The Effects of Religious Intolerance in Societies In the world we live in today, every continent, city and smaller village has some sort of set of beliefs. Religious belief often has the greatest impact on societies due to religion's ability to shape social laws, boundaries, and sometimes exert complete influence on government systems. However, since religion is left to the interpretation of its audience, religion itself can only be as peaceful or violent as its followers make it. When religious beliefs are paired with religious intolerance, and people willing to act on that intolerance, religious beliefs can take a turn toward violence, death, and destruction. Religious intolerance is the unwillingness to tolerate another's religious beliefs or practices. In 1478, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I established the Spanish Inquisition, intending to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their country and territories. The inquisitions were prisons designed to “convert” and punish people of Jewish and Islamic beliefs or anyone else who disagreed with the ideals of the Catholic Church. Over a period of 350 years, an estimated 125,000 prisoners of the Inquisition were "investigated", tortured and starved. In 1095 Pope Urban II convinced many Christians that it was not a sin to kill non-Christians or non-believers. Urban II then proclaimed that all Christians who were willing to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land would be forgiven of their past sins and accepted into heaven and so the Crusades began. Despite the many beliefs shared by Muslims and Christians, the Crusaders felt justified by God in the violent massacre of Muslim peoples. In retaliation, Muslims organized their own crusades against Christian peoples. It is believed that when the Crusades finally ended in 1291, the total death toll reached somewhere between 1 million and 3 million people, but the religious struggles for dominance in the Holy Land still continue even in the most basic tenets of Buddhism, it is understood that all beings have the right to life, life should be respected, and people should refrain from suppressing all life. Yet, currently in the country of Myanmar, extremist Buddhist monks preach religious superiority and are waging genocide against Myanmar's religious minorities, especially Muslims, down to women and children. To make matters worse, Myanmar government officials (exclusively Buddhist) have passed laws that aid in the persecution of minorities. According to some local reports, government authorities are tracking down and arresting religious minorities without reason. So the arrested people have not been seen or heard from since then. With the known death toll of Myanmar's Muslims and other minority groups rising, and with the Myanmar government publicly admitting to having "lost" large numbers of people within the religious minority, suspicions that the Myanmar government is by contributing to this religious genocide they justified themselves.