Quote: While many evil things have been done in the name of Christ, the words of Christ and his disciples cannot be used to justify them.
Sorry Larry, I have to disagree with you. The way YOU and I interpret the Bible means that the words of Christ can't be used to justify them, but just as with Muslim fanatics, Christian fanatics have been successfully pulling verses from the Bible and twisting them for over 2 millenia to justify their actions. It may be easier to find scripture in the Koran that can be used to incite violence, but man is unfortunately possessive of a very good imagination and the ability to find justification for anything he/she desires. And were many of these actions isolated to JUST the fanatics, then it would be one thing, but many of these actions were if not openly endorsed and promulgated by the Catholic Church, they were certainly supported behind closed doors. Pretty much the entire native population of South America was wiped out under the guise of "converting" the savages to Catholicism, as was the Inquisition in rooting out "heretics". That many of the victims also served political gains (power, and gold in South America, political enemies in Europe) by being declared heretics or incorrible and done away was mere coincidence I'm sure! While there were excesses during the Moslem overrun of eastern Europe and northern Africa (just as there are in any invasion), the later Moslems also allowed enclaves of Christianity to thrive within their midst, as well as preserving early Christian and pre-Christian documents and artifacts.
