This loaded question is a logical fallacy, like the old unjust leading question, "Have you stopped beating your wife?"
This type of fallacy is called Plurium Interrogationum, which in Latin means "many questions" and is a question with a false, disputed, or question-begging presupposition.
For more information on loaded questions, see: http://www.fallacyfiles.org/loadques.html
+ The Dark Ages +
The "Dark Ages" is a derogatory term for the European Middle Ages used by Protestants to trivialize and demonize the Catholic Church of the time.
The term referred to a supposed lack of learning in the period. Actually, the Middle Ages were not really so "dark."
== Inventions of the Middle Ages ==
+ 551 Cultivation and manufacture of silk introduced into Europe by two monks
+ 555 Invention of water-mills
+ 601 Window-glass for churches and dwellings
+ 605 Bells for churches
+ 673 Organs
+ 706 Paper, made of cotton; 1270 Paper, made of linen
+ 600 The Gregorian Chant, and scale in music
+ 1089 Clocks with balance and wheels
+ 1199 Glass-staining, with the art of imprinting figures upon it
+ 1306 Watches
+ 1310 The mariner’s compass
+ 1450 Printing
Here is an article that also addresses learning, literature, medical advances, and art of the middle ages:http://www.catholicapologetics.net/dark_ages.htm
+ The Inquisition +
I assume by "violence & torture" you mean the 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 easy 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)
The Spanish Inquisition: Fact Versus Fiction, By Marvin R. O'Connell (1996): http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0026.html
+ With love in Christ.
2007-10-22 18:14:10
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answer #1
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answered by imacatholic2 7
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So... you think that the total population that Europe had during the entire Dark Ages was 80 million people? Perhaps you need to be thinking a little more clearly. What you have done with your statistics there was to talk about a SINGLE generation of people, not the entire period of several hundred years that took place. So, your reasoning seems to be a little flawed. EDIT: The "point" is that you claimed that only 80 million people lived in Europe, so the number given when added to the number of plague deaths would have been higher than the total population. That is blatantly incorrect, but you're not willing to admit that. While there is no concrete number of those tortured and killed by the Catholics during the height of their power, it is SURELY in the millions. The worst part is that the majority of their victims were Christians that refused to follow the Catholic party line. Catholicism is the greatest enemy of real Christianity that there has ever been. The Reformation was in many ways inspired by those with consciences watching abuses like the deaths of those that refused to follow Catholic heresy. EDIT: Oh! One of the most wonderful and abused lies of all time! "We didn't kill those people, the state did." Right... So, they didn't hold trials at which people were found guilty of heresy and it was stated that they were worthy of death... Then the handy trick was pulled of "turning them over the temporal authorities." A nice legal figleaf, but not really a way out. Those people died because the Catholic Church had the power to tell the state to do the dirty work for them.
2016-03-13 05:00:48
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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How many people do you know of that have been tortured or murdered by contemporary evangelical Christians ( as a group), or any torture and violence that even received the support of Evangelical Christians?
I'm betting it's none. Because it does not happen.
2007-10-22 17:16:57
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Absolutely not. Supporting the war is not "using violence and torture like the Catholic church used in the Dark Ages."
Anyway, a position on the war, one way or another, is not the central point of Christianity.
The central point of Christianity is one of life, salvation and love, not violence and coercion.
2007-10-22 17:15:51
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answer #4
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answered by Bob T 6
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No, not anywhere I've worshiped in the last 36 years. However, I was abused by satanic worshipers as a child. They definitely used violence and torture on me. Edit: By the way, the satanic worshippers I speak of were my relatives.
So, what's your real point or question? Can't you ask something more relevant? This question seems like your attempt to get some one to react to your implication that Evangelical Christians are no farther along than those misguided people who tortured people in Jesus' name in the middle ages.
When the abuse of my childhood drove me into a suicidal depression the only ones who helped me were a group of young Christians. They shared their new walk of faith and love for Jesus with me. It changed my life. I've met bad examples of Christianity and loveable pagans, but I don't change my belief in Christ just because some misrepresent him through their words or actions.
2007-10-22 17:20:56
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answer #5
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answered by LeslieAnn 6
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Let's see..... Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin, Fidel Castro, The Middle East, Communist China, South Africa, Cuba and Russia...nope they're not Christian Evangelicals and All totaled They murdered over 100 million people for their thoughts and political dissentions. Real Christians even Pray for their enemies and don't lift a hand.
On September 11th, 2000 Fundamentalist Radicals flew planes into the World Trade Center....were those Evangelicals? Countries Do have the Right to Defend and Protect themselves!
2007-10-22 17:13:31
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answer #6
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answered by ShadowCat 6
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What you call "violence and torture" was a big "step up" from the type of arbitrary and thoughtless killing and maiming that was then taking place on a daily basis, all over what we know today as the European continent.
The "Dark Ages" would have been much darker, and they would have lasted much, much longer, if it wasn't for the Catholic church.
The church served as the only effective western government in those times, and that was no simple feat, in a world full of pagans, barbarians, and worse.
2007-10-22 17:15:50
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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Not that I've ever experienced. But if you really wonder- why not attend church, be a part of it, and if you see any violence and torture taking place, run like crazy! In the meantime- find the love and kindness that is there for you.
2007-10-22 17:18:18
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answer #8
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answered by Anonymous
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I don't know about violence and torture. I try to stay away from those sort of people. I do know they use scare tactics such as fear of people who dress in black, have long hair and listen to rock music (Satanic Panic). They also spread fear of cults when cults are not even that widespread. People should be afraid of evangelical Christians, for they brainwash weak-minded people, just like cult leaders. So, who's to say an evangelist might not be an aspiring cult leader? For Christ's sake (YES CHRIST'S SAKE!!), how can any Christian say long hair is bad or wrong when just about every picture of Jesus depicts him as having long hair?
2007-10-22 17:16:49
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answer #9
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answered by UpTheDownwardSpiral 3
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Those who follow the whole Bible must obey these 2 important verses:
2Cor:10:4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
That vesre says our weapons are not physical (carnal)
Eph:6:12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
That verse says we do not fight against people but demons.
You see Roman Catholic believe tradition is equally authoritative as scripture, therefore they can do things contary to scripture.
Muslims have scriptures that tell them to do phsycal harm to people.
Thus fundamentalists Muslims will always be dangerous because there texts tell them to, and fundamentalist christians will not because the Bible tells them not to.
Any one who does otherwise Muslim or christian is not a fundamentalist.
<><
2007-10-22 17:22:42
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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