Why is it that throughout history Christians have constantly either targeted the Jews or Muslims with hate ?

Question

"The three-in-one/one-in-three mystery of Father, Son and Holy Ghost made tritheism official. The subsequent almost-deification of the Virgin Mary made it quatrotheism . . . Finally, cart-loads of saints raised to quarter-deification turned Christianity into plain old-fashioned polytheism.

By the time of the Crusades, it was the most polytheistic religion to ever have existed, with the possible exception of Hinduism. This untenable contradiction between the assertion of monotheism and the reality of polytheism was dealt with by accusing other religions of the Christian fault. The Church - Catholic and later Protestant - turned aggressively on the two most clearly monotheistic religions in view - Judaism and Islam - and persecuted them as heathen or pagan.

The external history of Christianity consists largely of accusations that other religions rely on the worship of more than one god and therefore not the true God.

These pagans (Jews and Muslims) must therefore be converted, conquered and/or killed for their own good in order that they benefit from the singularity of the Holy Trinity, plus appendages." -- The Doubter's Companion (John Ralston Saul)


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Answer 1

In my eyes all Religious Organizations in the past have done this, not just Christianity.

the Romans persecuted everyone that would not follow their Emperor as a God. So this is human nature, to try and force others to believe what you do.

All religious organizations have done this at one point in time or another.

the Jews had Harod, he killed many of his own faith. the Christians had the Crusades, and the Muslims the Jihad. So I do not blame the religion so much as the people who use it as an excuse to wage war or terrorism. These people would find another way to do it, for it is in their nature. I do not think it is their Religion so much as how they perceive it.

I have always been of the opinion that MANY organized religions cause problems but FAITH does not. Faith is something everyone should have, and I do not necessarily mean Faith in God or Jesus, just simple Faith, in yourself, your neighbors.

I would not call a Jew or Muslim a Pagan though, pagans are people that believe in more than one god or spirit. I am more pagan than anything but I have respect for all faiths no matter which as long as they are not performing terrorist acts or forcing their beliefs on me, i think we all have the right to believe what we wish to. That is just me though.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I think you confusing the political aspirations of the Catholic church with people that hold faith in Jesus Christ. Look at the Knights Templer, as an organization the controlled all trade to the east and because of that grew very rich and held a lot of power. Was that an altruistic organization or a business.. While many of the individual knights were wonderful Christians the organization was in it for the money. Those that brought saint, and Mary worship into their churches were not Christians at all again power and money drove their motives. Still there were believers in Christ that survived and carried the Spirit of God though the ages. Those Christians were never in power anywhere nor did they ever have much wealth as the world see wealth. But to look at the Catholic church of that era and say that IS Christianity is just false... IHS Jim

Answer 3

The Christians have used the Jews as scapegoats throughout history- - - but not any more than the Muslims are doing now .
The Christians have the excuse that the hatred was at a time that people were the most superstitious , uneducated , easily led by the church - - - for the benefit of the church .
What excuse do the Muslims have for the ignorant hatred of the Jews today ?
As an avid reader of history , I have never read of Christian hatred of th Muslims. During the Crusades , The fight was to get the "holy lands" under control of Christians . I doubt there was much hatred for Muslims . Just as in W W 2 , I had to kill many Germans. I had no hatred for them . They were fighting for their country . I was fighting for mine .
The Muslims are building up hatred against themselves in the last few years . It's not hard to understand if you read the newspapers .

Answer 4

You are generalizing as well as misunderstanding christianity. First of all, I don't deify the virgin mary or any of the other saints. I am a christian that believes in the holy trinity of the father, son and the holy spirit. It's monotheistic in nature because the holy trinity is one entity, not three separate deities. They don't exist alone. Now, the wars in the name of religions, whether the jews and the palestinians, or the mulsims or the christians are all done by man. I don't worship or follow any man. So, asking me to support or explain a man made war based on my religious beliefs is counterintuitive. People need to stop looking for perfection in men here on earth. It simply doesn't exist. Men make mistakes and always will. Religion is about pursuing a path to better one self. It requires us to embrace the fact that we are imperfect, sinful creatures.

Answer 5

This question is difficult to answer as posed. It reflects a profound misunderstanding of the nature of sainthood and confusion about what actions are motivated by religious impulse and those that are motivated by secular and social politics. I would not say that any large organization run by humans is immune to either or that either of these motives are uninfluenced by the other. But to even start to answer the question you need more history and more theology.

A belief in saints does not make the church polytheistic because saints are not gods or even demigods. The basic definition of a saint is someone who is in heaven. These people remain in communion with God and are still part of the rest of the body of the church. To 'pray' to a saint or Mary is not really a prayer. You are requesting that they join you in praying to God, who is the only and ultimate source of creation, much as you might ask your living church members to do the same.

The prosecution of Jews is a tragic evolution of a faith based split. When early church fathers wrote against Jews they were in a sense complaining about the behavior of particular members of their own 'family'. As Christian faith crossed geographic and ethnic lines these writings became the basis of a viewpoint of Jews (as a whole) as bad and other.

Crusades might have talked a religious game to inspire the troops, but their motives were for the most part secular. Wars financed economic expansion, halted foreign land expansions, got rid of the excess of troublesome younger sons, and distracted populations from civil problems. It is also illuminating to note that crusader forces were not solely focused on non-Christians.

Read more non-fiction. Political and biographical histories of the post Roman period can be surprisingly interesting (lots of colorful people) and the Arabic veiw of the crusades counters some of the points in your question.

Answer 6

All through history Satan has tried to hijack the truth and put it over the door posts of religion, but there were all was those who would not be poluted by the false religious doctrines that were poluting many movements that God was trying to lead out.
It is kind of how the computer virus wars go on every day. One day the virus protecting scans are a head and the next day their could be a virus creator who gets past them.
So it has been through history that Satan and my God have tried to influence men.
This is why there is only one way to tell who is a real Christian and that is to become one who is not poluted by lies disguised as doctrines and let the Spirit of God open your heart to the real truth.
God bless because you have seen the lies and that makes you close to true revelation. Now you just need to humble yourself before the true God and let him tell you who he is.

Answer 7

Two flaws in your anti-christian analogy of hate.
The United States backing of Israel.
The United States strorming the Beach @ Normandy.

As much as people want to deny this fact 80% of the people in the United are proclaimed Christians.

Anyway, I am a Christian and undoubtedly a Patriotic American. I don't agree with your belief that Christians spue Hate. However a true Christian will not Cowtow to anothers faith just to spare their feelings.

Answer 8

Not quite. The traditional hostility of Christians to Jews comes from the pretty obvious fact that Christianity began as a Jewish sect [errr what were the ethnic and religious identities of all the Biblical writers, not to mention Jesus himself?]. Schism always results in hostility.

The early history of Islam is similar, but not quite. Muhummad hoped in his migration from Mecca to Medina to ally himself with his fellow monothesists - Jews in Medina - following persecution by the polytheist Meccans. While it went well to start with, eventually they fell out, as reflected by the change in the prayer direction for Muslims from Jerusalem to the Kabbah in Mecca.

The early conflict between Christians and Muslims has more to do with territorial conquests and counter conquests than the nuances of theology.

Answer 9

I think you are leaving another group out of the persecution list. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been persecuted since its beginning in the early 1800's. They were driven out of every state they went to. They were shot and killed by vicious mobs. It even got to the point where up until the late 1970's, it was perfectly legal to kill a Mormon in the state of Missouri. They were persecuted so badly, they had to go by handcart to Nauvoo, Illinois, and later to Utah to escape the mobs. The prophet Joseph Smith was martyred for the cause. Just a thought.

Answer 10

You have to bear in mind that Christians have constantly targetted other Christians as well. Have a look at the persecution of the Cathars, the Inquisition, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. For more recent examples, look at the anti-Catholic sentiment so often expressed in this forum.

One of the key elements of being a "True Believer," according to Eric Hoffer, is the sense of being persecuted. Some Christians have nurtured this sense in themselves to the degree that pre-emptive strikes against anyone who believes anything other than their narrow construction of "The Truth" become almost required.