Religious violence is hard to understand in some ways, and easy to understand in others. If a reader is reading objectively, and happens to peruse some of the earliest pages of the Bible and the Koran, respectively, he or she may be shocked at what resides there. Again, simply by reading objectively, the reader can discern the degree of favoritism patently shown in these books, which make many attempts to lionize one particular religion and vilify virtually all of the others. For instance, there are certain passages in Genesis in which God is speaking to Abraham and is promising him that he will deliver him land (Genesis 15). Why does God need land, the prudent reader might wonder? Why do his 'chosen people' need land, and if so, why are there other 'non-chosen' people living on it, then? The answer, unfortunately, appears to be to justify religious violence. There are...
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