Bloody, cruel warfare has taken place because of religious discrepancies. Many wars have been started and fought in the name of religion. Leaders have contradicted their beliefs and mislead their followers into harmful and hateful situations, which could have been easily avoided through reason.

Religion is defined as not only being a belief in an afterlife and worship of your creator; it is also what individuals believe to be as rules and morals to live by. In most cases, religion tells its followers what is right and wrong.

Whether personally having these beliefs or not, religion is supposed to be a guide to live a life of good morals. Wars such as the Crusades, the French Wars of Religion, and the Muslim Conquests, and the discrimination of groups in history and today, such as, others with different beliefs and ways of life, is a major contradiction to what religion stands for.

Killing or hurting a fellow human being is a sin in close to every religion. For someone to say that they are entering a war or harming someone else, in the name of their God or religion, is a complete contradiction of what a religious individual is supposed to stand for.

Religion has been an excuse for violence and hate. Any religious text can be manipulated to mean anything, and humans creating this violence use what they were taught and these excuses to keep change from taking place.

One statement can be agreed on: No one is born to hate. People, who hate, were taught to hate. Parents pass their hateful views onto their children, and they grow up believing the ones who raised them.
Hate and violence, in the name of religion, is smearing what religious beliefs stand for. With an open mind to others and their views, and a proper perspective on what religion truly is, the world may be able to be a more peaceful place.