How many individuals have been killed due to religion (i.e. armed
religious conflict, religious genocide, religious civil war, honor
killings, etc.) in the past century?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Mar 2005 05:39 PST

This site:

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstatz.htm#RelCon


gives brief dscriptions of deaths caused by all major conflicts of the
20th century, and includes a category of religious conflicts in both
the 20th century and earlier:


Religious Conflicts (selected) 
Generally speaking, in most of the following cases, religion is both
the stated cause of the killing and the only substantive difference
between the two opposing groups. Obviously, there would be many
additional conflicts where religion is just one of several divisions.
Albigensian Crusade, 1208-49 
Algeria, 1992- 
Baha'is, 1848-54 
Bosnia, 1992-95 
Boxer Rebellion, 1899-1901 
Christian Romans, 30-313 CE 
Croatia, 1991-92 
Early Christian doctrinal disputes 
English Civil War, 1642-46 
Holocaust, 1938-45 
Huguenot Wars, 1562-1598 
India, 1992-2002 
India: Suttee & Thugs 
Indo-Pakistani Partition, 1947 
Iran, Islamic Republic, 1979- 
Iraq, Shiites, 1991-92 
Jews, 1348 
Jonestown, 1978 
Lebanon 
1860 
1975-92
Martyrs, generally 
Molucca Is., 1999- 
Mongolia, 1937-39 
Northern Ireland, 1974-98 
Responsibility generally (Is religion responsible for more deaths than ...?) 
Christian culpabiltiy
Russian pogroms: 
1905-06 
1917-22
St. Bartholemew Massacre, 1572 
Shang China, ca. 1300-1050 BCE 
Shimabara Revolt, Japan 1637-38 
Sikh uprising, India, 1984-91 
Spanish Inquisition, 1478-1834 
Taiping Rebellion, 1850-64 
Thirty Years War, 1618-48 
Tudor England 
Vietnam, 1800s 
Witch Hunts, 1400-1800 
Xhosa, 1857
In addition, here are a few noteworthy conflicts where dissimilar
ethnic groups fought for primarily religious reasons:
Arab Outbreak, 7th Century CE 
Arab-Israeli Wars, 1948- 
Al Qaeda, 1993- 
Crusades, 1095-1291 
Dutch Revolt, 1566-1609 
Nigeria, 1990s, 2000s


In general -- although the conflicts themselves are fierce -- the
overall numbers seems relatively small next to, e.g., the tens of
millions killed in WWII, which is generally considered a non-religious
conflict (even thought the Jewish people were particular targets for
much of the slaughter).

Does the information at this site meet your needs, are are you looking
for a single sum from all religious conflicts?

Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by e1presidente-ga on 28 Mar 2005 15:29 PST

Your site answered it excellently, approximately 809,215,732
throughout the entirety of the events chronicled.  Thank you

You're quite welcome.  

I was very glad to hear that the resource I provided met your needs --
it really is a great site, isn't it?

Anyway, let me know if there's any other information I can provide for you.


pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Google search on [ "religious war OR conflicts" deaths ]

Exact numbers would be impossible to know, but it must be in the
millions. The simple fact that major religions failed to order their
followers NOT to go to war, but actually promoted their involvement,
makes them directly responsible. In both world wars, Catholics were
shooting Catholics, and Protestants were shooting Protestants, all in
the name of Nationalism. Some small religious groups refused to go to
war and were imprisoned for it. Who do you think Jesus would approve
of? Galatians 5;14 " For the entire law stands fulfilled in one saying
namely 'You must love your neighbour as yourself'.15. If though, you
keep biting and devouring one another, look out that you do not get
annihilated by one another".

I think the definitions are difficult; different people will see
conflicts in different ways  (just sticking with the 20. c. as asked):
Isrealis/Palestinians:  this is a dispute about territory in which
most (!) of the people on each side are of different religions, but
that does not necessarily make it a religious conflict;
Genocide:  Armenians, Sudan, Congo:  cultural, racial or religious?  They overlap.
"Honor killings"?  Do you mean families' killing a daughter for having
pre-marital sex?  The corespondent could be of the same religion. That
is a different category.
Holocaust:  Did the Nazis kill Jews because of their religion or for
perceived racial reasons?  More for the latter, one could very well
argue, since they also  killed Christian Gypsies and their definition
of someone's being a jew was based on ancestry, regardless of whether
they were practicing or professed Jews.

a lot