Wars in the Name of God

A religious war is a war caused by, or rationalized by, religious differences. It can involve an established religion against a different religion or a sect in the same religion, or a religiously inspired group trying to force its faith by violence, or suppression of another group because of its religious beliefs or practices. The most famous of this type of war are The French Wars, the Crusades, the Thirty Year’s War and the Muslim conquests.

A series of military campaigns that took place during the 11th through 13th centuries was called The Crusades, originally, the goal was to recapture the Holy Land and suppress the expansion into Asia Minor and Europe proper by the Muslims. Later Crusades against other societies for religious reasons or because of political conflicts. In 1095, the Pope and church was involved in a war that was called a Holy war.  In 16th Century France there was a succession of wars between Protestants and Roman Catholics called as the French Wars. In the first half of the 17th century, the Germans, Sweden, and Poland were  inundated by religious wars in the Thirty Years War,  Roman Catholicism and Protestantism France did take the side of the Protestants for political reasons as the country was a country of Catholicism.

In the Middle Ages, religion was a major factor in fostering anti-Semitism. Though not part of Roman Catholic beliefs, many Christians including members of the clergy viewed the Jewish people responsible for the killing of Jesus.  Both the Jews present at Jesus’ death and the Jewish people collectively committed the sin of deicide, or God killing. For 1900 years of Christian-Jewish history, the charge of deicide has led to hatred, violence against and murder of Jews in Europe and America. 

This status was reputed in the 1960’s with the support of the Pope.