Faith at war............

[dimbear]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2013/11/faith-at-war/
(snip)
War has shaped the foundation of major religions

The obvious example here is the rise of Islam, which would not have achieved the worldwide impact it did without the military successes of the Arab armies. The political consequence of that movement ultimately destroyed what had been one of the world’s great world religions, namely Zoroastrianism, which today survives only on a tiny scale.

If military and imperial affairs had worked out differently – if for instance the Roman and Persian empires had not weakened each other so appallingly in their long wars between 530 and 630 or so – then conceivably the Islamic movement would have been strangled at birth.
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Looks like a promising series of posts. I notice last week marked the anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, one of the most important quarrels ever to religious folks.

[Laelth]

1. Interesting. Bookmarking. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[rug]

2. He did an interview with NPR a few years ago that's right up your alley.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788&ps=cprs

7:23 audio.

[dimbear]

3. Excellent catch, rug.

Definitely worth a read at that link.