does religion have an influnce on violent acts such as war or genocide even smaller random acts of violence?

a-sassy-black-lady :   It depends on what religion you are referring to.  If you are referring to Christianity, then the answer is a definite no.  Unfortunately there are those, who in the past, did horrible things in the name of Christ, when all they really did is pursue their own godless agendas.  The Crusades and Hitler's holocaust comes to mind.

Disclaimer: Yet again, this is all my opinion.

a-sassy-black-lady : Some religion does cause violence, yes. Going back to the Crusades, to what happened in America in 2001 with the terrorists. The Holocaust didn't necessarily have to do with religion, because Hitler wasn't a religious person-he however was going after the Jewish people. 

I can't say if Christianity does or does not, because honestly I don't know. No religion is perfect, that's for sure. However, something to remember is that it's not necessarily the religion that causes violence to happen, but the people who do the violence, in the name of their God or whatever they call him. Violence is caused by the person, because it's their choice, not by what they may or may not believe.

Here's how this breaks down:

Religions do have influence on violence and war.

Religions do not inherently cause war.

I can't think of a single religion which preaches for people to go out and kill or destroy everyone that doesn't belong.  Jesus walked around and told everyone to be nice to each other.  Islam, Judaism, and others preach the same thing.  They don't call for war and they don't encourage it.

But religions are unifying forces, like flags on countries, sports teams, and charismatic leaders.  They united a group of people behind an idea and that idea can be twisted and turned to suit a person's desire or want.

Every religion has its dark times and leaders who brought conflict and violence under its banner.  Countless people died in the name of Christianity.  Many have died under Judaism or Islam.  Hindis have killed.  I don't think many Taoists or Buddhists have killed but it's outside the realm of possibility.

The original idea of religion is to encourage people to be nice to each other.  Humans use it to their own advantage.  But if not religion, we'd find something else to fight over.

I agree to the other posts, religion does have an influence on violence but not on war.  Sometimes people are blind to their belief and do things that's  opposite to what their belief actually says. One things for sure if you have two different people with different lifestyles and religions they might get into a confrontation argument about which god is better. "My god is higher than your god" or something on the lines of that. To me its a fight between different life styles and I don't understand why they can't swallow the concept that everyone is different and it's ok to be different. Jesus wanted all of us to have peace and make friends not war. Religion is supposed to unite people, not break them. But there's a number of people who would "preach" about  god or such and brainwash people to hate one another. Thinking that killing people will purge the world of violence and ignorance. That's the group of people we need to watch for. They would use gods name to justify killing people, I've seen it too much.

Certainly it does. There are large chunks in many texts (especially ) that condone killing those of the other faith.
The are also parts which forbid it.
To that end you have pacifist groups and militant ones.

It's naive to think war wouldn't occur without it, but there may well have been less of them.
The crusades wouldn't have happened, norwould the dark ages. It's likely wars of Conquest would have taken place though.
SoL@R :
"It depends on what religion you are referring to. If you are referring to Christianity, then the answer is a definite no".
Unless you are referring to cults, id advise you not to be such a hypocrite. There is plenty to condone war in the Bible.

tornadocam : I'm curious.  Which religions, as a whole, encourage violence?

thenumberone :  By your colorful comment to me, it is clear that you don't understand what being a true Christian is all about, which I understand 100% since you've made it clear in several past posts that you're a non-believer.  If you actually did, you would see that it's nowhere near the realm of religion.  I'm not insulting your intelligence, but religion refers to "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." or the short version, "a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects."  [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion]
The key word/s here is "rituals" and "practices" agreed upon by a group of people.  I don't have to crawl up a flight of stairs, lie on a bed of nails, pray a mantra three times a day facing the sun, pay a priest money to get my sins forgiven, perform jihad or do any other ritual trying to obtain a "higher state of being" or enlightenment.  You cannot by your own "good deeds", strength or by paying / killing someone, obtain everlasting life, in other words, go to heaven.  It's by repentance of sins and trust and faith in Jesus Christ alone that this is done.  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9).
I have been criticized in the past about this statement (cliché to some), even by my own peers, but for the sake of being technically correct, true Christians do not practice religion.  

I'm as usual going to go a bit off track again, but furthermore, you are wrongly implying that just because there were a lot of wars in the Bible, Christianity must be in some degree be responsible for violence.  Yes, The Old Testament records God killing multitudes of people (by Himself or using His nation Israel) and some people want to believe this makes Him a violent murderer. The misconception that “killing” and “murder” are synonymous is partially based on the King James mistranslation of the sixth commandment, which reads, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). However, the word kill is a translation of the Hebrew word, ratsach, which nearly always refers to intentional killing without cause. The correct rendering of this word is “murder,” and all modern translations render the command as “You shall not murder.” The Bible in Basic English best conveys its meaning: “Do not put anyone to death without cause.”  
In order for God to commit murder, He would have to act “unlawfully.” We must recognize that God is God, “His works are perfect, and all His ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 11:7;90:9), but if you're an unbeliever, I can understand that you will have difficulty with this.  He created man and expects obedience (Exodus 20:4-6; Exodus 23:21; 2 John 1:6). When man takes it upon himself to disobey God, he faces God’s wrath (Exodus 19:5; Exodus 23:21-22; Leviticus 26:14-18). Furthermore, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If [man] does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready” (Psalm 7:11-12).  Some would argue that executing the innocent is murder; thus, when God wipes out whole cities, He is committing murder. However, nowhere in scripture can we find where God killed “innocent” people. In fact, compared to God’s holiness, there is no such thing as an “innocent” person. All have sinned (Romans 3:23), and the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23a). God has “just cause” to wipe us all out; the fact that He doesn’t is proof of His mercy.

SoL@R :
Everything you say about Christianity can be said about Islam, and any other religion.
That they are in fact, religions of peace, that they are wrongly interpreted as being violent.

You incorrectly levitate your faith above everyone else's.
Most faiths have different sides, peaceful and violent, due to ambiguity and contrasting sections. You can argue that its misinterpretation, yet it could be, and is argued by other believers of your faith, that your interpretation is wrong.
You could have stated that you though Christianity didn't condone war,and explained why, but you took the opportunity to have a dig at every other faith instead.

The only thing that causes violence is the human that chooses to use it. When it comes down to an ideological war, ideas are just improvised weapons that have been modified by the person wielding them for their own use. This includes religions and all other ideas used in the name of violence.

thenumberone :  Everything you say about Christianity can be said about Islam, and any other religion.

Again, you have no idea what Christianity is about if you make this kind of statement.  I apologise if I came across as arrogant in my approach to this subject.  That's honestly not my intention.  I'm no better than you, or any other person on this forum.  None of us are good.  I have explained this on numerous posts.  I can waste your time and beat around the bush, but I choose the short route.  If you see or interpret it as "having a dig" at someone or someone, then I'm sorry.  It is what it is.  You cannot, once again, get to heaven by striving for it by your own strength.  God will not be bribed.  You can either choose man's word and man's efforts or God's word and His authority.  I chose the latter and that's what I'm basing my comments on.  It's not my opinion.  It's God's written Word.  I will always do my best to backup my comments with something solid.  I will not just throw a statement out there based on hearsay.  I am already so far off topic, so to show you and others why Christianity is unique, I have created this thread:  What makes Christianity unique among other World religions?

Here is my belief. Religion as such does not cause violence. Many have done terrible things in the name of religion, but religion is not the problem. Man's hardened hearts are to blame. Malice, hatred, jealousy, anger, racism even are the real causes of such acts of violence, the people who perform such acts know that they will be caught eventually, and often use religion as a fallback. You also have your twisted people out there who believe that GOD told them to do something evil--but that comes not from GOD but from the darkness that lurks in their souls. Even Islam does not cause violence. The true Muslim basically wants to live in peace and honor the person he feels is GOD in the way he feels best. Is that not true of us all. The problem is the radical ones. They do not want to be criticized or made fun of, so they would just rather wipe out all the other religions themselves and then claim to do it in the name of GOD. Unfortunately, the latter group is far more powerful than the former, and they are also the most well known. The crusades and the horrible acts committed in the Middle Ages were the result of the world's paganism seeping into the church. It took such a deep hold and root that it changed the face of Christianity for years and years. Once again, the cause was not religion but sin. Man's hearts are to blame.