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"There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter into our civil affairs, and our government would soon be destroyed."
The dilemma of religious murder and madness has plagued humanity for centuries. It won't disappear soon. Perhaps the clearest symbol of the depth of the problem occurred at the Parliament of the World Religions in 1993, attended by more than 6,000 adherents representing more than 125 religions. At one point, more than 200 delegates from all major faiths adopted a declaration titled "Toward a Global Ethic," written by a team headed by Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Kung. It decried:
"Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate and xenophobia -- even inspire and legitimize violent and bloody conflicts.... We are filled with disgust.... We condemn aggression and hatred in the name of religion."
Sounds good, except for one problem: the session constantly was interrupted by -- religious bickering!
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-- October 1993: Massacres occurred in the Kashmir province of India because Muslim fanatics barricaded themselves in a mosque to protect its sacred relic, a hair from Muhammad's beard.
-- April 1993: Zealot David Koresh led 85 adherents to fiery death in his Bible prophecy compound at Waco, Texas.
-- February 1993: Muslim militants desiring to smite "The Great Satan" (America) triggered a fuel-and-fertilizer bomb in New York's World Trade Center, killing six people, injuring 1,000, and causing $500 million damage.
-- January 1993: Religious leaders in Somalia sentenced five women to be stoned to death for adultery. Worshipers killed the women after evening prayers. Cheering onlookers videotaped the execution. United Nations observers who tried to save the women were driven off.
-- December 1992: Swarms of Hindus destroyed a Muslim mosque which they said desecrated an Indian hilltop where Lord Rama was born 900,000 years ago. The incident touched off Muslim-Hindu rioting that killed 3,000.
-- September 1992: An outspoken Saudi Arabian man was beheaded in public with a ceremonial sword after a religious court ruled that he had "insulted God, the holy Koran and Muhammad the Prophet."
-- May 1992: Seven leaders of the black Temple of Love in Florida were convicted of 14 murders. Prosecutors said leader Yahweh ben Yahweh ordered his aides to kill "white devils" and backsliders. Victims' ears were brought to him.
-- All of 1992: Sikh militants, hoping to establish "The Land of the Pure" in the Punjab region of India, ambushed Hindu wedding parties, festivals, and the like. The death toll in religious fighting in that district was 3,800 for the year.
-- Also in 1992: Ohio cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren, who made human sacrifices of a mother, father and three daughters, filed court appeals in hope of escaping his death sentence.
A Short History of Holy Hatred
Religious violence, of course, is nothing new. It has been recurring for centuries.
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