Christianity has been used more for evil than good

He argued that, "many biblical verses will not have relevance in this debate because of differences in interpretation. " This makes no sense, though. Because Bible verses can and have been interpreted in different ways people have and still do use these interpretations to support their own goals. It is common knowledge that crusaders thought that death in a holy war led to heaven and also that anyone who did not believe in their own God must be killed. (see above for Bible verses). The fact that one can interpret those Bible verses and the fact that people have interpreted them literally means that it has had a real affect on people. That affect led to seven crusades. My opponent has also argued that atheists have committed genocide. Yes, it is true that one does not need Christianity or any religion to commit horrible crimes, but this has nothing to do with the debate. The fact is that the Bible, and therefore Christianity, HAS been used to inspire people to wage war. Yes, some people in history just said "I want that land so let"s kill everyone and take it," but many have concealed their own desires by saying that anyone against the "soldiers of the cross" as crusaders were called, must die. This is a very clear example of someone (the popes) using Christianity to gain land and spread their faith. This led to millions of deaths, rapes, ect. Salem Witch Trials He says that my Bible quotes are useless because most people do not take the bible literally, but some have and do. And when they do, bad things happen. Puritanism, a group of Christians who thought that the only way to eradicate sins in colonial America was to purge their sins through pain and embarrassment. They believed that the devil would tempt sinners and that God would punish the entire community for only a few sinful people. In less than two years it led to over 200 imprisonments for people who were accused of being witches or involved in witchcraft or sorcery. Obviously we know there is no such thing today, but they took the Bible to be very literal, so when they read Exodus 22:18, "You shall not permit a sorceress to live," their INTERPRETATION of those verses led to 27 murders. 26 were hanged and one man was crushed to death by a pile of boulders when he refused to admit he was a witch. Sadly, that interpretation allowed them to be fooled by a group of pre-teen school girls pulling off a hoax. One interpretation, 27 deaths. but my opponent says interpretations do not matter. I think many would disagree. In fact, that led to many leaving the harsh ways of Puritanism. The Inquisition When a person thinks of the inquisition, they often think of the Spanish, but the Spanish were merely the worst of the group. In fact, all around Europe (excepting England and Scandinavia) the inquisition was an integral part of the Christian faith. These Christians were attempting to use torture to convert Jews and Islamics as well as murder blasphemers. These are tortures and murders that were ONLY employed for religious purposes. Now I"m not going to get into a debate about the numbers who were tortured and killed so I will cite a reference from a Catholic Education source that claims in the 350 years the inquisitions took place, "Only 3,500-5,000" deaths occurred. Yea, it"s only at least the number of people killed in the WTC on 9/11. What"s the big deal anyway? The fact is, Christianity has tortured and killed entirely too many people. People have been killed for many reasons, but when it comes to killing over religion no atheists kill because of anyone"s god. They may kill for political reasons, but as far as who"s invisible friend is real atheists don"t care much. Closing statements My opponent has already admitted that Christianity was a "side note," for the men who wanted to commit genocides and wage war. I agree full heartedly, but it was, in fact, Christianity that allowed them to do this. I am not saying they wouldn"t have found another way, but I am saying that they used Christianity for their own evil purposes. That is the core of this debate, that Christianity has been used for evil. Through seven crusades, the inquisition and the Salem witch trials, Christianity has been used to torture and kill. My opponent also refuted my argument that Christianity was used by Hitler, but admitted that Germans were anti-semitic. This is true, and it was a Christian quoting the Bible that led them to kill 6 million Jews. Again, maybe it would have happened anyway, but the fact is that christianity was there and it was used by Hitler as a motivator for the Holocaust. That is how Christianity is used for evil. A ruler wants something and convinces the masses of common people that their religion not only allows it, but wants it as well. Thus, Christianity has now been used to do evil things. To ensure my point is made, imagine a hunter choosing to use a .306 instead of a bow to go deer hunting. Yes, he most likely could have killed the deer in either senario, but he saw that the .306 was one viable way to kill the deer and he used it. Likewise, a political reason may be used to convince the German public to kill 6 million people, but Hitler saw that a religious reason would work as well so he pointed Christianity at the Jews and squeezed the trigger. Thus, seven crusades, 350 years of the inquisitions, the Salem witch trials and WWII were all bloody wars and/or tragedies where Christianity was used by small groups of men to accomplish their own selfish agendas that led to the torture and deaths of millions of men, women and children. . http://www.smithsonianmag.com... . http://www.catholiceducation.org...