My proposed solution to religiously motivated wars:

[rzemanfl]

1. Clear several areas of desert somewhere and park two tanks in each, fully fueled and stocked with ammo, several miles apart. Weld all the doors and hatches shut. One tank for each religion, cult or whatever.

2. Each religion, cult or whatever gets to pick a hundred of its best prayers for a prayer team, who pray for their team to win as many hours a day as they want. Their adherents can play along at home or wherever they do their best praying.

3. The first religion that gets their God to start the motor on their tank, load a shell, drive it within range and take out the other tank wins and gets to convert everyone else.

When all the members of the original prayer teams have died and gone to their particular flavors of afterlife, the game is over.

[spindoctor]

1. A war is never religiously motivated

Let's see if I can quote Stan Goff from memory: "For every military agenda there is always a corresponding economical and political agenda".

[rzemanfl]

3. That's the truth and what the leaders know. The folks that have

to do the fighting get the version Dylan figured out.

[3waygeek]

4. Smedley Butler put it more succinctly...

War is a racket.

[davhill]

5. Religion is a good motivator

Evil leaders use it to manipulate people into doing things to each other they would not ordinarily do.

[Kutjara]

2. Nice idea. Unfortunately,...

...variations on it have been tried throughout history. What tends to happen is that the losing side interprets their loss as the result of their God's "displeasure" with their lifestyle, and so becomes even more fundamentalist and psychopathic in their efforts to "please God." The winning side is convinced of the supremacy of their God and becomes ever more arrogant and intolerant.

The only solution to religious wars is the end of religion. And then we'll find some other pathetic ideology about which to slaughter each other.

[baldguy]

6. Imagine no possessions, and no religion too...

[Kutjara]

7. I wish I shared John's optimism.

I think we'd still find reasons to kill, even in a selfless world. Like maybe over who's concept of selflessness is more selfless than anyone else's.

[baldguy]

8. You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

[Kutjara]

9. I hope you're right.

I really do.

[mmonk]

10. We're fighting for oil and hegemony. So are our terrorist financing allies.

Religion is just an excuse in the world.