Why were the late 16th and early 17th centuries an age of religious wars?
94267
these were the times (still in force nowadays )where quantities were worth much more than qualities .The more you have ,the power you got ,in one word ,the richer
474850
That time will never come because the two faiths seem to be different in their emphases. one preaches tolerance and peace, one says peace but  seem to encourage violence in defence of faith. Things could still change though!if people would understand the that there's only one God, that human Beings are too small to defend God. God  defends man and not man fighting for God.Further more, you can be fighting for God by killing His creatures-His precious children and think God would be Happy. It boils down to knowledge!Not going to school!Again, people who are involved in preaching religions should mind their ulterances! we keep hearing 'no religion preaches violence' and everyday we see religious people planting bombs in places of worship in the name of God!If we say we are peaceful religion let us see it in practice not only in principle!There's hope that some day, someone will understand that we are all one in God's sight and that human blood is very sacred!
680730
Most wars have been over land or political ideology.  Religion gets tacked on as an afterthought or an excuse to give the war an air of legitimacy when no other reason exists.  Very few wars have been soley over religion, although I do believe the current war is...whether western nations, ie christian, believe it or not....the islamists do.
308744
Religion just needs to stay out of politics. Once politics start getting influenced by one sect of religion facing up against another sect. It will most likely lead to civil war.
736927
nationalism and religion are the leading causes of war
1003599
Both world wars were in the 20th century. Also the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, etc. I think that most wars start as someones freedom of religion is denied.
1027861
I know for a while it was a close battle between mithraism and christianity..  Your facts are interesting but there's a lot of similarities between ALL religions when you look deep enough.
574454
A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. Some civil wars are also categorized as revolutions when major societal restructuring is a possible outcome of the conflict. An insurgency, whether successful or not, is likely to be classified as a civil war by some historians if, and only if, organized armies fight conventional battles. Other historians state the criteria for a civil war is that there must be prolonged violence between organized factions or defined regions of a country (conventionally fought or not).\n\nUltimately the distinction between a "civil war" and a "revolution" or other name is arbitrary, and determined by usage. The successful insurgency of the 1640s in England which led to the (temporary) overthrow of the monarchy became known as the English Civil War. The successful insurgency of the 1770s in British colonies in America, with organized armies fighting battles, came to be known as the American Revolution. In the United States, and in American-dominated sources, the term 'the civil war' almost always means the American Civil War, with other civil wars noted or inferred from context.\n\nWhat is generally agreed upon is that factors such as nationalism, religion, and ideology, played little role in pre-modern civil wars. While it is quite common for nationalists to read past revolts, such as those of Scotland against England as early stirrings of nationalism, this is a somewhat suspect notion. Religion is more contentious, there are some civil wars that can be seen as fueled by religion in early years, such as the Jewish Revolts against Rome, but these can also be seen as revolts by a servile people against their oppressors or uprisings by local notables in an attempt to gain independence.\n\nCivil wars fought over religion have tended to occur more frequently in monotheistic societies than in polytheistic societies; this has been explained as being due to the fact that the latter tend to be more "flexible" in terms of dogma, to allow for some latitude in belief. In Europe through the Middle Ages, the Christianity of the great bulk of the population was influenced by pagan tradition. With the great majority of the population illiterate, access to the Bible was limited and led to a significant amount of syncretism between Christian and pagan elements. With religion so loosely applied, it was rare for people to feel particularly oppressed by it. There were periodic appearances of heresies, such as that of the Albigensians, which led to violence, but historians tend to view these to be the product of peasant revolts rather than themselves motivators of a civil war.\n\nAs religions tended to become more rigidly defined and understood by their followers, inter-religious tensions generally increased. The rise of Islam witnessed a rash of uprisings against non-Islamic rulers soon after its appearance. Subsequent Islamic history has been marked by repeated civil conflicts, mostly stemming out of the Shi'ite-Sunni divide. In Europe the Protestant Reformation had a similar effect, sparking years of both civil and international wars of religion. Civil wars between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism consumed France in the Wars of Religion, the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War, Germany during the Thirty Years' War, and more recently, The Troubles of Northern Ireland. Religious disputes among Protestant sects also played an important role in the English Civil Wars, while official persecution of Catholics during the French Revolution spurred the Revolt in the Vendée.\n\n[edit]\nRevolutions\nA revolution is generally seen as a civil war fought over issues of ideology, over how power should be organized and distributed, not merely over which individuals hold it. The classic example of a revolution, and by some arguments the first is the French Revolution, which is seen to hav
544910
I prefer not to categorized by that obnoxious distinction.\n\n"Religion" has been the cause of most of the bloodiest wars in history. It is also determined by the United Nations to still be the number one cause of wars. Even today, that is why the United States is in Iraq.\n\nAlthough I was raised a  Christian, I have studied Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Gnosticism, most other religions as well as the philosophy of Buddhism.\n\nI've tried to take the best of these and reject the worst of these and combine them with my physics and scientific background to come to where I am now.\n\n"RELIGION" just sides each one against the other and too often blind people from seeing the overall picture.  It is beautiful, they do not know what they are missing.\n\nI guess you would call me "spiritual".
568022
Nostradamus?  that was in the 16th century though...
693039
Depends on the Church.  Even in those days, there were people with open minds who were drawn together, but if you were not in the majority religion of the time and place you lived in and you were vocal about your dissention, you could have been imprisoned, tortured and even put to death.\n\nYou asked if 400 years ago if you could have been imprisoned.  Well, the Spanish Inquisition was only 600 years ago and many people died.  Read more about it at the first link below: \n\n400 years ago was 1606 and in those days they were still burning, drowning and hanging witches in a number of countries. In Catalonia, more than 300 witches hanged between 1616 and 1619.  (See second link)\n\nSo, speaking out against the current organized religion of the area could get you tossed in with others.
100184
Religion is responsible for more war than anything else.  People believe that God is on their side and they think that others are wrong and therefore heretical and blasphemous.  It is an age old problem.\n\nWhen mankind lived on the African Savannah it was very important to identify with and support one's tribe or clan against all others, especially if they were different.  These traits are not as useful or necessary in today's world but they are there nonetheless.  Man has not learned to deal with them for what they are and kill each other unnecessarily.
354431
The Burning Times is the title Pagans have given to the time when hundreds of thousands of people — mostly women — were killed as Witches. The time period began roughly in the thirteenth century, reached its height in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and still occurs in many ways today.\nThis was not one country but started in Europe and also occurred in the US. Not all were burned.  Swimming the witch was one method.  In Salem MA one was pressed to death the rest were hung.\nWitch finder became a profession and went from town to town to finds the witches. No branch of religion was totally responsible but it covered many branches of Christians.\nThese people were victims of greed or fear.  Many were healers, widows, mad a neighbor, had a physical or personality difference from the accuser, or had something someone else wanted.\nFor Christians now to deny that their religion did not do this because it was not my denomination is false.  All Christian faiths have roots in what was before them.
233482
Wars can lead to more resouces, like money, land, oil, etc. It also can overthrow power and reestablish power, as the American Revolution and Civil War was. Boudica's war was about power and revenge, the Crusades were about power and religion.
779596
None.  They didn't exist when religious texts were written.
791814
none, because I want to accept things as I see them, not how others, and especially ancients see or saw them. the religions of today are to old and full of crap to be relevant in today's society. religion has caused more major wars in the history of mankind than any other single factor. Lack of religion has caused none. ever heard of an atheist st. petersburg? Have you ever heard of an athiest saying "i killed them because no god told me to"?
1139223
In the real world there are things called strategic resources which countries desperately need, they are willing to fight for them.  Also, religion makes people hate each other. ect.  It's not realistic that war will go away any time soon.