Is the Bar Half-Low or Half-High?

Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong
New York : Anchor Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2015.
1st Anchor Bks. Ed., September 2015.
518 p. ; 21 cm.

This book took me longer to read than I would have liked, and it is book that would be better to read in a few long sittings instead of over many short readings as I have done.  That being said, it is quite a read and worth spending some time with.

Reviewers have commented on the breadth of coverage and expertise of Armstrong - and those are impressive.  I think one of the most interesting things is my sense that Armstrong wanted to write a book debunking the idea that religion - in and of itself - has added to the severity of human violence.  I think she does a pretty good job of showing how in the place of religion, other secular ideologies (might one say idolatries?) such as rabid nationalism have proven equal to any of the barbarities committed with the sanction of religion. She also notes how within the major religions there have been tendencies that have sought to address and oppose systemic violence.  However,  I found it striking that in redeeming religion from the burden of being especially at fault for violence, her book in some ways indicts religion as being no better than any human/secular ideas and institutions.  Given that religion lays claim to being connected to power(s) far beyond those of mere human creations, it really is scandalous that religion's relation to violence has been no better than that of many human institutions. 

In essence religion comes out seeming like just another factor or tool in human struggles to amass power versus human resistance to oppressions by the powerful. At times, virtually all religions have been a force for decency and progress, while at other times they have joined and reinforced the most repressive and regressive policies of the powerful.