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 | "The death of one man is a tragedy; The death of a million is a statistic." This is commonly attributed to Joseph Stalin, although there is no evidence that he ever said it. |
| "Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god." Jean Rostand. |
| "People don't simply wake up one day and commit genocide. They start by setting themselves apart from others, diminishing the stature of those adhering to dissenting beliefs in small, insidious steps. They begin by saying, 'We're the righteous, and we'll tolerate those others.' And as the toleration diminishes over time, the inevitable harms are overlooked. It is for that reason that James Madison wisely wrote that 'it is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties'." Michael Newdow 1 |
Overview:
A individual's greatest enemy appears to be their own national government. One source estimates that "Nearly 170 million people probably have been murdered by governments in this [20th] century; over four-times those killed in combat in all international and domestic wars during the same years." 3Mass murder and genocide in recent years have involved:
| The execution of individuals who have simply decided to change their religion, |
| Mass murder of followers of a minority religion by members of a dominant religion, |
| Mass murder of followers of one faith group by others of the same religion. |
| Mass murder and genocide of an identifiable group for a variety of reasons. |
It appears that:
| The persecution and mass murder of European Jews by Christians from 306 to 1945 CE was the longest lasting mass crime against humanity. |
| The mass murder by the communist government of the USSR of 20 or more million of its citizens (1917 to 1987), and by the communist government of China of about 35 million of its citizens (1949 to 1987) probably involved the greatest loss of life. It is difficult to be certain because accurate data is impossible to obtain. Governments normally do not publish figures for the number of their citizens that they murder. |
Topics covered in this section are:
Related essays at this website:
| The 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| Human rights defined, denied and restored: State sovereignty vs. individual human rights |
| Currently active civil disturbances and wars with a religious component |
References:
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Michael Newdow, "Judge Roy Moore Deserves Jail. How is this in any way different from David Koresh's refusal to abide by the commands of the federal agents in Waco?," Beliefnet.com, 2003-AUG, at: http://www.beliefnet.com/
- "Genocide," at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/
- "20th Century Democide," at: http://www.mega.nu:8080/
- Raphael Lemkin, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe," (1944), Page 79.
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or: Home page > Religious violence > here |
Copyright © 2001 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JAN-1, at the beginning of a new millennium
Latest update: 2008-DEC-16
Author: B.A. Robinson
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