Not only Islam, all faiths waged wars

To the Editor:

Alvin Gordon (Sept. 29) singles out Islam as not being a peaceful religion, implying that other religions are.  In fact, Christians, Jews, Hindus, and even the - supposedly pacifist - Buddhists have committed their share of horrors over the centuries.  And they all invoke “God.”  Here’s a very short list: Charlemagne’s wars against pagan; tribes; the Crusaders’ massacres of unarmed “heretics,” Jews and Muslims; the warriors of Bohdan Khmelnytsky who murdered at least 200,000 Jews; the Protestants and Catholics of the Thirty Years’ War who persecuted, tortured, and massacred each other on a continental scale; Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 innocent Muslims; the “settlers” in the West Bank who claim that “God” gave them the land;  the Hindus and Buddhists who murdered each other in Sri Lanka; the Buddhists of Myanmar who massacred and expelled the Muslim Rohyngia people.  I could go on.   See the book, “Acts of God: a Primer for Atheists, Agnostics, and Those Who Have Lapsed.”

Maurice Wolfthal