Why? From my earliest memories as a child the one thing that has seemed self-evident to me is that religions pretty much pit humans against each other. Your tribe against mine. That's what it's all about. That's what humans are. That's what we do. Violence is the ordinary. Peace and respect are the shocking things.
Not saying I like it that way. Just saying that's how it is. Parents don't do their children any favors by hiding the hard nature of the world/humanity from them when they are young. Nor are they helping them by creating a false world for them to live in where everything is safe and certain. Because when that facade gets ripped away and the truth is exposed, it can be quite traumatic.
{Your tribe against mine. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what humans are. That’s what we do. Violence is the ordinary. Peace and respect are the shocking things.}
I’ve been a Catholic all of my life and during my growing up I never experienced a single instance of the thoughts and experiences you just wrote about.
You talk of a ‘dog eat dog’ world and that was is just foreign to me.
You grew up in a whole different environment than I did.
How about some manipulation. Someone stirring the pot to blame human nature on belief systems. Commies brag about busting up a country in such a fashion.