It's always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.

On the last morning of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War I built a fire and sat facing a window of darkness where at sunrise I knew I would find the sea.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.