What has made it so that the Catholic Church has got such a bad rap, especially on the following subjects:?

Question

(No comment needed on child abuse)
Though the inquisition was wrong, and was rightly apoligized for by Pope John Paul II, historians claim the Catholic Inquisition was far less brutal than popular culture argues, and Protestants in Germany had similar organizations for the same purposes which were just as cruel.

Many point out the Galileo case as a sign of intolerance, and it was wrong for the church to execute him, so it was also right for PJPII to apologive on behalf of the church. But all reputable historians agree the church only did what it did because he refused to acknowledge it as a theory, he couldn't even entirely prove it at the time, and before he demanded it be recognized as fact, jesuits were teaching this theory in Catholic universities. The facts are that the church is recognized as founding almost every branch of modern science, with many of the fathers of the fields bieng Catholic priests and monks.

the Church built western civilizatio- art, music, writing, law

I agree on the high standard, but Im not saying those things were forgotten after PJPII apologized for them. Im just wondering why only the examples to the rule are remembered, not the achievements?

Odindmar, the church is a group of people, and makes mistakes, I regret it. But American culture refuses to acknowledge the achievements of the church. Talk about suffering, the Catholic church cares for more unwanted people than any organization. Those that would be left to rot all over the world, the church sees their dignity and cares for them.

Millions dead? many say religion has caused the most deaths, but in truth atheisitic groups have killed more than any, Stalin 20 Million, China 80 Mill, Hitler, all atheistic societies.
No, nothing can bring those killed through religion back, but what can be done is to stand up for the innocent now, such as the church is doing, anti-abortion, anti-Soviet in cold war, helping poor, etc.

PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION, yes parsius, I know the Inquisition was evil, but why doesnt protestant America recognize the protestant inquisitions as well, and apologize as the Catholic church has done?

I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY CANT YOU SEE THAT!!!! im asking WHY American culture is openly prejudiced against the church, disregarding its achievements. IM NOT A FUNDAMENTALIST EITHER, I WOULD NEVER WANT TO BE LABELED ONE.

IVAN, scientists did not have to break from the church to est science, they were openly encouraged to experiment through the university system which the church founded.

ALSO IVAN, those civilizations built ancient culture, but today's would not have been possible without the church, ex: Many people attribute the theory of all men having unalienable rights to Jefferson and the enlightenment, but this belief was officially formulated by canon lawyers in the 12th century, what many would call the "dark ages"

Earl, you actually answered my question, but the Holy Father is not infalliable in any of the situations Ive been talking about, only when making an official statement on faith or morals, also he does not "speak for God", but tries to lead church through inspiration of Holy Spirit.

Answer 1

All faiths have their bad moments. The Catholic church is no different. What people need to understand is that it's always the people behind it (ex: pope, bishops, priests, ect...) who are the causes of the evil, not the Church itself.

I know many people who know of and understand the history of the Church and still proudly say that they are Catholic (or in my case, almost Catholic. XD )

Answer 2

In that, is the problem.
To the Catholic, an " I'm sorry " is enough to answer the suffering of thousands of people. This philosophy extends to their justice as well.

I noted that you blocked comments on child abuse, so you already know where that goes. Priest saying " I'm sorry " and being allowed to repeat the offense.

The Catholic church is not the law anymore. Their job is to interpret the word of God in such a way the common person could understand. Nothing more. When they can understand that, then we can get some where.

Answer 3

All these marvelous accomplishments in history by the R.C.C., which would seem nice on the outside, but behind the scenes money was the bottom line, and also, stepping in and taking over, in some cases in blood shed.
That's why some brave men and women protested against the church...why?
Because behind all that pompous buff they prevented the reading of the bible and translated it in Latin to hid the truth from the common people...their doctrines were not bible base accurately...Martin Luther was one who protested and was a catholic priest at that and nailed the truth on the door of the catholic church.
That's why he and others protesting are called Protestants.
You need a religious ENEMA.
I could go on and on but it disturbs me thinking why you would mention this all on your question....
Peace.....

Answer 4

Because the Catholic Church, by it's own PR, professes to the be the only True church of Jesus and that the Pope speaks for God.

Hence God and Jesus were behind all those things, because the Pope is the representative of God! REMEMBER, the Pope is INFALLABLE, remember it is HERESEY to go up against the Holy See, you can be excommunicated for it!

Protestantism is based on INDIVIDUAL responsibility for religion, deeds and actions. Hence MAN did all those nasty things in the name of the Proestants. MAN did the sins. They were not done in any official capacity for God. They were all about men.

Answer 5

With regard to Galileo, the Church DID threaten him with torture. Threatening anybody with torture is wrong.

With regard to the Inquisition, okay, historians DO concur that it was pretty darn bad. Even if it didn't torture to death as many people as was previously thought, it still DID torture lots of people to death and committed a lot of other atrocities.

In regard to the Church building civilization, with all due respect, you're wrong. The Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans built Western civilization. The Church only preserved those pieces of it that they approved of. During the Dark Ages, for example, Europeans lost the Roman innovation of the arch and the dome, which people in the Middle East acquired. Europeans didn't get these back until the Rennaisance, and that was only because they had invaded the Middle East in the Crusades. The Church preserved approved poetry, but frequently overwrote poems that they disapproved of, destroying them. Much of the poetry of the ancient Greeks, for example, tragedies, comedies and the like, have been lost BECAUSE the Church destroyed them.

It's all very nice that the Church had scientists of sorts in it, ultimately Europeans had to break from the Church in order to establish modern Science, since the Church took the Bible and Aristotle as the absolute Truth.

So, I think you're arguments are sophistry. You've started out with a conclusion and you're trying to create arguments to support it. True logic requires that we make a candid analysis of the facts and come to the conclusions that we do.

But, lest you think you're somehow being a good Christian by defending the Church this way, I've talked with a Bishop about this and he openly condemns the atrocities of the Church as being UNCHRISTIAN.

When I told him I was active on Yahoo Answers, he said he regretted not having time for it, but said I could quote him on the following:

* Fundamentalism is the worst abomination against the Church in history, since it's been used to justify un-Christian large scale atrocities in the name of Christianity and since it is often used as an excuse to ignore Jesus's own words, "Judge not, lest you yourself be judged" (Mathew 7:1).
* Crusades and holy wars are blasphemy, since Christianity is a religion of peace and a "holy war" is a contradiction in terms. A good Christian must conclude that war is unholy.

So, this bishop openly condemns the atrocities of the Church IN ORDER TO BE a good Christian. I'd ask, respectfully, that you do to.

Answer 6

+ Inquisition +

Modern historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. The Inquisition was actually an attempt by the Catholic Church to stop unjust executions.

Heresy was a capital offense against the state. Rulers of the state, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw heretics as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath.
When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig. It was not to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. The lord needed some basic theological training, very few did. The sad result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent judge of the crime.

The Catholic Church's response to this problem was the Inquisition, an attempt to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges.

From the perspective of secular authorities, heretics were traitors to God and the king and therefore deserved death. From the perspective of the Church, however, heretics were lost sheep who had strayed from the flock. As shepherds, the pope and bishops had a duty to bring them back into the fold, just as the Good Shepherd had commanded them. So, while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.

Most people tried for heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or had their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed.

If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.

Where did this myth come from? After 1530, the Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from the printing presses of Protestant countries at war with Spain accusing the Spanish Inquisition of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World.

For more information, see:
The Real Inquisition, By Thomas F. Madden, National Review (2004) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.asp
Inquisition by Edward Peters (1988)
The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen (1997)

+ Galileo +

The Catholic Church actually acknowledged it's error with Galileo almost 300 years ago when Pope Benedict XIV granted an imprimatur (an official approval) to the first edition of the Complete Works of Galileo in 1741.

“[Galileo] declared explicitly that the two truths, of faith and of science, can never contradict each other, 'Sacred Scripture and the natural world proceeding equally from the divine Word, the first as dictated by the Holy Spirit, the second as a very faithful executor of the commands of God', as he wrote in his letter to Father Benedetto Castelli on 21 December 1613. The Second Vatican Council says the same thing, even adopting similar language in its teaching: 'Methodical research, in all realms of knowledge, if it respects... moral norms, will never be genuinely opposed to faith: the reality of the world and of faith have their origin in the same God' (Gaudium et Spes, 36). Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions”: John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (10 November 1979): Insegnamenti, II, 2 (1979), 1111-1112. From the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_15101998_fides-et-ratio_en.html

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 7

Catholic ability regularly occurring. i've got faith that we thought-approximately oursleves in that way from or very on the element of 33ad as quickly as all of us started. whilst Jesus gave St. Peter the keys to his kingdom in the international, the implication is universality and subsequently catholic. the "offical" call is unimportant. I dont think of it ever has been significant. that's importmnat to protestants becasue there are maximum of off shoots and that they might get perplexed without way yo tdistinguish themsleves. We do nothave that project. We have been univesal and based via jesus christ we refered to our circulation by way of fact the way and so on., however the call as such isn't any improtant that's a relfection of ways we predict of of oursleves and then subsequently grew to become a lable. So, we've been continuously the church regularly occurring, how else might you describe us, the define then grew to become the call.

Answer 8

Definitely the Roman Catholic Church built civilization...on the blood of those who stood in their way or simply irritated them.

Yes, the RCC did apologize for their past barbarism but the fact still remains...millions of people died unnecessarily...they can never be brought back to life.

Answer 9

You are demanding that one concede that the Church was justified in persecuting Galileo, but that dog don't hunt. The reasons you give are plausible, but they are not acceptable. Until the 20th century, the Church had committed more genocide than any other institution in history -- estimates run as high as 750,000 people murdered.

Answer 10

Any comment on what the catholics did and didn't do in recent times - ie holocaust?

I don't understand why you're saying "well they were BAD and they APOLOGIZED" so ... we're supposed to say "nevermind that!" I don't think it works that way. If it's the True Church of God On Earth, it SHOULD be held to a pretty high standard.