Did Christian Catholics start the whole: Im going to kill you unless you convert practice?

Question

heh middle ages sucked for the europeans

I dont blame the catholics..I blame the whole Church-Pope-God hierarchy.

Answer 1

Yes, they did.


VLR

Answer 2

This so-called practice is mostly false propaganda.

This is not what the Crusades was about.

Muslim armies had conquered much of northern Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Spain, which had been some of the most heavily Christian areas in the world.

Thousands, and possibly millions, of Christians died during this drive to eventually bring the entire world under Islam.

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to check the advance of the Muslims and regain control of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

I am sure that some atrocities were committed by both sides during this war but by most people's judgment this was a just war.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Indeed not. You'll be happy to know that the practice of selective genocide is as old as evolution. Religion is almost always a scapegoat or a rationale for the killing of others. We have to remember that for the majority of human history, the will of the Sate has also been the will of the gods. The separation of the two is a modern idea. So, the needs of the State (land, resources, shows of power) have typically gone hand in hand with the 'needs' of the gods. We conquer and then put a nice religious polish on the activity.

Answer 4

I don't know about the pagan tribes, who in essence were religious worshiping nature, etc.
The Romans persecuted christians for their beliefs.
Historically most wars have been about control whether religious or political (many times both are enmeshed), but I have a bible quote here which includes ALL BELIEVERS regarding religious tolerance:

"When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations...then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy." Deuteronomy 7:1-2, NIV. 1
"...do not leave alive anything that breaths. Completely destroy them...as the Lord your God has commanded you..." Deuteronomy 20:16, NIV. 1

This was according to the old testament which began with the Jews.

But, the Egyptians persecuted the Jews among others. Who's to say who was first.

Man against man (or more PC: person against person) is the norm both in the beginning and in the end.

Answer 5

Absolutely! As soon as the Emperor Constantine recognized the orthodox Christians an the official church of Rome in the early part of the fourth century, The at that point Catholic = universal church began killing off other followers of Jesus who disagreed with that church calling them heretics. Heretic = a person who does not agree with church dogma. How could they be universal if the catholics did not even control half of the followers of Jesus? But they did have the Roman army on their side. We heretics are not bad people just free thinkers, but I digress. They also destroyed about 90% of the teachings of Jesus because those documents also did not agree with dogma. From there they went after the pagans = peasants, who were nature worshipers. Most of those early catholic Christians lived in cities. Kind of like the people of New York and San Francisco feel about the folks in Kansas and Arkansas today. Only then it was conservative city dwellers against liberal country dwellers, the reverse of today. That ancient, pre-protestant, Catholic church then established the inquisition. With that and the plague all hell on earth broke out, the dark ages. The Catholics were the forerunners of the Nazis. The difference, they burned, the Nazis gassed, and God was so p--sed he went with boils and fevers.

Answer 6

Well, I'm sure Pope will be devastated to learn that you've laid the blame at the feet of the Church.

It's so easy to judge in hindsight isn't it? Take what we know now and just rake everyone in the past over the coals.

All in all...it was what it was at that time. We should learn from it but it does no good to go blame placing and try to make ourselves feel so superior. Had we lived then, it's hard to know what we would have done or believed.

Answer 7

Man I am sick & tiered of people hating on the Catholic Religion! that was simply a stupid question. Are the Jews greedy bastards? Are Muslims/Jews responsible for terrorism? What have the Buddhist done lately?

the whole idea of join with us or else is just one of the many cowardly human traits displayed by all humans throughout time & space. If you dont understand or even agree with it.............


KILL IT!

Cavemen practiced this ideology ********, Catholics did not start this practice.

Answer 8

If you read your history, you'll see that the crusades were against the marauding muslims, who had already killed many who wouldn't convert. So no, christians didn't start it, but we seemed to have been very good at it. In fact, the crusades weren't even about religion, it was about power and real estate, like most wars are, but to get the European christians to go to a foreign land to die in a war, they had to give it a religous theme. Seems the people wouldn't have gone just to get more land for royalty, imagine that.

Answer 9

No. That particular vileness is symptomatic of the fanatics tha texist in any culture. The Greeks did it to Socrates centuries before Christ; the Egyptians did it before that. In modern times, the Soviets did it to non-communists. And so on.

Fanatics and dictators kill those that oppose them. Religion is used as an excuse--but failing that, they invent another. Today the substitute excuse is usually "national security."

Answer 10

Have you even read the New Testament. What did Jesus said?What was his doctrines? Besides murder and injustice had always existed. I'm not pointing a gun to an Atheist in order to convert them? It's their decision. And those who forced people like that are now paying their debt in hell.

Answer 11

Radicals did and still do, plain and simple. I was born Roman Catholic and am now a Gnostic Christian, and both religions profess Love, not Hate. The Roman Catholic Church is correct in most of its teachings, but it is the manmade doctrine that is false. However, the root is the same, as Jesus said, Love your God and one another, as we are all Children of God.