Religion: force for peace

Firstly, Muslims and Christians had lived in peace before the time of these crusades. Christians would pilgrimage to the holy land and would be welcome by the Muslims as they where good for the economy. Before the time of the crusades, a tyrannical Muslim leader came to power and began killing pilgrims. He then banned Christians from pilgrimage to their holy land. This is what triggered the crusades. It was not necessarily the difference of religion, as this issue was present in theyears before. Any historic scholar will acknowledge that religious differences were not the main, or not the only, factor in the crusades. Evidence from, Crash Course-World history.Yes, it wasn't because of differences in religion but the reason for the crusades was religious; they wanted to be able to go back to the holy land. In fact here’s one of the criticisms from people of that day: The crusades sparked debate about the legitimacy of taking lands and possessions from pagans on purely religious grounds. That proves that the reason for the crusades was religious even if it wasn't about differences.But I don't recall ever hearing that a witch exists in the bible, nor does it condone killing them (to the best of my knowledge). Here's what the bible says: A. Under the Law (Old Testament), the punishment was death by stoning. Exodus22:18 Leviticus20:27 Deuteronomy13:5 B. Saul died because he participated in a séance (1 Samuel chapter 28), and the kingdom was taken from him (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). C. Those guilty of practicing witchcraft shall have no peace (2 Kings 9:22; Isaiah 57:20-21), and they shall not escape judgment (Malachi 3:5). D. Their souls shall be rejected by God.Leviticus 20:6 2 Kings 17:17 Isaiah 2:6 E. They shall be refused entrance into the kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21), and their end shall be the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8; 22:14-15).VI. Is it really that serious an offense? A. In scripture, witchcraft is paralleled to rebellion (disobedience) against God. 1 Samuel15:23 B. God says it is an abomination in His sight. Deuteronomy18:9-14 C. God says they "sold their souls" to the devil by their divination. 2 Kings17:17 D. It is not only spiritually defiling(Leviticus 19:31); but it has a bad influence on others as well (Nahum 3:4-7, 19). E. It greatly displeases and angers God. 2 Kings21:5-6 2 Chronicles33:6VII. Christians must separate themselves from black magic, and they must destroy all evidence of their formerinvolvement in the occult. So even back in the time of the bible it was against Gods law and punished by death. So yes, witches are or at least were a religious belief, because the Hebrews were "told" by God to kill them, and it's in the bible.It is hard to make statements, as we both have done, speaking about religion as a seperate force acting upon humans. But we mustn't forget that, should religion be false, it is part of who we are. Not one society is non-religious until the 20th century, and these are societies that have already reached the modern world and evolved equality. Also the officially non-religious societies are some of the worst to have inhabited this earth. All with godlike dictators. It seems to me that Religion is not just a choice or an idea; it’s an integral part of being Human. It seems that although our religion can cause friction with other religions, without it our own society would destroy itself. It would do this by extreme dictatorship, as there is no power above him and no church to guide him morally. Now, I do not believe this would happen in a modern democratic society, but we are just the tip of the iceburg of the human story.But there are also a large number of non-religious people who aren't "evil."In fact most atheists believe in the humanist philosophy.Sources: http://www.dianedew.com...http://en.wikipedia.org......http://en.wikipedia.org...