Religions > Bible > (1 of 3) Christianity -and- History : What's up with all that?
| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Pro-Humanist FREELOVER" |
| Date: |
26 Mar 2005 09:14:17 PM |
| Object: |
(1 of 3) Christianity -and- History : What's up with all that? |
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http://fire.prohosting.com/prohuman/history/christian_church_history.htm
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Christian Church History
From a 1989 speech by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.:
"As a historian, I confess to a certain amusement
when I hear the Judeo-Christian tradition praised as
the source of our present-day concern for human
rights; that is, for the valuable idea that all individuals
everywhere are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness on this earth.
In fact, the great religious ages were notable for their
indifference to human rights in the contemporary
sense. They were notorious not only for acquiescence
in poverty, inequality, exploitation, and oppression,
but also for enthusiastic justifications of slavery,
persecution, abandonment of small children, torture,
and genocide.
During most of the history of the West . . . religion
enshrined and vindicated hierarchy, authority, and
inequality, and had no compunction about murdering
heretics and blasphemers. Until the end of the 18th
century, torture was normal investigative procedure
in the Catholic church as well as in most European
States . . .
Human rights is not a religious idea. It is a secular
idea, the product of the last four centuries of Western
history . . .
It was the age of equality that brought about the
disappearance of such religious appurtenances
as the auto-da-fe and burning at the stake, the
abolition of torture and of public executions, the
emancipation of the slaves . . . The basic human
rights documents -- the American Declaration of
Independence and the French Declaration of the
Rights of Man -- were written by political, not by
religious, leaders."
- end excerpt -
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Dark Ages
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=29246
"The early medieval period of western European history.
Specifically, the term refers to the time (476-800) when
there was no Roman (or Holy Roman) emperor in the
West; or, more generally, to the period between about
500 and 1000, which was marked by frequent warfare
and a virtual disappearance of urban life.
It is now rarely used by historians because of the value
judgment it implies. Though sometimes taken to derive
its meaning from the fact that little was then known
about the period, the term's more usual and pejorative
sense is of a period of intellectual darkness and
barbarity. See Middle Ages."
- end excerpt -
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Middle Ages
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=53849
Excerpt:
"The period in European history from the collapse of
Roman civilization in the 5th century AD to the period
of the Renaissance (variously interpreted as beginning
in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the
region of Europe and on other factors).
The term and its conventional meaning were introduced
by Italian humanists with invidious intent; the humanists
were engaged in a revival of classical learning and culture,
and the notion of a thousand-year period of darkness
and ignorance separating them from the ancient Greek
and Roman world served to highlight the humanists'
own work and ideals.
In a sense, the humanists invented the Middle Ages in
order to distinguish themselves from it. The Middle
Ages nonetheless provided the foundation for the
transformations of the humanists' own Renaissance. ...
- end excerpt -
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Dark Ages
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_21.html
New Light on Witchcraft
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_22.html
The Horrors of the Inquisition
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_23.html
Medieval Art and the Church
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_24.html
The Moorish Civilization in Spain
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_25.html
The Renaissance: A European Awakening
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_26.html
The Reformation and Protestant Reaction
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_27.html
The Truth About Galileo and Medieval Science
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_28.html
- - - - - - - - -
Interview With an Atheist - David Mills (author
of Science Shams and Bible Bloopers)
[link no longer available]
-http://geocities.com/forbidden_area/interv.html-
Excerpt:
Interviewer: Do you believe that religion encourages moral
conduct?
Mills: To the extent that a religion strives to promote ethical
conduct, I support those efforts wholeheartedly. But too often,
religions define morality in terms of whether a person belongs
to the "correct" religion, rather than in terms of whether an
individual treats others fairly and compassionately. Protestant
Fundamentalists believe, moreover, that non-Christians are
necessarily ethically inferior to Christians. Such "thinking"
leads inevitably to bigotry, prejudice, and Holy War.
The bloody history of Christianity would lead any objective
person to conclude that religion -- and the Christian religion
in particular -- have been a moral abomination to mankind.
The Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch burnings, the tor-
ture of "infidels" were all carried out in the name of the
Christian God.
While it is unfair to hold Christianity responsible for perver-
sions of its teachings, it is nonetheless indisputable that,
historically, more people have been slaughtered in the
name of the Christian religion than for any reason con-
nected to atheism.
For 1500 years, the Christian Church systematically oper-
ated torture chambers throughout Europe. Torture was the
rule, not the exception. Next to the Bible, the most influ-
ential and venerated book in Christian history was the
Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches), which was
a step-by-step tutorial in how to torture "witches" and
"sorcerers."
Each year, the Christian Church in Europe tortured to death
tens of thousands of people, including children as young as
two years of age. The only restriction was that the instru-
ments of torment had to be blessed by a priest before their
initial use.
Most Americans think of witch burning as having occurred
only during a brief period in Colonial New England. The fact
is, however, that witch burning ended in Colonial America
after a gruesome 1500-year reign of terror throughout Europe.
Today, the average Christian goes to church every week or
so -- shakes hands with a few Christian friends and says
"God bless you" -- listens to a gentle sermon and a few quiet
hymns -- then goes home feeling the "peace of God" in his
heart. Because the Christian Church now conducts itself in
a relatively civilized manner, a false perception is created
that religion has always been a tranquil force for good. That
is not the case.
Aside from the wholesale extermination of "witches," the
Christian Church fought bitterly throughout its history -- and
is still fighting today -- to impede scientific progress.
Galileo, remember, was nearly put to death by the Church
for constructing his telescope and discovering the moons
of Jupiter. For centuries, moreover, the Church forbade the
dissection of a human cadaver, calling it "a desecration of
the temple of the Holy Ghost."
Medical research was thereby stalled for almost a thousand
years. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Christianity's
longest period of sustained growth and influence occurred
during what historians refer to as The Dark Ages.
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