I am reading this new book by Karen Armstrong called, Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. It is really putting a lot of things into perspective for me. Turns out, until recently, religion and statehood were completely intertwined. State violence has been the order of the day since the beginning of civilization.  Nationalism and religion went hand in hand and violence was completely justified as a way of survival by the ruling elite who quite often were the priests and the prelates.

Here is a quote from the book which I quite like.

We are flawed creatures with violent hearts that long for peace.