What atrocities has Christianity caused?

Question

I keep hearing about all the violence and disasters caused by Christians, but what did they do? I know a lot of Christians have been killed and persecuted for their faith, but what have they ever done to others? (Please don't mention the Crusades, not really a Christian venture).

Answer 1

Christianity has "caused" nothing...it is Men that used the term Christianity to fulfill their own dogma. The same goes for Islam...the Islam religion has done nothing, it is those that do evil in the name of Islam that are evil.
Anti-Christians, or even Christians that don't understand, like to put things on a human level...well if a Christian did this, then Christianity is bad. No, that's not right...if a "Christian" did something, it is because that person was bad, not the religion. People like to "say" things to put things into focus, and from that you get questions like yours. Religion is not "evil" it is MEN...and more people need to understand that.

Answer 2

The Crusades were most certainly a Christian venture. They were endorsed by the likes of St Bernard of Clairvoux. (died 1143). He was such a powerful motivator that local leaders in Europe complained that there were no young men left because they had all joined a crusade.

At best the Crusades intended to fight back the Muslims that were preventing safe passage to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.
The armies that left Europe, however, behaved like gangs of cutthroats and theives as they even pillaged Christian villages along the way.

"Atrocities" caused by Christians? I would have to say that the bombing of Hiroshema and Nagasaki would be the worst. There were Christians on the flight crews. Was this an official Christian act ? Not at all. The members of the military were following orders that went all they way to president Truman.

Pope Paul VI described the bombing as an act of butchery of untold magnitude. His intention I believe was to discourage the wholesale destruction of cities and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

In short, religion attempts to discourage negative behavior if I can use PP VI as an example. But the actual occasions for killing are complex and when was the last time a political leader asked for the opinion of a religious leader before entering into a conflict?

Furthermore, the commandment thou shalt not kill is best understood as thou shalt not murder. Only a few groups like the Mennonites and the peace churches have interpreted "kill" as dont even kill in self defense. Most Christians have believed that killing in self defense is permited.

In the middle ages when there was less separation between the church and state in Europe, conflicts were limited to soldiers fighting soldiers and non combatants were left out of it. The Catholic church even developed the tradition of increasing the number of Holy Days during the year when it was found that armies wouldnt engage on these days.

In conclusion, the church is made up of saved sinners who dont always follow the teachings of Christ when it comes to killing. So painful things have happened that should have been avoided with other solutions.However, the line that religion causes war and killing is a cheap shot and just not true. Just as the commandment thou shalt not kill is intended to restrict violence. ( to killing in self defense or when it is absolutely necessary)
Religion teaches one thing but people dont follow. There is a saying used in the military. "The lord is my shepard this is my song but just in case we better get a bomb"

Answer 3

Catholics are Christians; they believe in Christ. The Crusades were sanctioned by the Papacy, and were religious wars. There were 10 separate Crusades in history.

The Inquisitions were orchestrated by the Pope as well, and horrible acts of torture and murder were committed during them. There were four major Inquisitions in history, the Spanish one being the most noted.

Hitler was born and baptized as a Roman Catholic. He wrote in his Mein Kampf (1924) (My Struggle) that "faith is the sole foundation of a moral attitude" and that an attack against religion "strongly resembles the struggle against the general legal foundations of the state." As late as 1938, he can be heard making this statement in a speech: "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work." He killed the Jews in belief that he was acting on behalf of God.

The witch trials from the 1400-1800's were all done in the name of God. These people were tortured and killed in the name of Christianity.

"Christian Identity" is a racist group that promotes a Euro-centric version of Christianity. They use violence to punish violators of "God's Law" as they see it. This includes killing interracial couples, abortionists, prostitutes and homosexuals. They rob banks and perpetrate frauds to undermine the usury system, and commit acts of arson. There are other types of groups like this, including members of the Klu Kluxx Klan.

Many fundamentalist Christians think it's ok to picket funerals and other events with hateful signs in the name of God. Some have even committed murder, rape and other acts of violence in the name of God. Look at the people who picketed Matthew Shepard's funeral; Fred Phelps and his gang are simply awful. He claimed September 11th and hurricane Katrina were acts of revenge by God for the "nations homosexuality". I'm sure they will be judged accordingly by God when they die.

If you really want to know what Christians do, search on it. There is plenty out there to show you that people are so wrong in doing horrible things in the name of God. Jesus was forgiving and loving. He doesn't hate homosexuals. Remember the adage..."love the sinner, hate the sin". (I am not saying homosexuality is a sin, because I don't believe it is. Jesus would have said something about it if it was.)

Answer 4

I beg to differ: the Crusades were completely a Christian venture, sanctioned and promoted by the leading authority of the western Christian church at the time, the papacy.

This question obviously comes from someone with no knowledge of the history of his own faith. After Christians seized control of the crumbling Roman Empire, they went to great lengths to eradicate the intellectual and technical knowledge of the ancient world. Other religions' temples were destroyed or converted to Christian churches after the proper purification rights were completed.

Christians have killed pagans, Muslims, and Jews "for the faith" because they refused to abandon their own religions. Muslims and Jews were killed throughout Europe during the Inquisition, the Spanish version only being the most well-known. Pagans and "witches" were burned at the stake in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance to the tune of several thousand. Jews were blamed for the Black Death that haunted Europe, even though they were dying in the same numbers as Christians (as pointed out by the pope), and yet were hunted and killed as the rumor was the "Christ-killers" were poisoning wells and food supplies. Once the Reformation happened, Christians began killing each other as heretics and devil-worshippers although both sides professed to believe in the same God.

Christians' abuse of others is not limited to Europe. With the exploration of the rest of the world, indigenous people were attacked and killed for who they were. At first, Europeans were not even sure Native Americans were human. It took a decree from the Pope to convince the Spanish and Portuguese it was better to try and convert them than kill them. Of course, this usually meant marching into a village or town, reading a decree IN SPANISH or PORTUGUESE and giving the people 10 minutes to convert. Even after they were "converted", they were basically forced into servitude, to die at the hands of these "Christians".

The very slave trade we find repugnant today was based on biblical interpretations. White Southerners, and racists in general, have used the Christian Bible as justification for "keeping the races separate" and discrimination.

Millions have been killed in the name of Jesus Christ, whose message was one only of love and acceptance of others. Go back and read history with an open mind.

Answer 5

The Crusades WERE Christian. Don't run from that one. They were ordered by the popes who are the head of the first organized Christian church, the Roman Catholic Church. However, Christianity have matured and evolved beyond its early primitivie bloody violent days to become a reasonably peaceful religion. Given sufficient time, Islamic fundamentalism will go thru the same maturation and evolution. Have faith in man whom you can see.

Answer 6

It depends what you link Christianity to. For example, if you take the premise that the United States was begun as a Christian venture for freedom of religion, and then link the basic economic system of capitalism to this, you have every world war linked to the tenets of Christianity. This is a very popular stand in higher education. It's another move towards atheism. Everyone's out to make more like minded individuals. Atheists seem to think that by getting rid of religion, we'll move towards peace.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

People masquerading as Christians have inflicted much destruction and pain on the earth. Some examples:

- Violence in Northern Ireland
- Spanish Inquisition
- Holocost
- Genocide of Native American Indians
- Genocide of aboriginal tribes in Africa, Australia
and South America
And others.

I want to emphasize, however, that these autracities were committed by people claiming to be Christian. They were not. They will one day stand before the judgement seat of Christ and be made to pay for their crimes against others and their offenses will be even greater for doing these things in His name. .

Answer 9

How can you possibly say the crusades was not a Christian venture? Whose idea do you suppose it was to convert or murder the heretics (almost typed infidels) of the middle east for being different?
Also, maybe consider the inquisition or maybe the church's relationship with Hitler and Mussolini.
Currently, how about these scum?

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

Answer 10

When you say historical christian your talking mostly Catholics so you can't rule out the crusades. There are millions of dead due to the spread of chrisianity. The taming of those quote "savages the american indians" witch trials as stated above. Christianity has a sword in one hand a coin purse in the other and wine and crackers in its fanny pack. This is from a Christian.