Reply #35: I agree that these books are gross over-simplifications.

[Jim__]

To study the history of violence and/or war throughout human history is no simple undertaking. The number of variables, and the length of the history, make it a more difficult undertaking than the study of, say, economics which is not yet well understood even by experts.

The brief bit of history that the "new atheists" look at, and the purely anecdotal nature of their claims can only establish that religion has caused violence. But, they haven't even made the case that religion has, on net, caused violence. Their methodology, or rather, lack of methodology, make their investigations extremely susceptible to confirmation bias.