As civilization enters a global “information age,” some things that were not always obvious in the past, are becoming more and more obvious — almost to the point of “crystal clear.” Religion is the root of all evil, and continues to be used for evil purposes by all sides.
Shiite Islam? Guilty. Christians? Guilty. Hindus? Guilty. Monks? Guilty. Jews? Guilty!
Shiite Muslims:
Hassan Nasrallah
Religion: Shiite Islam
Who is he?: Secretary-General of Hezbollah
Country: Lebanon
Quote: “If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak, and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology, and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice I do not say the Israeli.”
Christianity:
Joseph Kony
Religion: Christianity/personality cult
Who is he?: Commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)
Country: Uganda
Quote: “[The spirits] speak to me. They load through me. They will tell us what is going to happen. They say ‘You, Mr. Joseph, tell your people that the enemy is planning to come and attack.’ They will come like dreaming; they will tell us everything.”
Hinduism:
Yogi Adityanath
Religion: Hinduism
Who is he?: Religious leader and member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous province
Country: India
Quote: “I want Muslim votes, too. But wash them in Gangajal [Ganges water] first.”
Buddhist Monks:
Athuraliye Rathana
Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Who is he?: Monk and member of parliament
Country: Sri Lanka
Quote: “Peace negotiations simply made the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] stronger. We mustn’t talk to them; we can crush the LTTE. It is like surgery.”
Jews:
Dov Lior
Religion: Hasidic Judaism
Who is he?: Head rabbi of Kiryat Arba settlement
Country: Israel
Quote: “A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew’s fingernail.”
Free Tibet? Free Palestine? Even “thou shalt not kill?” All slogans for the religious zealots to prove to themselves and their peers that they have god-given authority to murder the opposition. Therefore, remove religious authority from this straight-forward equation, and you get just a little bit closer to peace.
Rational Russian -- Withering Lies 
I can’t speak for Islam, because I haven’t studied it enough yet. But every other religion/belief that you mention on this page has a “holy book” or “founding writings” of some sort that forbid the kinds of evil you are suggesting in the quotes. That means that the people you are quoting weren’t actually followers of those religions. Instead, they took something and abused it for their own power.
You can abuse just about anything for power, really. For instance, I noticed that Atheism didn’t make your list. Have you considered the lives of Lennin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot? Even Hitler? Some of these people were not open about their beliefs while alive, but others clearly followed no religion. Nevertheless, they led forth in the killings of many, many people.
Regardless, it looks like man is pretty good at being evil, with or without religion. Maybe it’s man that’s the problem, and not religion? There might even be hope in one of those belief systems you’re calling guilty. You just need to see how people that don’t abuse it live. What does it look like to REALLY be a follower of that belief system?
Please know that I too am frustrated at the evil in the world. But man with no religion has an ugly track record. You can’t ignore or deny that.
Comment by Jeff — November 21, 2011 @ 2:58 am