Re: Is religion harmful?
The interaction of the catholic church, the papacy and primarily western europe had massive effects. Including the persecution of heretics and pagans around 400 and the orthodox-catholic split around 700. The larger interaction of islam and its neighbors is still with us. As Djilas said (in Wartime, his account of Jugoslavia 1941-5) the first excuse for people to kill each other is language, the second religion, the third politics but they don't need an excuse to kill each other.
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