What are the stats on the number of people killed/persecuted in the name of Christianity compared to secularism?

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Are there any credible sources that discuss this?

I have heard from EWTN radio that the number of people who died from the whole history of Christianity was actually less than the number of people killed from WWII itself.

This would also be a good reference point for the “Christianity has caused nothing but destruction and war” types.
 
Just cite Robert Conquest and Alexander Solzhenitsyn and say Stalin killed millions of people. (Or you could instead look at the Soviet archives for a more reasonable and less embellished assessment.)

But some people may site the indigenous people who died in the “New World” and from Western colonization and famines that may be influenced by the Church.
 
This website is fantastic for comparing the deaths from historical conflicts, with a focus on WW2. It has some interactive features so you can compare both civilian and military deaths. There were ~70 million deaths from WW2 alone, quite shocking when you see the detail.
The Fallen of World War II

While this is great data for perspective, it’s a complicated subject. In some conflicts Christians were pure of heart and in others, countries were seeking new wealth in the name of Christianity. It would seem easier to argue that we are human (sinners) and fail to live up to our code of conduct (10 commandments). I wonder how many would have died if paganism was the predominant religion?

You also need to consider the perspective of total population during each conflict.
Ben_Sinner said:
Are there any credible sources that discuss this?

I have heard from EWTN radio that the number of people who died from the whole history of Christianity was actually less than the number of people killed from WWII itself.

This would also be a good reference point for the “Christianity has caused nothing but destruction and war” types.
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Not convinced it’s close at all, at least not since 1900. Think of Stalin and Mao, for starters.
 
Who killed the 20-30 million Soviet citizens in the Gulag Archipelago – secular government or Christianity … Who deliberately caused 75 million Chinese to starve to death – secular government or Christianity? … Would there have been a Holocaust without the huge Nazi state? Whatever Christianity has done is dwarfed by the monstrous crimes … committed by secular governments.
 
What are the stats
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The book “The Black Book of Communism” puts the number murdered by the communists, through starvation, or whatever, at 100 million.

Later, a book published called “Mao’s Great Famine” added 50 million killed under Mao.

I am not certain how these numbers factor together,

God bless, Annem
 
annem said:
The book “The Black Book of Communism” puts the number murdered by the communists, through starvation, or whatever, at 100 million.

Later, a book published called “Mao’s Great Famine” added 50 million killed under Mao.

I am not certain how these numbers factor together,

God bless, Annem
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Those numbers are hyperbole. The Soviet archives reveal the true extent of the repression of the Stalin CCCP, and it is an order of a magnitude smaller.
 
Latias Those numbers are hyperbole.
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Hi. I have a copy of “The Black Book of Communism” and would be delighted to give you information on how the numbers were determined, which appear quite legitimate to me. I also have a copy of Conquest’s “Harvest of Sorrow” in my library so I could look up anything you like in that book, this minute if you like.

Whereas I find your claim:
But some people may site the indigenous people who died in the “New World” and from Western colonization and famines that may be influenced by the Church.
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very questionable.

God bless you, Annem
 
annem said:
Hi. I have a copy of “The Black Book of Communism” and would be delighted to give you information on how the numbers were determined, which appear quite legitimate to me. I also have a copy of Conquest’s “Harvest of Sorrow” in my library so I could look up anything you like in that book, this minute if you like.

Whereas I find your claim:

very questionable.

God bless you, Annem
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So you do deny that many (likely millions) indigenous people have perished in the new world due to conquest, disease, and economic exploitation?

I linked to some papers that accessed the extent of Soviet repression using information from the Soviet archives.
 
Latias So you do deny that many (likely millions) indigenous people have perished in the new world due to conquest, disease, and economic exploitation?
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Dear Latias, why is your very first thought to give the usual leftist song and dance? Economic exploitation? Come on, what does that even have to do with the topic? The topic was the total number of people killed by Christianity. And you’re going to add the people who caught measles? As if that was the fault of the Christians before the mechanism for the transfer of disease was known?? How do you figure to place the blame for syphilis and the black death?

And why are you putting so much tender, trusting faith in the archives of the former communists…because, apparently, the former communists would have no reason to lie?

May God bless you and flood you with miracles, Annem
 
annem said:
Dear Latias, why is your very first thought to give the usual leftist song and dance? Economic exploitation? Come on, what does that even have to do with the topic? The topic was the total number of people killed by Christianity. And you’re going to add the people who caught measles? As if that was the fault of the Christians before the mechanism for the transfer of disease was known?? How do you figure to place the blame for syphilis and the black death?

And why are you putting so much tender, trusting faith in the archives of the former communists…because, apparently, the former communists would have no reason to lie?

May God bless you and flood you with miracles, Annem
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So the notion that the indigenous people could have been exploited through repartimento is just “leftist song and dance” or even the notion that people can be economically exploited?

Most of the deaths in the gulags were from diseases, especially during World War II where antibiotics were not even invented and there was a shortage of supplies.

The archives of the internment data do not appear to fabricated. They were kept in order to administer the gulag and allocate resources and institute production quotas. It seems like that people reject the figures from the archives because they conflict with inflated figures from anti-communist “scholarship”.
 
It does not matter.

The American Humanist Society has a slogan called “Deed not creed”, which I thinks applies here too.

If a man walks up to me in the park and shoots me in the head, I am not going to care why he murdered me. Here is a conversation that will not happen.

Me: “But why?”
Gunman: “I want to rummage through your pockets to pick your wallet.”
Me: “At least you didn’t shoot me in the name of a religion or an ideology.”
Gunman: “Or because of your race.”
Me: “Yep, those motives would have made it worse and oh boy I’m losing a lot of blood”.

Likewise, many “religions killings” had Earthly motivations. Is it a coincidence that the Crusaders gained lots of land and gold? Or that converting to Protestantism gave King Henry VIII an excuse to steal all the land and wealth of Britain’s catholic monasteries?
 
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