All ‘Christian’ wars and massacres were caused by people who called themselves Christians; take out the people and you haven’t got a war. It’s illusory to talk about the acts of the members and believers as being distinct from the religion, unless you wish to talk about official pronouncements of some specific sect.
It is also misleading to dismiss acts of evil based on their perveseness of the ‘original’ doctorine (or more likely, a personal opinion as to what the doctirine is, since such opinions differ widely). All acts done in the name of the religion can be attributed to the religion, or, in the case that the religion was deliberately used as a ‘cover’ for such actions, the religion is responsible for any blind complacency by that actors’ contemporaries that led them to toleration the evil acts in the name of Christianity.
The most frightening thing about any (current) (major) religion is their tendency to discourage active inquiry and thought, instead promoting ‘faith’, which I have head defined as ‘belief in things not knowable’. Such sheeplike complacency encourages ignorance, and directly enables predjudice, hatred and fear to spread unchecked through communities, like a plague. In some cases these concepts have been sired in the religion itself, in its damning or dehumaning of those with different beliefs or even physical differences.
And yes, I know that you, the reader, are an exception to all this, and so is your entire family and everyone you know. This is not a personal attack, vehemnt though they may be.
Faith: Working to instill ignorance since the beginning of civilization. And it’s going great!
Frankly, I find wars and massacres carried out in the name of Chrisitianty abhorrent; I’m sure that I am just as repelled by the fact as the finest of atheists; war, hatred and massacre in the name of Christianity is not part of my Christian ideology, neither under any circumstances could it be. Why then is it constantly shoved in my face as if it is something for which I must answer and be responsible?
**Magnetout[\b],
I find it depressing that the acts of others are constantly shoved in your face it’s a constant issue, and you have my sympathies; As I said, I hold individuals responsible in all cases. Whatever the problems with religion are, they aren’t a given thing, that taints a beliver the moment they take up their beliefs; it’s more of a historical trend towards less-than-godly acts. Surely part of the problem is that, being a religion based in a perfect and benevolent god, a higher standard is expected and the corrupt acts that come from it seem all the more abhorrent.
Maybe if I had lived back then, I would just have been swept along by it all and joined in the hacking and slashing; there’s no way to tell, but what I can tell you is that the [me of today], being who I am and believing what I believe, dropped back in time to those days, would do everything in my power to resist acts of harm in the name of God (I suspect my struggle would be a short and miserable one though).
I didn’t take up allegiance to Christ because of the terrible things that the crusaders thought or did, or the Spanish Inquisition, or Adolf Hitler, or Fred Phelps; I took it up because of the example and ministry of Christ himself, which I believe to be a generally good cause.
I refuse to be tarred with the same brush as those who would do or have done evil in the name of Christ; that others can and did get it terribly wrong does not mean I cannot get it right (although I would never be so bold or foolish to suggest that I am anywhere near perfect).
This has been established. See Starhawk (Miriam Simos) and her works such as The Spiral Dance. Although I see some sources place the figure at 9,000,000.**
Sorry, Starhawk is not a historian. She’s a great theorist and writer of the NeoPagan movement, but NOT a historian.
I’d like to see a cite from a reputable historical source on your 9 million figure.