[GoLightly]

Because by then religion didn't have much power over the governments of most of the world. Most Christian countries had converted to democracy, a secular check against the crusades that the churches may have wanted to launch.

Religions, churches are institutions of men. When the leaders of institutions place themselves into the role of being absolute (God's) authority on Earth, bad things are bound to happen.

While I am not religious, I do like the check-and-balance system between the secular and religious that most Western countries have.

If the faith of a people leads them to have bloody thirsty beliefs, secular "balance" is pretty useless.

[thomaswest]

Re 245: If the faith of a people leads them to have bloody thirsty beliefs, secular "balance" is pretty useless. Was your comment directed toward Israel or terrorists in Hizbollah?

There seem to me to be fundamentalist factions on both sides. Each claiming to know "the will of God/Allah".

Just curious.