Quote:
Originally Posted by Extreme Coder  Some of the Islamic expansions were made by war and force, other Islamic expansions were made by 'enlightenment'(don't know the exact word for it in English)
But I doubt any religion could've spread easily without some force. I could be wrong though.
Extreme Coder |
Buddhism is an example of a religion which expended with very little violence .
I am not familliar with any example of violence commited 'in the name of Buddhism'. Buddhism spread mainly through scholars and through the fact that it was adopted by China (thus influencing Japan, Korea , Vietnam....)
One of the problems I have with monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) is that their One-God-Policy often extends into a monopoly over the truth. "There is only one God and if you belive in something else ,you must be wrong". It is very difficult to be tolerant (though not impossible) with this attitude.
Looking at history , I think the Christians were usually the least tolerant , untill the 20th century they often had a 'convert or die' policy ,a Christian South America is one of the results.
The Muslims were more tolerant , they were especially kind to Jews (again ,until the 20th century) and to Christians living among them. However they were not very nice to 'heathens', hence the burning of temples and killing of Buddhists and Hindus in North India. Buddhist culture in North India and Afghanistan virtually disappeared after the Muslim invasion . It is difficult to find non-Muslims in Muslim countries these