Violence... The story so far

Two previous studies (2003 and 2009) were done on the Internet relating monotheism to violence. Here we add additional data that permit a deeper look. Toward that end the same eight "religions" (Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Christianity, Atheism as a control, Hinduism, and Confucianism) along with four phrases:

• "religious violence,"
• "ethnic violence,"
• "religious intolerance,"
• "ethnic intolerance,"

were used. The word pairs were not connected by "and" as in the earlier studies--inserting "and" returned virtually no data. The tabulated columns pay attention to the "Atheism Ratio" which ranks the various religions relative to Atheism on a per-capita basis. Google and Yahoo were used to develop the associations between the number of returns (as proxy for actual events) and the religion/violence phrases.

To say the least, we were surprised by the results. When paired with Judaism on both search engines, all phrases, positive or negative, returned top results relative to atheism and the other seven religions. This dominance in violence association is not marginal; it is huge. Results ranged from a low of 52 to a high of 703 multiples. That is multiples, or from 5,200% to 70,300%!! Such results are far too large to be accidental. They can not be artifacts. Compared with the second highest returns, the range is from a low of 2.0 to 84 multiples. These are still very dominant results-see below. All results are on a per-capita basis and relative to Atheism.

There are observations to be made:

• The three monotheisms do not form a cluster as they do in our other two studies.
• Judaism in all three studies is the dominant feature.
• The dominance of Judaism is like comparing Mount Everest with the heights of coral islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Phrasing in positive or negative terms has little effect on the rank order of any results.
• There must be something very unique about how Judaism is viewed. For some tentative ideas, jump to Interpretations.

GOOGLE
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Religious Violence	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	295,00	2,107	84
Sikhism	23	12,000	522	21
Buddhism	376	85,100	226	9
Christianity	2,100	141,000	67	2.7
Hinduism	900	55,200	61	2.4
Islam	1,500	63,700	42	1.7
Atheism	1,000	25,100	25	1.00
Confucianism	394	2,880	7	0.29

GOOGLE
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Ethnic Violence	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	64,600	4,614.3	703
Sikhism	23	5,680	247	38
Buddhism	376	34,200	91	14
Hinduism	900	27,800	31	4.7
Christianity	2,100	57,100	27	4.1
Islam	1,500	32,500	22	3.30
Atheism	1,000	6,560	6.6	1.0
Confucianism	394	1,630	4	0.63

GOOGLE
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Religious intolerance	Events/Mil.	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	46,800	3,343	52
Sikhism	23	38,800	1,687	26
Buddhism	376	70,700	188	2.9
Christianity	2,100	283,000	135	2.1
Atheism	1,000	98,000	98	1.5
Hinduism	900	84,400	94	1.4
Islam	1,500	97,100	65	1.00
Confucianism	394	3,530	9	0.14

GOOGLE
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Ethnic Intolerance	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	1,610	115	224
Sikhism	23	343	15	29
Buddhism	376	989	2.6	5.1
Christianity	2,100	4,840	2.3	4.5
Islam	1,500	2,820	1.9	3.7
Hinduism	900	946	1.1	2.0
Atheism	1,000	514	0.5	1.0
Confucianism	394	146	0.4	0.72

YAHOO
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Religious Violence	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio

Judaism	14	102,000	7,286	117
Sikhism	23	11,999	521.7	8.41
Buddhism	376	423,000	282	4.5
Christianity	2,100	89,600	238	3.8
Islam	1,500	232,000	110	1.7
Hinduism	900	96,380	107	1.7
Atheism	1,000	62,000	62	1.0
Confucianism	394	10,300	26	0.42

YAHOO
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Ethnic Violence	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	32,800	2,342	252
Islam	1,500	160,000	107	11.5
Buddhism	376	17,900	48	5.1
Christianity	2,100	80,600	38	4.1
Sikhism	23	11,999	36	3.9
Hinduism	900	96,380	19	2.0
Atheism	1,000	62,000	9	1.0
Confucianism	394	783	2.0	0.21

YAHOO
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Religious Intolerance	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	193,000	13,786	69
Sikhism	23	14,000	609	3.0
Islam	376	505,000	337	1.7
Buddhism	2,100	96,800	257	1.3
Christianity	1,500	468,000	223	1.1
Atheism	900	200,000	200	1.0
Hinduism	1,000	102,000	113	0.57
Confucianism	394	3,550	9.0	0.05

YAHOO
Paired term	Adherents Mil	Ethnic Intolerance	Events/Mil	Atheism Ratio
Judaism	14	935	67	210
Sikhism	23	8,050	5.4	17
Buddhism	376	33	1.4	4.5
Christianity	2,100	515	1.4	4.3
Islam	1,500	1,780	0.8	2.7
Hinduism	900	318	0.3	1.0
Atheism	1,000	257	0.3	1.0
Confucianism	394	25	0.1	0.2

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All major religions preach peace for humanity. Individuals who identify themselves as belonging to a religion are overwhelmingly peaceful as neighbors and members of their societies. The monotheisms have an uncomfortable history of having been hijacked by charismatic sociopaths who left vast wreckage in their wakes. Sociopaths can hijack any organization and all too frequently do. They have hijacked nations in our lifetimes.

"Short of a sociopathic leader who diverts the course of an entire nation, leading it into genocide or unnecessary war, the psychopathic killer is surely the most terrifying example of a psyche without a conscience..." Martha Stout

Justin A Frank MD, has more to say on that.


Whatever other conclusion one might draw, it is evident that Israel has a huge problem on its hands. And we do too--by association and exploitative actions toward others--as others see it. What we hear is something else--most commonly: "American Interests." We think democracy--if we think anything at all. In practice it is about resources, mainly oil. Our meddling in Iran before and during The Carter years led directly to the situation we now find ourselves in. That is only one example of hundreds, mostly covert and hidden. Such behavior persists even today. The dramatic expansion of foreign US military bases during the Bush years has not been rolled back. To be sure, Obama has begun a turning to the tide, but the degree is small, almost token in the larger scheme of things.

There are numerous factors that bring noise into results such as the forgoing from the Internet. Compilations do not rise anywhere near scientific validity where cause(s) and effect(s) are clearly defined with error bars. However, as a compilation, it is "descriptive science" in the sense that the life history of a flower or bee can be described by various observers, but not by identical words or emphasis. In that sense, the values we report are as valid as their repeatability. In our case, the same general pattern persisted through three separate search-engine searches. On that criterion, the heights of the Judaism peaks are so stratospheric and consistent, that day on day variations must be miniscule. The conclusion can only be that there is indeed something different about Zionism/Judaism association with violence that rises to an effective working hypothesis. What that something actually is remains to be found and proven.


The association between Zionism and violence is more than conjecture. For example, we ran the numbers on Zionism as a movement the same way we did religions and found that, per-capita, Zionism rates some 3 to 12 multiples higher than Judsism on the four violence intolerance scales. On the four individual terms of violence, Zionism per capita rated a whopping 580 multiples higher than Judaism. Zionist influence is strong indeed when analyzed for individual effects. No way can this be a meaningless or incidental result.

Is the per-capita measure the right way to look at it? Restating in terms of raw numbers, "Zionist," when paired with the six single words of violence used in the '03 study, returned some 670,000 search events for a registered membership of about 850,000 Zionists world-wide. Per capita, Zionists were 10,000 times as active in generating returns as the atheists were. The rest of humanity (6.3 billon) brought up only 620,000 pages for the violent words. Whatever the true interpretation, a small band, outnumbered 6000 to 1, generate more in Internet activity on six measures of violence than the rest of all humanity!

Our present take is that Zionism is giving rise to heated controversy and violence over Israel, Palestine and the US. The Internet is a usefull means for tracking that. Zionism does not describe the typical Jews we know personally. Uri Savir in his book "The Process" shows how much in common the Jews and Palestinians really do have. Yet we are reminded that it was a Jewish extremist who put an end to the Oslo Peace Process. The Zionists along with religious extremists everywhere are the sociopathic fringe of the Authoritarian Personality. In this case, in their behavior, the sociopathic Zionists happen to be Jews. Orthodox Jews recognize this. See their "Urgent Statement." Israel has been hijacked by those holding to sociopathic policies.

See Zionism for some of its pertinent history and the above quotes. For more on the Zionist mindset, see The Iron Wall by Avi Shlaim. Shlaim relates how an ardent early Zionist, Jabotinsky, foretold Israel's future accurately:he said that the Zionists would need an external benefactor, and, if it didn't dampen their militance, would end up living behind an Iron Wall. Both came to pass! It may be high irony, or low irony, that Jabotinsky has always been revered by the ruling-party leaders since the founding of Israel.

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The most common second-place finisher in the violence-per-captita listing is Sikhism. It shares one feature with Judaism--its small number of adherents. While the above features are logically sound and fit together, we should not take the actual numbers referenced as the last word. It is likely that part of what we see here is merely a population-size effect. Nevertheless, Judaism ranks so far above Sikhism, that there is still a problem. The range in rank order between Judaism and Sikhism, or other second place finisher, is on the order of two to 82 multiples-a "Lucifer effect" does seem to be acting!

Using Sikhism as the reference in judging the "Lucifer Effect" does not change our present interpretation.

It was Margaret Mead who captured the size effect:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Mead is exactly right. And it works for good or bad, war or peace.

The primary threat to human existence is the sociopathic/psychopathic (or even the more extreme narcissistic) personality.

Identifying sopciopathic folks early and establishing effective, and humane ways of limiting their destructive potential looks like the backbone of real progress toward permanent peace. Resistance to any such early labeling will come from two quarters: 1) Those who are in deep denial that nature and/or nurture can have such an effect, and 2) those who believe the right to individual privacy transcends the survival of our species.

A practical problem still remains: any movement toward controlling the violent fringes by these, or similar means, must be world-wide. The toughest nut to crack is right here in the West. So here is where we must start.

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These data are not a scientific sampling. Rather they are akin to an opinion pole. They show how strong the "political wind" is blowing. It is heavy indeed against Judaism, the surrogate for the Zionism. Oppressed for over two millennia, the Jews have become the oppressors toward their neighbors. Being good Authoritarian Personalities, most Israelis buy in and follow the Zionist's program unblinkingly.

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For some rational thoughts on religion and faith matters see wisdom commons.