So the Pope is a marxist.... (wait for it)

[kandrathe]

... one could make a definitive argument that the Crusades, were in fact, the very epitome of many of the aforementioned atrocities. ...

Pope Urban II urged people to wrest the Holy Land from "that wicked race", but he didn't pay for or field any armies. The ones that weren't slaughtered outright were led by various nobility. Complicit, yes. Are you also counting the atrocities committed by the Muslims on the Europeans?

Isn't necessarily true either. Christianity has it's fair share of wars fought in it's name, Their God, even more wars fought in his name. Then you have the terrorism, murders, violence, that range from the Crusades, to Modern Extremist Terrorism, Ireland/England, The Abortion clinic/dr murders, racism, slavery, and on and on, that have all been done either "In God's Name", or "because the word of God says so", or "because the word of god claims it right and just".

It is people with bad wiring who do this, perhaps inspired by some hate monger, or a twisted understanding of Christianity (or other life philosophy).

While I would 100% agree that Religion, and Sectarianism only further serve to divide humanity, I don't believe that it has done much to pacify anyone. Not when, in the 21st century, we still have -- pastors that would advocate high voltage fenced death camps for those who live a life they don't agree with, pastors advocating violence towards your gay child, pastor's who thought they could rape the gay away.

Humanity is pre-disposed to be divided. We are tribal, and suspicious of outsiders. I'd say it is probably an evolved innate behavior. Biologically, outsiders bring new diseases, and spread infestations. But, see also my previous point about bad wiring -- there is no "test" to ensure the word Pastor means anything more than that they've (possibly) been ordained by their particular often twisted fundamentalist denomination. Some anecdotes of idiots do not convict the millions.

I could go on, but really, that's just piling on for the sake of making them look bad. If I were going to do that, I'd feel the need to start going through each denomination, and then each Abrahamic religion sect in the US, and showing the ugly side of all of them, and I'm just not looking to bash religion, just make the point that they aren't doing a good job of teaching pacification.

They are all sinners, right? But, your issues with religion are based on your {bad} experiences.