"Almost every holy war or conflict ostensibly grounded in religious hostility has actually been far more to do with politics and downright naked imperialism. And I think the same applies to accusations about atheism waging wars on religion. Wars are about jostling for power and domination on the one hand and freedom-fighting on the other. God may be a convenient wagon to hitch your war-horses to in order to sucker people into your quest for dominion, but it's a rickety owld thing that usually ends up in a ditch before you reach your battlefield. Same applies to atheism. Why wouldn't it?"

Steve, you are overlooking the fact that political figures who indulge in "imperialism"
are often "true believers" which puts their domination on a religious footing. God may be a convenient wagon but aside from Karl Rove, many of these committed warlords and "dominionists " owe their destructive fanaticism to their religious beliefs. This ultimately is why war prevails in our world. Religion often rationalizes the degradation of the "other". Preachers in the pulpit today fanatically believe that Christian domination is the only moral way for the U.S. to conduct its laws. This is not a manipulation in the political sense as we've come to know it but a fervent sick belief system that keeps mankind in a loggerhead of conflict.