I think religion just made it easier for ambitious and mudereous kings to convince their soldiers and citizens on costly wars.

@Spongebob too real dawg. It will never get over. The hunger of humans over God

The fallback position of those who wish to avoid discussing the topic.

@PBuck0145 Oh I'm more than willing to discuss/debate the topic at hand BUT it should, as in ALL discussions/debates, encompass ALL points, etc, and not just the one singled out in the O.P.

I am from India

@Triphid I am much less qualified to talk about countries other than India, although not much qualified to talk about India either. You want to discuss this issue regarding USA? Go ahead.

Could you please clarify what you mean by "such places"?

@Spongebob I'm an Aussie born, bred and raised in Australia ( my blood heritage contains many and numerous peoples including Indigenous Australians, Sri-Lankan, Cherokee and Navajo American Indigenous peoples, etc, etc, btw) but by no means a biased , one-eyed person, hence my comment as to WHY you should ONLY point out 2 countries.
The U.S. set about wiping out the Indigenous Native Peoples from the very get - go did it not?
The British set about trying to obliterate the native cultures in EVERY land they invaded, Australia included, NO Western Nation/s etc, are blameless just as are the peoples of India, Arabia, etc, etc, would you not agree.

@Spongebob "Such places," = a simpler way of describing countries rather than typing in the entire listing of countries/nations as per the Atlas, etc, etc.

@Triphid no, I do not subscribe to the view that all cultures are equally culpable in genocides. I do not think history justifies such a claim, but I am willing to learn if you have such evidence. For example, there are no records of Hindu kings invading the middle east and murdering the civilians. Of course this doesn't imply that Hinduism is better than Islam. However, the history shows that in Islam vs Hinduism or any indic religion, Islam wins at having massacred more. So, while it is okay to claim that all religions are equally capable of committing genocide, it is wrong to claim that all of them have done so equally in the past. I think this is unnecessary false equivalence

@Triphid I see. I was wondering if you were committing the soft bigotry of low expectations

@Spongebob Historically speaking, Islam is still yet a baby when compared to the atrocities committed by Christianity.
Islam in its self is but about 600 years younger than Christianity and in that preceding 600 years + before the invention of Islam Christianity wiped out thousands upon thousands as it forced itself upon the know world of the times.
Hindu Kings did not invade the Middle East you imply, that may be so, BUT they fought amongst themselves did they not?
They subjugated others around them did they not?
As recently as the Struggle for Independence, did not Hindus battle with and kill Muslims and vice versa?
Does it not still occur from time to time even to this day?
Was not the Great Gandhi murdered by a Hindu?
Is not India still at odds, so to speak, with Islamic Pakistan?
Shall we mention the Stand-off situation between India and China or should we simply ignore that?

@Spongebob There is an old saying, " Always look before you leap," that also applies to 'leaping to conclusions.'

@Triphid yes, India Pakistan situation is due to religion. India China is different, it's mainly geopolitical. Gandhi was killed by a fanatic, but he was a casteist. I don't consider him great, but he was definitely a political leader. The link I provided lists out the Hindu Muslim violence you are referring to. Hindu kings did subjugate others, no question there. I have not yet come across genocide of civilians on the basis of hindu beliefs. There are lots of denominations such as Vaishnavas, Shaivas, Ganapateyas, and followers of Devi etc. There was political tension between these sects, but I do not know of any genocide committed on that basis. The biggest evil in Hinduism is caste and not fanatic murderous zeal

If religion weren't the cause for the violence, then it would be race, or class, or gender, or sexuality, etc. It has very little to do with religion and more to do with group think & tribalism as an innate trait of our species. We will always persecute the minority. Just look to our own country for evidence of this.

I prefer Ricky's viewpoint.

@Nunya bullcrap, when has religion been the minority? Religion is the cause for most deaths in the history of mankind. I blame religions not anything innate.

@Nunya definitely, but it appears that in the world, religion is the main vector along which genocides are committed. That and race/colonialism. Just because we could be killing each other over some other trait doesn't make the religious violence less harmful or banal

Consider yourself previleged if you can safely ignore religious violence

@Spongebob who is ignoring it? I see it as real and all I said is that all their brainwashed followers can go ahead and kill each other. The less of these idiots in the world, the better for the rest of the world that does not engage in their lunacy.