IIRC, there was an essentially libertarian society in Iceland that lasted for 300 years, until its conversion to Christianity.

Also - unless I have misunderstood things - Switzerland would be a good example of a country completely nuetral on the topic. Nobody has dared touch them for 200 years.

[jason]

There have been a few governments which were highly successful and peaceful until they let their religious/anti-religous sentiments get in the way of their politics.

IIRC, there was an essentially libertarian society in Iceland that lasted for 300 years, until its conversion to Christianity.

Also - unless I have misunderstood things - Switzerland would be a good example of a country completely nuetral on the topic. Nobody has dared touch them for 200 years.

Details, I suspect what you suggest is not really so except on a most cursory inspection.

Jason

[Maimonides]

I don't have my Bible with me, but wasn't it James who said that wars are caused by envy or greed? I think the religious aspect is an afterthought, a means by which those who are going to war attempt to justify their actions.

I agree. I think you're absolutely correct; unfortunately religion (and sometimes, irreligion), is used as a rallying-cry or banner to get people to do reprehensible and unethical things. Every war in history has some explicable cause rooted in a person or group seeking to advance their own interests. Unfortunately this leads to differences being noticed and hyped.

[Sir-Think-A-Lot]

IIRC, there was an essentially libertarian society in Iceland that lasted for 300 years, until its conversion to Christianity.

It didnt collapse because of their conversion to Christianity. But because the judges in the country started to hire out merceranies to enforce their decisions(rather than relying on societal pressure as had been the case before then). Eventually one family gained a monopoly on judgement and began to just enforce their own views.

On the main topic: Are we going to include religious people who killed people for expressly non-religious reasons? That would exclude the majority of wars throughout history....

[shunyadragon]

125,000,000 people died last century on the altar of secular utopian ideologies.

This division is not clear. Many of those who committed ethnic cleansing in Europe under supposed secular utopian ideologies did so with clearly religious motivations. In turn the secular ideologies used religious motivations to incite people with religious motivation to commit the acts.