2003: Fill & Download for Free

Foschini, Gerard J., and Michael J. Gans. "On limits of wireless communications in a fading environment when using multiple antennas." Wireless personal communications 6.3 (1998): 311-335. [~10k citations]Zheng, Lizhong, and David N. C. Tse. "Diversity and multiplexing: A fundamental tradeoff in multiple-antenna channels." Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on 49.5 (2003): 1073-1096.[~3.5k citations]Alamouti, Siavash M. "A simple transmit diversity technique for wireless communications." Selected Areas in Communications, IEEE Journal on 16.8 (1998): 1451-1458. [~12.5k citations]Tarokh, Vahid, Hamid Jafarkhani, and A. Robert Calderbank. "Space-time block codes from orthogonal designs." Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on 45.5 (1999): 1456-1467. [~7k citations]Viswanath, Pramod, David N. C. Tse, and Rajiv Laroia. "Opportunistic beamforming using dumb antennas." Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on 48.6 (2002): 1277-1294. [~2.5k citations]Gupta, Piyush, and Panganmala R. Kumar. "The capacity of wireless networks." Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on 46.2 (2000): 388-404. [~7.5k citations]PS: In 2002, the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) published 'The Best of the Best: Fifty Years of Communications and Networking Research' that contained 57 papers (sub-divided into two categories: 'Communications' and 'Networking') that were deemed to be the most influential ones. You might want to take a look at this compilation too.

This answer may contain sensitive images. Click on an image to unblur it.Have Christians ever committed mass murder in the name of God? Are there credible evidences?So much legend has grown up around this subject it’s difficult for most people to separate fact from fiction. The problems of violence are not solely, or even mostly, a Christian problem, yet this only asks about Christians. Why?I’m afraid it may reflect the idea Christianity is more violent than anyone else, but that is not reality, it’s myth and legend, and that Legend evidences a worldview rather than history.That Legend was created in the Enlightenment era, but for most of us, the Legend has been somewhat determined by what is close and what is far away. Christianity is close, and the West has a tendency to give short shrift to the far away East, leaving the majority of us ignorant of the histories of others.This ignorance leaves us believing things like ‘Buddhism is peaceful’, ‘Hinduism is peaceful’, and ‘atheists are tolerant’ and the only violent history is Christianity’s history. This is the ‘Legend’ that swirls around obscuring understanding of this subject. Dispelling that involves showing violent acts such as mass murder are not simply a Christian problem.Violence is a human problem found in every creed, ethnic group and era.Here’s some facts. (Clicking anything blue will take you to a page about it).BuddhismThe Mahavamsa describes an account of the Buddhist warrior king of Sri Lanka, Dutthagamani, who reigned from 161 BC to 137 BC., his army, and 500 Buddhist monks, battling and defeating the Tamil king Elara. When Dutthagamani laments over the thousands he killed, the eight arhats (Buddha's enlightened disciples) console him by saying no real sin has been committed because he only killed unbelievers.During that era when Christianity had conquistadores, Buddhism had ‘warrior monks’ (Yamabushi ). The sōhei or ‘warrior monks’ appeared in Japan during the Heian period.The beginning of "Buddhist violence" in Japan relates to a long history of feuds among Buddhists.Violence and Buddhism Are Opposites - or Are They?Almost all Japanese Buddhists temples strongly supported Japan's militarization in World War II.In more modern times instances of Buddhist-inspired terrorism or militarism have occurred in Japan, such as the assassinations in the League of Blood Incident.Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists maintain they are the Buddha's chosen people. This has contributed to multiple violent events and the persecution of non-Buddhists. The number of attacks against Christian churches rose from 14 in 2000 to over 200 in 2003, with extremist Buddhist clergy leading the violence in some areas.Anti-Christian violence has included "beatings, arson, acts of sacrilege, death threats, violent disruption of worship, stoning, abuse, unlawful restraint, and even interference with funerals".In Southeast Asia, Thailand has had several prominent virulent Buddhist monastic calls for violence. In the 1970s, Buddhist monks argued that killing Communists did not violate Buddhist precepts. The militant side of Thai Buddhism became prominent in 2004 when Buddhist monks determined “practical realities require deviations from religious ideals”.In recent years the military regime of Burma strongly encouraged the conversion of ethnic minorities by force as part of its campaign of assimilation. Myanmar has become a stronghold of Buddhist aggression and such acts as the military offensives against ethnic minority populations, which included acts that violated international humanitarian law, are spurred by hardline nationalistic monks.As of 2012, the 969 Movement by monks helped create anti-Islamic nationalist movements in the region, and have urged Myanmar Buddhists to boycott Muslim services and trades, resulting in persecution of Muslims in Burma by Buddhist-led mobs.Michael Jerryson said, “While the ideals of Buddhist canonical texts promote peace and pacifism, discrepancies between reality and precepts easily flourish in times of social, political and economic insecurity.”The darker side of BuddhismA Short History of Buddhist Violence Against ChristiansThe Ashokavadana MassacreBuddhism and violence - WikipediaIslamVictims of Muslim persecution include Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, Bahá’ís, and atheists. Muslim persecustion of fellow Muslims include, as victims, Sia Muslims, Ahmadis, Sufi, Alevis and Salafis.In the middle ages, Christians under Islamic rule faced religious discrimination and persecution. Banned from spreading or promoting Christianity on pain of death, banned from bearing arms and undertaking certain professions, Christians were obligated to pay special taxes and periodic heavy ransoms reducing many Christians to poverty, and forcing many Christians to convert to Islam.Christians unable to pay these taxes were forced to surrender their children as payment to the Muslim rulers who would sell them as slaves to Muslim households where they were forced into Islam.Christians were forbidden from publicly displaying the cross on church buildings, from summoning congregants to prayer with a bell, from re-building or repairing churches and monasteries after they had been destroyed or damaged, and other restrictions relating to occupations, clothing and weapons.Islamic rule was not “tolerant”.Tamerlane instigated large scale massacres of Christians in Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria in the 14th century AD.The Massacres of Badr Khan were conducted by Kurdish and Ottoman forces against the Assyrian Christian population of the Ottoman Empire between 1843 and 1847, resulting in the slaughter of more than 10,000 indigenous Assyrian civilians of the Hakkari region, with many thousands more being sold into slavery.During the April Uprising in Bulgaria against Ottoman rule, over 15,000 non-combatant Bulgarian civilians were massacred by the Ottoman army between 1876 and 1878, with the worst single instance being the Batak massacreThe Hamidian massacres (Armenian: Համիդյան ջարդեր, Turkish: Hamidiye Katliamı), also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894–1896 and Great Massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that took place in the mid-1890s. It was estimated casualties ranged from 80,000 to 300,000, resulting in 50,000 orphaned children. The massacres … turned into indiscriminate anti-Christian pogroms in some cases, such as the Diyarbekir massacre, where some 25,000 Assyrians were killed (see also Assyrian genocide). Hamidian massacres - WikipediaThe Adana massacre occurred in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in April 1909. Reports estimated that the Adana Province massacres resulted in the deaths of as many as 30,000 Armenians and 1,500 Assyrians.Between 1915 and 1921 the Ottoman Empire conducted a series of massacres against ancient indigenous Christian populations known as the Armenian Genocide, Assyrian Genocide, Greek Genocide, and the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon which accounted for the deaths of up to 3,500,000 Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Maronite Christians, some Georgian Christians.Many Armenians and Assyrians were made destitute by forced deportations of survivors, and the destruction or theft of almost 2500 of their farmsteads, towns and villages. Hundreds of churches and monasteries were also destroyed or forcibly converted into mosques. Unarmed Assyrian women and children were raped, tortured and murdered.HinduismHinduism and Terror - by Paul MarshallAbhinav Bharat is a right wing Hindu organization that is alleged to have been involved in the Malegaon terrorist bombings, the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, Malegaon blasts, Mecca Masjid bombing and Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast.On 22 October 2010, five suspects alleged to be connected to the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were charged with conspiracy in connection to the bombing at the Dargah (shrine) of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.The 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka refer to the wave of attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in the Indian city of Mangalore and the surrounding area in September and October 2008 by Hindu organisations, Bajrang Dal and the Sri Ram Sena.The Mecca Masjid bombing occurred on May 18, 2007 inside the Mecca Masjid, a mosque located in the old city area of Hyderabad. The blast was caused by a cellphone-triggered pipe bomb placed near the Wuzukhana, a spot where ablutions are performed. Two more live IEDs were found and defused by the police. Sixteen people were reported dead in the immediate aftermath.In January 2013, Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde accused Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party for setting up camps to train Hindu Terrorism including planting bombs in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, the Mecca Masjid bombing, and the 2006 Malegaon blasts. In 2017, 10 terrorists were identified as members of these and other sister organisations like BJP. The current government is from the same right wing organizations.Graham Stuart Staines (1941 – 23 January 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary who, along with his two sons Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), was burnt to death by a gang of Hindu fundamentalists while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village.Staines had been working in Odisha among the tribal poor and lepers since 1965. Some Hindu groups alleged that Staines had forcibly converted or lured many Hindus into Christianity; Staines' widow Gladys vehemently denied allegations of force or deception of any kind. She continued to live in India caring for leprosy patients until she returned to Australia in 2004.Here are 18 Wikipedia pages of persecution by Hindus: 1969 Gujarat riots, 1970 Bhiwandi riots, 2015 Ballabhgarh riot, 2017 Alwar mob lynching, 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka, Demolition of the Babri Masjid, Best Bakery case, 1946 Bihar riots, 2015 Dadri mob lynching, 1985 Gujarat riots, 2002 Gujarat riots, Gulbarg Society massacre, Naroda Patiya massacre, 2017 Patan riots, Persecution of Buddhists by Hindus, Persecution of Christians, 2017 Pratapgarh lynching, Pune techie murder caseAtheismState atheism was first practised during the French revolution. Called The Dechristianization of France, approximately 30,000 Catholic priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed. A massacre of 6,000 Catholic Vendée prisoners, because they were Catholic, many of them women, took place after the battle of Savenay, along with the drowning of 3,000 Vendée women at Pont-au-Baux.There were 5,000 Catholic priests, old men, women, and children killed by drowning at the Loire River at Nantes in what was called the "national bath" where prisoners were tied in groups, placed on barges, then sunk into the Loire.By July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between 117,000 and 500,000, out of a population of around 800,000. Some historians call these mass killings the first modern genocide because the intent to exterminate the Catholics was clearly stated.This type of anti-religious violence was repeated when Revolutionary Mexico instituted state-atheism, and other communist states have done the same.The Soviet Union has a long history of state atheism, which required individuals to profess atheism; this attitude was especially militant during the Stalinist era from 1929-1939 when thousands were killed. The total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime since 1917 has been estimated to range between 12-20 million. Jenny Hawkins' answer to Why has religion not disappeared yet?The Soviet Union attempted to suppress religion over wide areas of its influence, including places like central Asia, and the post-World War II Eastern bloc.Remembering the biggest mass murder in the history of the worldThe PointThese examples, unfortunately, could continue, but hopefully I have made my point: there is no religion that does not have violent acts such as mass murder in its history which means, violent acts such as mass murder are not simply a Christian problem.For as long as human beings have existed there is evidence of it, even as far back as 10,000 years ago. An Ancient, Brutal Massacre May Be the Earliest Evidence of WarSince it isn’t possible for anyone to deny, it seems important to at least get the “credible evidences” correct.Therefore the second misunderstanding that needs clarifying involves exactly what mass murder is and what an event driven by religion actually looks like.Let’s examine perception and reality by first clarifying our definitions then looking at examples with those credible evidences.I. Let’s begin by defining some terms.What is Mass Murder?"In the 1960s and 1970s,... it was understood that the key feature in this type of killing… was a high body count. In the late decades of the 20th century and early years of the 2000s, the most popular classifications moved to include method, time and place.” Mass murder - WikipediaMass murder, also sometimes referred to as a ‘massacre’, is committed within a short time frame.at one geographic location.It’s method always involves an unequal distribution of power: one side is unarmed, the other side armed; one side defenseless, the other side the aggressor with the power.A mass murder is a subset of genocide. As a result of that classification, intent is generally included as a qualifier of mass murder. The designers of the Titanic were at fault for the mass deaths but do not qualify as mass murderers since they had no intent to do harm.That’s why mass murder is not war. In war, both sides are armed and aggressive. However, if an act is egregious—such as the killing of POW’s or refugees—it will be identified as mass murder even if it is war. 25 Most Horrific Massacres in HistoryLegitimate police actions are not mass murders even if there are a large number of deaths. Society has the right of self-protection.Mass murder differs from serial murders or spree killings. Differences Between Mass, Spree and Serial KillersIndividual mass murders are slightly different from those committed by governments or other groups as well. Professor R.J. Rummel, (whose numbers have not been supported by other historians), coined a useful term to describe a mass murder by one’s own government: democide.Mental illness has a role in many mass murders. Actually, there is a clear link between mass shootings and mental illnessHow Mass Murder and Serial Murder DifferThe FBI has recently changed its baseline for categorization as mass murder from homicides of four or more people to homicides with three or more people.2. What is a Christian act?A. It is not sufficient for an event to qualify as a Christian act simply because a Christian does it.If that definition were valid, it would mean Christians were nothing more than their religion—have no other quality or interest or ability beyond their religion—so that everything they did was, of necessity, religious, simply because they did it. That is patent nonsense.“Decades of anthropological, sociological, and psychological research have shown that the assumption that religious beliefs and values are tightly integrated in an individual's mind or that religious practices and behaviors follow directly from religious beliefs is incorrect; such behavior is actually rare. People’s religious ideas are fragmented, loosely connected, and context-dependent just like in all other domains of culture and life.” Religious violence - WikipediaChristians have other views, beliefs and interests besides their religion and act out of concerns that frequently have nothing to do with religion. Christians and Christianity (PEW).Christians are not a homogenous group and never have been. In every historical mass murder where Christians have been involved there have also been Christians on the other side opposing them. It is misleading and misrepresents history to focus on one or the other exclusively.Christians are not identifiable by race, economic group, educational level, or geographic location. There are no dress requirements—there’s no uniform—no secret handshake, no membership dues. Christians are identifiable by statements of belief and behavior consistent with those beliefs only.Studies agree, there are a little over a dozen beliefs held commonly by Christians globally: a personal creator God, Jesus, baptism, prayer, communion, that scripture is holy in some way, and the two primary principles of Christianity—love God, and love others—are on that list.The basics of Christian beliefs; Christianity: Statistics; The Association of Religion Data Archives; Summary of Catholic Beliefs; Christianity 10 CharacteristicsFor an event to qualify as ‘Christian’, religion has to have been a primary driving force: i.e. enough of a motivator of the event it would not have happened without it. If politics or economics or something else drove events, even if religion was used to garner support etc., if it seems clear religion would not have caused the events by itself, then the event cannot be considered a ‘Christian’ act. Motives and drives are often mixed. The question to ask is, “would this have happened the way it did without religion present?”For this question, the definition of a Christian act is an action taken by a Christian, as defined by these beliefs and practices, for good or ill, with religion as a primary aspect, motive, purpose or goal.II. Perception and reality: The LegendThe BiblePerception: One of the answerers to this question says “the Christian bible itself is replete with examples of mass murder and terrorism.” One can only assume the reference is to Old Testament wars, but there were no Christians during Old Testament times. Old Testament wars would not be included in the category of mass murder even if there had been.Perhaps this writer is referring to the New Testament instead, where there—at least—were actually Christians—eventually—but there is no war or mass murder there.Reality: Either not Christian, or not mass murder.KKKPerception: “The KKK, both original and the newer iteration, are organized around Christian beliefs.”The KKK have always been ‘organized around’ what sociologists recognize as “civil religion” which is basically the worship of one’s country. American civil religion has a few Protestant ethics—but only a few. American civil religion - WikipediaHere is a full discussion of the KKK. Jenny Hawkins's answer to Is ISIS un-Islamic, or is it true Islam?Reality: Not Christian.TerrorismPerception: This same answerer says “most terrorist attacks in the US are carried out by non-muslims” and here is the chart referred to:It’s an old chart, but I wonder, is it somehow intended to show Christians do commit mass murder or terrorism? Globally, on a list of nearly two hundred terrorist groups, there are five that can be said to have ever had any association with Christianity over the last several decades and four of those are Irish. List of designated terrorist groups - WikipediaThe vast majority of all terrorist groups—over 150—are in fact Muslim, but the same rules must be applied everywhere or data becomes meaningless, therefore, extreme political ideology sets those Islamic terrorist groups apart from the majority of Islam, as well as their being political more than religious.Reality:“Perpetrators of violent extremism (in the US) includewhite supremacists;anti-government groups;extremists—groups with extreme views on abortion, animal rights, the environment, or federal ownership of public lands;and radical Islamist entities, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). …In the fifteen year period from Sept. 12, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2016 — there have been 85 attacks in the [US] by violent extremists resulting in 225 deaths.Of those 225 deaths:• 106 individuals were killed by far-right violent extremists in 62 separate incidents;• 119 individuals were killed by radical Islamist violent extremists in 23 separate incidents;• The number of people killed in a given year ranged from one to 49.The think tank New America has compiled information on terrorist activities in the United States after 9/11. It details data on deadly attacks by ideology up to the Aug. 12, 2017 Charlottesville attack.Here’s their breakdown on the number of deaths caused by individuals of different ideologies:95 by jihadist,68 by far-right, andeight by black separatist/national/supremacist.What the data shows on domestic terrorism perpetratorsReality:The far right does not equal Christian.Rational Wiki says, “The far right or extreme right is a political label used to identify parties and movements based on fascist, racist and/or extremely reactionary ideologies.” Far right - RationalWikiThis political ideology can take root in any religion, The darker side of Buddhism, and it can, and does, exist entirely separately from religion as well."Right-extremist" is the term used by the German intelligence service which considers neo-Naziism as a subclass. Far-right politics in Germany - WikipediaFar right politics in the United Kingdom has existed since at least the 1930s, with the formation of Nazi, fascist and anti-semitic movements. It went on to acquire more explicitly racial connotations, being dominated in the 1960s and 1970s by self-proclaimed white nationalist organizations that oppose non-white and Muslim immigration, such as the National Front (NF), the British Movement (BM) and British National Party (BNP). Far-right politics in the United Kingdom - WikipediaList of far-right political parties - WikipediaThe far right is not Christian, although some Christians no doubt support it, since politically, Christians in the United States distribute across the spectrum in close parallel to the overall population. Religious Landscape StudyNot Christian.Massacre of Verden — ninth centuryCharlemagne and his father and grandfather fought the Saxons on and off for nearly one hundred years due to frequent raiding of outlying villages in Frankish territory by Saxons. Despite repeated setbacks in various battles, the Saxons returned to raiding Frankish domains as soon as attention went elsewhere. Charlemagne firmly believed that if the Saxons would only convert to Christianity they would become more peaceful and less rebellious and aggressive; missionary efforts toward this end were attempted but not highly successful.Between 772 and 804 AD, Charlemagne waged the Saxon Wars in an effort to protect his people and finally put a stop to this on-going raiding, killing and destruction.In mid-January 772, a Saxon expedition sacked and burned the church of Deventer. Charlemagne responded by militarily destroying several Saxon strongholds, negotiating with Saxon nobles, obtaining hostages, then leaving.Saxons started raiding again. Saxon Wars - WikipediaMore battles ensued.In 782, there was a revolt against Frankish rule which annihilated a Frankish army at the Süntel while Charles was campaigning elsewhere. Charlemagne came back. First he defeated them militarily, then he ordered the beheading of the 4,500 Saxons who had rebelled.“…a few months earlier the king thought he had pacified the country, the Saxon nobles had sworn allegiance, and many of them had been appointed Counts. Thus the rebellion constituted an act of treason punishable by death, the same penalty that the extremely harsh Saxon law imposed with great facility, even for the most insignificant of crimes.” Massacre of Verden - WikipediaIt was war, it was treason, and if Charlemagne hadn’t said ‘convert or die’, there would be no question it was not Christian act, but he did; it’s borderline, but in my view I still say:Christian mass murder.CrusadesPerception: “The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far.”This is pure Legend and propaganda.Reality: Islam subsumed about two-thirds of Christendom through forced conversions, death or enslavement resulting from military takeover for about three hundred years before the crusades.At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.Thomas Madden, The Real History of the CrusadesPeter Green's answer to What was positive about the Crusades? explains. The crusades are generally accepted among the majority of scholars today as wars of self-defense—not mass murder(Compare the reasons for the First Crusade and the reasons for the First Gulf War: The Eastern Bishop asked for help—Kuwait asked for help; they were both being threatened (and the East attacked) by a larger superior force who had a past record of “bullying” other states into submission; response included going to other nation-states, (for us it was the UN) gaining agreement and support, and acting together by providing military assistance.How can we claim America was in the right as a nation state to save Kuwait but crusaders were in the wrong in the East because they were religious?)William T. CavanaughBoth Christians and Muslims used what in our modern day would be called Total war methods. Deaths in those wars must be declared a wash.The remaining crusades became a mixture of economic and political concerns; though keeping Islam from taking over the European continent remained a goal, religious faith took a back seat after the first crusade.Rheinland MassacresIn the 400 year history of the crusades, there was a series of murders in the First crusade that qualify as a mass murder: the Rheinland massacres.It seems legitimate to say mental illness played a part in this.Count Emicho of Leiningen, led a series of massacres along the Rhein river during the First Crusade where approximately 5000 Jews were killed.He raised an army with the story that Christ had appeared to him saying he felt ‘chosen’ to fulfill the end of times prophecy.Emicho envisioned that he would march on Constantinople and overcome the forces there, taking over the title of "last World Emperor".All Christian armies, Latin and Greek, would then unite and march to seize Jerusalem from the Saracens thus prompting the Second Coming and denouement with the Antichrist.Inspired by such exulting promises, a few thousand Franks and Germans merged and marched east in April 1096. Emicho - WikipediaIn my opinion, anyone who works to bring about the second coming on their own time scale has delusions and power issues, such as delusions of grandeur found in narcissistic personalities.All we have to go by, however, are these few facts—and the knowledge that mental illness did not begin in the modern day.Emicho was apparently [also] motivated by greed, as he needed money to finance his army and his goal of reaching Jerusalem and the Jewish communities were thought to be wealthy.He also seems to have felt that the Jews were just as much enemies of Christ as the Muslims in Syria, but the Jews were closer to home.At Metz the crusaders arrived in May, where John, Bishop of Speyer gave shelter to the Jewish inhabitants. Still 10 men and one women who were found outside the fortress were slain by crusaders on May 3. The crusaders traveled on down the Rhein to Worms.When the crusaders arrived at Worms, Bishop Adalbert of Worms, provided safety for the Jews in his episcopal palace, but a rumor spread that the local Jewish population had poisoned the wells, and local residents joined the soldiers’ cause. Emicho and these new recruits spread through the town murdering, besieged the Bishop, and murdered the Jews there in a massacre that would end days later with a body count of 800.In addition to the 800 who were massacred, some committed suicide and others were forcibly baptized.In Mainz, Emicho was resisted by Archbishop Ruthard of Mainz who paid 400 pieces of silver in an attempt to protect the lives of the Jews who were also given shelter in the archbishop's personal residence. The Crusader army and its overpowering force broke through that protection and more than 1,000 Jews were massacred and the Bishop fled.All together, around 5,000 Jews were massacred in France and the Rhineland in the spring and summer of 1096.Moving on down the Rhein, the army began running out of money and food, and the soldiers began to pillage. Much of the army was then killed by the Hungarians; the rest split up, joined other Crusader armies, and Emicho went back home to his family, where he was scorned.Sanctifying God in the Rhineland massacresChristians on both sides. Possible mental illness. Still, the Rheinland massacres:Perception and reality: Christian; Mass murder.ReconquistaPerception: mass murderThe Spanish Reconquista is the period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula of about 780 years between the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492.…Western historians have marked the beginning of the Reconquista with the Battle of Covadonga (718 or 722), one of the first victories by Christian military forces since the 711 Islamic conquest of Iberia by the Umayyad Caliphate.Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista with a war against the Emirate of Granada that started in 1482 and ended with Granada's surrender on January 2, 1492.Reconquista - WikipediaReality: War. Not mass murder.Spanish InquisitionPerception: mass murderThe two most significant and extensively-cited sources of modern analysis of the inquisitions are: Inquisition (1988) by Edward Peters and The Spanish Inquisition: An Historical Revision (1997) by Henry Kamen. These works focus on identifying and correcting what they argue are modern misconceptions about the inquisitions. The Spanish Inquisition: Debunking the LegendsThe Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were attempting through the Inquisition to unify Spain and consolidate the crown’s power by using race, religion and politics in a similar manner to the methods of two Roman emperors, Decius and Diocletian, and also to modern India. It could even be said Russia followed a similar approach in its promotion of atheism, for the same reasons as the Spanish crown, after the Revolution of 1917.(This method of uniting people by pitting ‘us against them’—which is similar to the modern far right—has consistently produced violence throughout history wherever it is found.)Pope Sixtus IV tried repeatedly to get the Inquisition shut down. The king refused. King Ferdinand eventually blackmailed the Pope into stopping his opposition by threatening to remove Spain from the church as England and Germany had done. The College of Cardinals forced the Pope’s acquiescence. Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & FactsThe king and Queen, though their motives were political, did use religion as an aspect, purpose and goal, therefore, the Inquisition, overall, must be seen as:Reality: Partially Christian.However, the number of people directly killed by order of the Inquisition may not qualify as mass murder depending upon how one totals up the number of victims.Henry Kamen’s research has led him to conclude:“We can in all probability accept the estimate, made on the basis of available documentation, that a maximum of three thousand persons may have suffered death during the entire [400 year] history of the tribunal” (p. 253). Kamen’s estimates …represent the general perspective of contemporary scholars.Modern historians also note that sixteenth-century Spain (during the height of the Spanish Inquisition) only had a total population of around 7.5 million people (cf. John Huxtable Elliott, Spain and Its World, 1500–1700 [Yale University Press, 1989], 223). Consequently, the notion that the Spanish Inquisition could be executing tens of millions of people during that same time period seems mathematically untenable.How Many People Died in the Inquisition?3000 people in 400 years—750 people per century—7–8 people per year. Not technically mass murder.There were thousands of victims, not killed directly by order of the Inquisition, but who were tortured or expelled from Spain, who may have died as a result.The problem is there is no way to estimate, nevertheless verify, these possible additional deaths. There is no credible evidence.Reality: A heinous abuse of power by any definition.HereticsPerception: the pursuit of heresy was religious persecution and abuse of power.Reality: All our modern experience is from a position of partial secularism, but in the middle ages there was no separation of church and state. That means church authorities were a recognized legal authority (like the FBI) charged with the responsibility of monitoring and handling certain illegalities.Any society has the right to protect itself from destruction and not all threats come from outside society.The majority of acts against heresy, then, were justifiable legal action, like any armed police action, against those perceived as a threat to society (much as we see domestic terror groups). Here George C. Smith explains the similarities between medieval heresy and our modern notion of treason against the state. Freethought and Freedom: The Problem of HeresyMassacre at BéziersHowever, the Massacre at Béziers may qualify as a valid example of a Christian mass murder of heretics—or possibly not. Horrible Massacre at Beziers in Christ's NameBeziers is a city in Southern France, near the Mediterranean, across from Italy. According to Catholic sources, the Cathars had corrupted Christian teachings with many false doctrines. (Virtually all Cathar literature was destroyed so we know little about what they really taught.)The pope offered ‘wicked men’ pardon for their sins if they would undertake a crusade against the heretics, and the prospect of loot enticed many to join the army. The papal army arrived in Beziers July 21, 1209.The city was well-provisioned for a fight. Catholic and heretic alike joined to defend it.Christians on both sides.On July 22, 1209, while the camp was still being set up, a group of defenders rode out from the town with white pennants, so they were allowed free passage. Then they began shooting arrows at the unsuspecting crusaders. They killed one.Furious, a bunch of rag-tag camp followers responded by rushing them and the walls of the town. Beziers had not expected an attack so soon, and the walls were not properly manned. The defenders fled, and the walls were easily breached.A horde of howling camp-followers then raged through the city, killing everyone they found. They entered the churches, where the town's folk huddled in terror and butchered them in cold blood.The knights and bishops did nothing to stop the killing. The Bishop is alleged to have made cruel remarks. When the poor soldiers began to loot, the knights did finally step in claiming any loot as their own. Some of the looters, angry at being cheated out of their share of the spoils, set buildings on fire. Soon much of the town was ablaze, and within a few hours the intense heat forced the crusaders to pull out.Mass murder by the mob definitely.There was no repeat in this campaign of an incident of this type. In other Cathar towns many Catholics made terms with the crusaders, handing over local Cathars. In other places, Cathars abandoned their cities and burned their castles so the invaders could not use them. But Carcassone, a Cathar stronghold, held out against siege for several months and still managed to obtain decent terms of surrender.This indicates the massacre at Beziers was motivated by something other—something in addition— to what motivated the rest of the Cathar campaign: the rage of the mob.Can a mob of angry ‘wicked men’ be justly considered Christian? Not fairly. The town soldiers made the first kill, they were armed, and they provoked the angry response of an armed mob.Therefore I say:Christian—no.But none of them would have been there without the orders of the Pope. The Pope should have ensured just treatment under the law and not saved money by hiring thugs in exchange for free pardons. And the crusaders made no attempt to stop it. And the Bishop in charge was callous.Therefore I also say:Christian—yes.Decide for yourself.Religious WarsPerception: Christian mass murdersWilliam T. Cavenaugh in “The Myth of Religious Violence” takes a closer look at the 16th and 17th century wars of religion and finds that religious differences were secondary to the aims of the emerging nation-states and various political and dynastic intrigues.Simply put, the so-called ‘religious wars’ were not religious after all.If religious differences were the main cause of these bloody conflicts, then we would expect to find that they were invariably fought along denominational lines.What we actually find is Catholic emperors attacking popes, Catholic French kings attacking Catholic emperors, Protestant kings and princes siding with Catholic kings against other Protestants, Lutheran and Catholic kings uniting against Catholic emperors, Protestant Huguenot nobles and Catholic nobles in France uniting against both Catholic and Protestant Huguenot commoners, who likewise united against the nobles; Protestant and Catholic nobles in France united against their Catholic king. Protestants rejected the Protestant Union (the coalition of German Protestant states) even while some Catholics were siding with it. We find Lutheran princes adamantly supporting the rights of a Catholic emperor, Catholic France supporting Protestant princes in Germany, the Dutch Calvinists helping the Catholic king to repress uprisings of French Calvinists, a Lutheran leading the Catholic imperial army, and mercenaries of every religious stripe selling themselves to the highest Catholic or Protestant bidder. The Myth of Religious ViolenceReality: Not ChristianFrench Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years WarPerception: Christian mass murders“The French "Wars of Religion" are full of collaborations between Protestants and Catholics, and the Thirty Years' War - perhaps the most notorious of the "Wars of Religion" —saw Cardinal Richelieu throwing the full force of French might on the side of the Lutheran Swedes, who in turn attacked Lutheran Denmark.While the Calvinist Dutch were helping the French royal forces to defeat the Calvinists at La Rochelle, Catholic Spain was supporting the Protestant duke of Rohan in his battle against the French crown in Languedoc.The Thirty Years' War was in fact primarily a contest between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, the two great Catholic dynasties of Europe.The key factor in many of the conflicts was the struggle between state-making elites and the forms of local authority—especially that of the church and the lesser nobility —that stood in the way of centralization.Jose Casanova has suggested that rather than call them "Wars of Religion" they should be known as the "wars of European state-building." The 'Wars of Religion' and other fairy talesA careful, unbiased study of the so-called religious wars yields the rather surprising result that they were not religious wars. They were political wars that both ignored religious differences when the more important political aims demanded either cooperation with religious opponents or antagonism to those sharing the same religious beliefs, and used religious differences when they would serve political purposes. The Myth of Religious ViolenceReality: Not Christian. Not mass murder. Political war.St.Bartholomew’s Day MassacrePerception: Religious war.When Calvinism began to challenge the church in France, it became a threat to royal power.Both Huguenot and Catholic noble factions plotted for control of the monarchy, while the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, attempted to bring both factions under the control of the crown.In 1561, Catherine proposed bringing Calvinist and Catholic together under a State controlled Church modeled on Elizabeth's Church of England. Catherine had no theological interest or understanding and was stunned to find that both Catholic and Calvinist doctrines prevented that union.But in 1570, there was a truce, and“to symbolize, the reconciliation between the two sides, ‘King’ Henry of Navarre, a leading Huguenot noble, was married to Marguerite, sister to the Catholic King of France on August 18 1572. The one person most put out by this was the King’s Mother Catherine de’ Medici: she was used to being just about the most powerful person in France, and she felt seriously threatened by the influence that the Huguenot leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (a devout Calvinist aristocrat) would now have over the King.After years of playing Protestant and Catholic factions off one another, Catherine finally threw in her lot with the Catholic Guises. Convinced Huguenot nobility were gaining too much influence over the king, she would attempt to wipe out the Huguenot leadership and thereby quash the Huguenot nobility's influence over king and country.“On August 22, they tried to kill Coligny, who was in Paris along with thousands of other Huguenots for the wedding. They only wounded him, and of course the Huguenots were outraged. de’ Medici panicked and ordered a massacre of all the Huguenots, starting with Coligny.” St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre | Christian History InstituteThis became the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of thousands of Protestants. It is estimated about 3000 were killed in Paris and many more in the countryside.For the main instigators of the carnage, doctrinal loyalties were at best secondary to their personal stake in the rise or defeat of the centralized State. Religion was only a convenient label to justify eliminating threats to the throne’s power.Perception and reality: Mass murder.Reality: Power politics—not Christian.Native deaths“The Spanish conquistadores massacred Natives by the millions” is a thoroughly problematic statement, and unless you are willing to hold someone responsible for an accident they had no way of knowing about or preventing, it’s a false statement.Native populations were wiped out by disease, not murder. The lowest estimates give a death toll from disease of 90% of native populations by the end of the 17th century. What happened to native populations is called a “virgin soil epidemic” and it’s exactly what happened to Europe in the thirteen hundreds when the black plague killed millions. Jenny Hawkins's answer to Why did the black death spread?Europeans had no way of knowing the consequences of contact—they knew nothing of germs. There was no genocidal intent. Virgin soil epidemic - WikipediaIt is debated but generally agreed genocide/mass murder does not occur when disease is the main cause of death and the introduction of disease was unintentional.There is one historically supportable incident of intentional disease introduction in America by the British. Siege of Fort Pitt - WikipediaNeither the Puritans nor the Army in the post-civil war era were guilty of intentionally handing out diseased blankets as legend claims. Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?Not mass murder.Many natives died in wars between the invaders and native armies. The conquistadores were masters of using native rivalries to make allies and gain soldiers. Those allegiances, combined with the technological superiority of the invaders, meant natives stood little chance. Still, it was:War— not mass murder.There was enslavement and mistreatment, and deaths resulting from those, and greed was the major factor in abuses. Christopher Columbus and his men were bad enough he was imprisoned for awhile by the Spanish crown. Christopher Columbus - WikipediaChristians were also opponents of slavery and the mistreatment of natives. Bartolomé de las Casas - WikipediaA number of Popes issued papal bulls condemning enslavement and mistreatment of Native Americans; however, these were largely ignored. Nonetheless, Catholic missionaries such as the Jesuits, worked to alleviate the suffering of Native Americans in the New World.Debate about the morality of slavery continued throughout this period.Christian. On both sides—doing the mistreating and opposing that mistreatment.The thing to see about colonization is that it was driven by economics and power politics and would have taken place pretty much as it did even if religion had never been involved at all. Expansion was going to happen. Religion neither caused it nor could have stopped it.Bloody MaryOne answerer includes “violent massacres and atrocities committed by both the Catholic and the Protestant factions in England at the time of King Henry VIII, and later by his daughter, ‘Bloody Mary’.”Religion was only a means to an end for Henry. That end goal wasn’t about religion. Break with Rome Timeline - HistoryMary did in fact earn her name. She was responsible for the burnings of 227 men and 56 women, mostly in the South East of England.Christian mass murder.“Northern Ireland, where people have killed each other for some time, in a continuation of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants” is also referenced.However, “The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic…” The Troubles - Wikipedia“it would be wrong to give Christianity too much credit either for causing the conflict or for its resolution. Religion served as a marker of identity, compounding a nationalist conflict, while also eventually facilitating its peaceful resolution. Sectarian tension continues in Northern Ireland today…”https://s3.amazonaws.com/berkley-center/130801BCNorthernIrelandReligionWarPeace.pdfNot primarily Christian.HitlerThe Nazis and Hitler are given as examples of Christian mass murder, but it is the consensus of the majority of scholars that Hitler was not a Christian, (nor was he an atheist like Stalin).“In light of evidence such as his vocal rejection of the tenets of Christianity, numerous private statements to confidants denouncing Christianity as a harmful superstition, and his strenuous efforts to reduce the influence and independence of Christianity in Germany after he came to power, Hitler's major academic biographers conclude that he was irreligious and an opponent of Christianity.”Religious views of Adolf Hitler - WikipediaNot Christian.Yugoslavia“Ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia during and after its breakup, and in a number of African states” is given as an example. However, Global security says:“The… tension in Yugoslavia was not the result of varying ethnicities hating the neighbors…, but rather conflicting and competing nationalisms that got in the way of each other because of structural problems...” War and Ethnic Cleansing in YugoslaviaIt’s called ethnic cleansing because it’s motivated by ethnicity. It was nationalism not religion.Not ChristianWarsIn their “Encyclopedia of Wars”, authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod attempt a comprehensive listing of wars in history.“They document 1763 wars overall, of which 123 (7%) have been classified as a primarily religious conflict.”Less than half of that seven percent can be seen as caused by Christians.Perception: Christianity is violent—more violent than anyone else in history.Reality: Christianity does have violent episodes such as mass murder in its history, but not more than others, and certainly not the most. The secular state has that honor.III. Actual data and Real problemsTodayRight now, more books are being written, and studies being done, on the subject of violence and its perceived connection to religion than ever before. Events of the twentieth century—the bloodiest century in history—have prompted that response.If religion is a cause of violence, we can only hope to deal with our modern problems connected to it if we are honest in facing facts and identifying the problem. Denial and self deception won’t cut it.But if religion—specifically Christianity—is not a contributor to violence then we are looking in the wrong place for solutions and it might be time to let the Legend go.One of the ways this heightened interest can be seen is in the rise of organizations whose sole purpose is monitoring global conflict every year.The Institute for Economics and Peace puts out a global terrorism index with statistics and data. http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2016.2.pdfThe CFR—Center for Preventive Action has a global conflict tracker: Global Conflict TrackerThe Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research has their Conflict barometer: Current Version - HIIKAnd these are just a few of them.They all look at that question of religion and violence. The question everyone believes they know the answer to, the answer that has been accepted as the ‘Legend of Christianity’ since the Enlightenment: that religion is the major cause of violence everywhere in the world—especially Christianity—which has often been referred to as the most violent religion of all.The trouble—or the good news depending upon how you see it—is data is not bearing out this presupposition.Christianity has not been the sole cause of any conflict anywhere in the world during the decades these studies have been done and has only been a minor player in a small percentage of them. http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Peace-and-Religion-Report.pdfThe Enlightenment answer seems to be more Legend than fact, as William T. Cavenaugh says, that was perhaps more about the birth of secularism and the modern world than it ever was about reality.IV. Going forward with understanding.The legend—a.k.a. the myth of religious violence—is an aspect of the ‘creation story’ secularism invented for itself during the Enlightenment era of how ‘virtuous secularism’ replaced ‘evil religion’.In domestic politics, the myth underwrites the triumph of the state over the church in the early modern period and the nation-state’s subsequent monopoly on its citizens’ willingness to sacrifice and kill.In modern foreign policy, the myth of religious violence reinforces the superiority of Western social orders to non-secular—especially Muslim—social orders. Their violence is seen as fanatical; our violence is seen as rational and peace making.Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict - Oxford ScholarshipThis has become part of our modern day problem now. It’s time to let the Legend go.

What does the record say?Murder rate: White America, like most Christian countries in the Americas, Africa and Eastern Europe, is markedly more violent than most of the Middle East (murders per 100,000 population):0.6 Bahrain0.7 Oman0.8 United Arab Emirates0.9 Qatar1.0 Saudi Arabia1.2 Egypt1.7 Cyprus1.8 Jordan2.0 Iraq2.1 Israel2.2 Kuwait2.2 Lebanon2.3 Syria3.0 Iran3.3 Turkey3.4 WHITE AMERICA4.1 Palestine4.2 YemenTerrorist attacks: According to the FBI, only 6% of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2005 were carried out by Muslim extremists. Even Jewish extremists carried out more (7%).War: Wars with at least a million dead:Christian wars:years: name: conservative body count in millions535-554: Gothic Wars: 5.0m790-1300: Reconquista: 7.0m1096-1272: Crusades: 2.0m1337-1453: Hundred Years’ War: 3.0m1562-1598: French Wars of Religion: 3.0m1568-1648: Dutch Revolt: 1.0m1618-1648: Thirty Years’ War: 3.0m1655-1660: Second Northern War: 3.0m1763-1864: Russian-Circassian War: 2.0m1792-1802: French Revolutionary Wars: 2.0m1803-1815: Napoleonic Wars: 3.5m1830-1903: War in Venezuela: 1.0m1882-1898: Conquests of Menelik II of Ethiopia: 5.0m1910-1920: Mexican Revolution: 1.0m1914-1918: First World War: 20.0m1917-1922: Russian Civil War: 5.0m1939-1945: Second World War: 41.5m (European deaths only)1946-1954: First Indochina War: 1.0m1950-1953: Korean War: 1.2m1955-1975: Vietnam War: 1.1m1998-2003: Second Congo War: 2.5mMuslim wars:1370-1405: Conquests of Tamerlane: 7.0m1681-1707: Conquests of Aurangzeb: 5.0m1967-1970: Nigerian Civil War: 1.0m1980-1988: Iran-Iraq War: 1.0m1983-2005: Second Sudanese Civil War: 1.0m1989-2001: Afghan Civil War: 1.4mSeven times more people have died in Christian wars: 113.8 million compared to the 16.4 million who died in Muslim wars.There are more Christians, but only about 50% more, nothing like seven times more.Western history is Eurocentric, so we know more about wars in Christian lands than in Muslim ones. But not for wars since 1900, and there the imbalance is even worse: 73.3 million compared to 4.4 millon – 17 times more dead in Christian wars.Some blame technology, yet the Muslim world has all the weapons the West had to kill over 100 million people. And yet it did not.Democide: counts those who died not through war or street crime but through the wilful in/action of government, like genocide or Mao’s Great Leap Forward.Christian democides of a million or more (does not count communist democides):940-1917: Russia (tsarist): 2.1m1095-1272: Crusades: 1.0m1451-1870: European slave trade: 17.3m1492-1900: Latin America: 13.8m Amerindians1600-1900: Caribbean: 10.0m slaves worked to death1618-1648; Thirty Years War: 5.8m1651-1987: British Empire: 1.1m (not counting slavery)1800-1900: Brazil: 1.5m Amazon rubber companies1900-1920: Mexico: 1.4m1933-1945: Germany (Nazis): 20.9m1945-1948: Poland: 1.6mMuslim democides of a million or more:400-1900: Iran: 2.0m1110-1918: Ottoman Empire: 3.9m1958-1987: Pakistan: 1.5m1983-2005: Sudan: 1.9m Nuer, Dinka, Christians, Nuba, etcChristians have killed eight times more people in democides than Muslims: 76.5 million compared to 9.3 million. Almost the same rate as for war.The mistake here lies not in the numbers but in the words “Christian” and “Muslim”. Sometimes religion is a cause – or at least an excuse – like in the bombings by Christian extremist Eric Rudolph or the genocide in Sudan. But most often it is not. Calling, say, the 9/11 terrorists “Muslim” is like calling Hitler “Christian”: true yet misleading. It is Islamophobia, not a serious attempt to understand the world as it is.Sources: Wikipedia, R.J. Rummel, FBI, Loonwatch, U.S. Department of Justice, List of countries by intentional homicide rate.