Just like there are violent and non-violent people, there are violent and non-violent religions. In fact, they often go together.

Not surprisingly, violent people who profess violent religious beliefs have frequently been on the receiving end of physical or psychological violence themselves. That's why child abuse and domestic violence are common among violent religious sects and cults.

Members of these violent religious sects who act out their misanthropic beliefs through domestic or political violence sometimes become, much to their chagrin, the target of moral and legal sanction. For those that aren't damaged beyond repair, there is hope they will subsequently modify their behavior if not beliefs; for those who cannot, there is rarely mercy.

http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_02_24_a_damaged.htm