If you picked number two, you'd fit with the majority of western civilization. For example, when Europeans were asked what was the biggest threat to the world today, right below the United States was "religious extremism". Ask the average American the question posed above, and invariably the answer will be the same.
Quite frequently in conversation if one mentions the positive effects of religion (without mentioning a specific creed), those who disagree invariably they bring up the Crusades, the Orthodox Church before the Soviet Revolution, the Inquisition, or Northern Ireland. Rarely mentioned are suicide bombers, although they -according to their own admission- are religious in nature.
While it is certainly true that thousands have died in the name of religion, many more have died in the past 100 years at the hands of those who openly scorned it. Consider the following:
- Hitler killed over 12 million, 6 million of them Jews. (note:Many try to assert that Hitler tried to use the Bible as basis for his campaign against the Jews. However, in Mein Kampf, his blueprint of sorts, no mention is made in the nearly 700 pages as to a personal belief in Jesus or the Bible as his basis for his hatred.)
- Lenin killed 10-13 million, depending on whether or not you count only exectutions or include those who were intentionally starved or worked to death.
- Stalin killed 30 million.
- Mao killed 60 million.
- Pol Pot killed 2 million. At first, this seems like a small number, but this was nearly one in eight Cambodians who were murdered.
