Why is anti-Christian bigot running the Christianity section?

I don't think that it matters so much who killed who. If you read the gospels then you will know that the message that Jesus preached was a message of nonviolence. But there are always wars, its human nature, not the nature of the gospel.

I especially love how Jesus reacted to violence. There are a few other instances where this happened but the one I am thinking of now is luke 4:28-30

"So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way."

Jesus was about to get thrown over a cliff by an angry mob, but instead just went through "the midst of them." LOL. I especially love verses like these. It is practically as impressive as any of the miracles Jesus performed. He just cloaks Himself and passes through angry mobs. But even in the face of violence, still He did not turn to violence.

Then there is everything about turning the other cheek and loving your brother. And then maybe the most definitive answer to violence comes when Peter cut off the ear of the ear of the servant of the high priest and Jesus rebuked him and said matthew 26:52

"Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

 

I think you're probably right about wars and killing being "human nature". Reliable statistics are hard to come by, but Steven Pinker, psychologist and atheist, does a good job in The Better Angels of Our Nature in showing that violence has been with us since the dawn of humanity, and that we've actually made progress in taming it. In fact, our closest primate ancestors, the chimps, who live in communities of up to 150 individuals, will attack members of a different group, sometimes engaging in levels of violence that seem almost sadistic. Since the chimps aren't noted for their religiosity, we can assume that the precipitating cause was territorial. Fast forward to humans and their immediate ancestors. Homo Heidelbergensis, common ancestor to Neanderthals and us, left butchered human bones some 800,000 years ago, suggesting cannibalism. Pinker has a nice chart on p. 49 based on forensic evidence of human remains in prehistoric archaeological sites studied by Bowles (2009) and Keeley (1996); well before contact with state societies. Evidence of death by violent means averages 15%. A similar pattern can be found among present-day hunter-gatherers--violent deaths averaging 14%. Depictions of human combat on the walls of caves--some over 6,000 years old, also suggest that it's been around for a long time. Anthropologists studying the mostly animist religions of these societies find nothing in the religious belief systems that would suggest some kind of impetus toward violence . Again, the causes seem to have been territory, loot (including meals), and deterrence--as Thomas Hobbes astutely predicted in the 17th century. Historian Quincy Wright estimates the death rate from war in Seventeenth Century Europe, the heyday of Christian religious warfare, at 2%. A Study of War, 1965.

I also agree with you about Jesus' teachings re peace, love and understanding. That's the main reason I'm a Christian. Unfortunately, early on, Paul made it mainly about Jesus' death instead of His teachings, accepting His sacrifice and resurrection and enjoying a happy afterlife. Possibly the most tragic irony of history is the way in which Constantine transformed the Prince of Peace into General Jesus by crediting Him for his victory over his rival in battle. It went downhill from there. Most wars have not been about religion, but religion played a role in many of them--especially the Crusades and the Sixteenth and Seventeenth century warfare between Catholics and Protestants. And the biggest killers seem to be the secular religions of the modern era, including nationalism, fascism and Marxism-Leninism. The phenomenon by which Communist idealists denied or overlooked the mass atrocities of Stalin in the expectation that he would eventually fulfill the dream of classless society is a testimony to the power of irrational belief, which lies at the root of all religious extremism.

 

Bigotry is kind of interesting to pick at.

I find that it's entirely avoidable, particularly if you are from recent generations...
I think that it is firmly seated in oral tradition. We've heard it before. Some of us are more inclined to repeat it than are others, and I think this has to do with knowing an alternative exists and the language/discussion around racism, what it means, what it does, and how important it is to the people in our lives.

I express disdain whenever I'm given the opportunity for anything remotely similar to prejudice.