Karen Armstrong examines the knotted history of religion and violence
In a time when Muslim extremists quote the Koran as they behead their victims, it can be easy to assume that religions contain what Karen Armstrong calls “a violent essence.” She knows that many people think that “once combatants are convinced that God is on their side, compromise becomes impossible.” In her new book, this master explainer of comparative religion traverses nearly 7,000 years of human history to prove that idea wrong.