How would Christianity have survived without the wars of Reformation, the Inquisition, & forced conversions?

Question

THE IMPALER: You are a Christian and you choose a screen-name like that?!!?
~~~shivers!~~~

Answer 1

I think alot of people have kinda missed the point of your question.

I suppose it's because the heavy sniping and "war environment" here in the R&S section, that the vast majority have abandoned the idea of putting forth an any effort into a debate-based answer in favor of quick retorts and simple answers that only show agreement/disagreement with the sentiment of the question.

Not surprising that your usual supporters make mention of other slights and otrocities comitted in the name of Christianity while your usual opponents simply say that Christianity would have survived and been just as strong. Neither group actually addressed their answer to the 3 specific events you pose in your question. All three are actually closely related to each other and revolve around the same subject of "Religious Assimulation".

FORCED CONVERTIONS (GENERAL): This is actually a widely used tactic throughout all monotheistic faiths. I think the reason why many are confused by its mention because "Forced Convertions" are not a specific historical occurance in and of itself, but merely an element tied to a larger historical event.

FORCED CONVERTIONS (INQUISITIONS) The most obvious occurance of forced convertions appear during the various Inquisitions where the church used a twisted form of criminal prosecutuion to torture and kill non-believers, in order to get the rest of the community to "fall in line", this occured (if I remember correctly) during all the various Inquisitions, both before and after the Reformations.

FORCED CONVERTIONS (Colonial/Pre-Industrial Age): Many think of "forced" convertions as only happening during "medeival" times, but actually continued far beyond that. The European Colonial Powers used their technological edge to conquer indigenous peoples and replaced the native culture with their own, and survivors were made to assimulate, meaning they were to adopt the Christian religion the Europeans followed. Millions of natives were killed or converted in the Americas as England, Spain, and France laid claim to what ever territory they could. After the War of Independence, it actually got worse as the American colonies spread West under the Christian idea of "Manifest Destiny" and Native Americans were practically annihilated and those that survived were rounded up on to reservations and then forced to assimulate, which included indoctrination into Christianity.

REFORMATIONS: Though many would think the European Reformations weakened Christianinty, with the fracturing of churches into different denominations, this is actually one of the elements that allowed it to become more prevalent. Before the fracturing, Christianity was pretty much homogeneous in reguards to doctrine and leadership organization, as such needed to be much more heavy handed. With the Reformations, Christianity may have become "decentralized", but the new "varieties" actually allowed Christianity to remain strong. Even after the Reformations there were still Inqisitions to route out heratics against the faith (including "fellow Christians"), but at least with the existence of other denominations, people fleeing from persecution could still follow some form of Christianity rather than convert to the doctrines of the Inquisitors.

CONCLUSION: Whether through the heavy tactics of forced convertion of the past described above or the lighter tactics of psychological manipulation (often described as "Brainwashing"), once converted people continue the proccess and pass the indoctrination on to their children. It is these dark practices of early Christianity that have given them their numbers and their strength today. Without them, Christianity would not be so prevelant.

A good analogy would be bacteria. A single strain (the original Christianity) that agressively spreads (Inquisitions) consuming and destroying everything (forced convertions) in its path. A single strain of bacteria can only survive for so long before the things it attacks develop immunities that provide ways to resist or kill it, so how can it survive? ...Mutation (Reformations) the emergence of similar, but different strains that are able to continue spreading. With multiple strains (denominations) it is impossible for the it to ever die out completely.

A single unified Christianity run the same way and that ruled with an iron fist, would have lost its influence and power long ago as its atrocities continued to pile up and people would abandon, overthow, or destroy it. Without the Reformations, those that chose to rebel against the church would not remain Christian and so Christianity would only get weaker as it lost more followers, but look at things today... Even on here, there are Christians that oppose the doctrines of other Christians, they may be different advisarial denominations (i.e. Protestant-vs-Catholic, Mormon-vs-Pentecostal, etc.) but they are still Christian, and so some form of Christianity survives even though they are not united.

Answer 2

You are implying that Christianity would not have survived unless the Reformation, Inquisition, and any forced conversions had taken place. That thinking is not logical, for Christianity had survived before all these things took place. I would say that Christianity survived in spite of these things, for some of these things have given Christianity a poor reputation in the eyes of many.

Answer 3

No one can say positively how, or even if , Christianity, would have survived without the Wars of Reformation, the Inquisition, or forced conversions. No one can guarantee that Christianity will exist into the next century.

Answer 4

don't forget the 3rd century genocide, burning of libraries, destruction of temples and confiscation of property, and yes, forced conversion by mandating all citizens of the empire to practice christianity. all of it followed up with frequent extermination campaigns until all signs of paganism in the empire were wiped out. the reformation and inquisition were nothing compared to the exploits of the early church.

it probably would have survived, but it would have been only a small part of the spiritual picture.

a better question is: if christianity hadn't spread so fast in the roman empire, would mohammed have bothered to create islam?

Answer 5

Nice question! Oddly enough I asked this when I went through my confirmation classes - I asked the teacher about these things and about how the Roman Catholic Church went from functioning as the treasury of the government to a full fledged religion. Needless to say i was publicly denied an answer, I called my mother to pick me up and left the Church - forever. Christianity would have survived regardless, but would probably be similar to Judaism and Islam today, in constant turmoil of what little they have left.

Answer 6

The Reformation and the Inquisition did not help Christianity, they harmed it. And, except for some isolated cases, it never engaged in forced conversions. A conversion that is forced is no conversion at all!
The Christian faith is still spreading and rapidly without any of those things.

Answer 7

No, without the force compeled by the church, state or theocratic governments of the era, europe would have evolved more quickly into the europe of today with less influence of the churches and more of the ideas of freedom and equality we have today.

Answer 8

No forced conversions now. And there is still Christianity. The "forced conversions" you are referring to I have never heard of but, if there is such a thing those people weren't doing God's deed. God would not impose himself to you by force he gives you a choice.

Answer 9

Divine Intention

Answer 10

It would have survived, but it would be less powerful and there would be more religious diversity in the western countries such as the United States.