"Sure, centuries ago, Christians had committed atrocities in the Crusades and during the Inquisition”
Actually the far greater atrocities were committed by Christians in the New World. Columbus got his final financial boost from Isabella of Spain upon the promise that he would convert all he found to Christianity. When he landed (most likely on San Salvador) in October of 1492 he brought about the largest and most consequential family reunion in human history, The result was utterly catastrophic for the Native American populations in South, Central, and North America, and much of that devastation was done in the name of converting the heathen in the process of taking their land and the natural resources therein.
Indeed, ever since ’the kingship descended from Heaven' in ancient Sumer, power hungry men and some women have used religion as a controlling mechanism. After all, one can oppose a king, but not a god. There have always been very good political reasons for the Divine Right of Kings.
When I was a ElHi student at a predominantly protestant independent school outside Philadelphia, one of the hymn we regularly sung during morning chapel was “Onward Christian Soldiers’ One of the following lines was ‘marching as to war”. I didn’t think much about it then, but much of the history of organized Christianity has been a form of conquest, even against each other as during the wars of the Reformation.
So I would be cautious about supposing that homegrown religion fanaticism is something new here. It has just been a bit underground.
Great comment. I would also suggest to anyone who is in California who has the time and opportunity to tour the Missions up and down the California coastal areas that they have a look into the massive burial sites around those missions - those sites contain the remains of many who were enslaved, killed and disregarded as they hadn’t converted, were viewed as having no souls, no humanity.
The Ku Klux Klan is an American Protestant-led Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group, sometimes called America’s first domestic terrorist group.
Also see Father Coughlin, ‘the radio priest”, who broadcast out of the Detroit area in the 1930’s, who supported fascism and anti-Semitism, among other things.
This isn’t new. It’s been underground and re-emerging, empowered - again.
"Sure, centuries ago, Christians had committed atrocities in the Crusades and during the Inquisition”
Actually the far greater atrocities were committed by Christians in the New World. Columbus got his final financial boost from Isabella of Spain upon the promise that he would convert all he found to Christianity. When he landed (most likely on San Salvador) in October of 1492 he brought about the largest and most consequential family reunion in human history, The result was utterly catastrophic for the Native American populations in South, Central, and North America, and much of that devastation was done in the name of converting the heathen in the process of taking their land and the natural resources therein.
Indeed, ever since ’the kingship descended from Heaven' in ancient Sumer, power hungry men and some women have used religion as a controlling mechanism. After all, one can oppose a king, but not a god. There have always been very good political reasons for the Divine Right of Kings.
When I was a ElHi student at a predominantly protestant independent school outside Philadelphia, one of the hymn we regularly sung during morning chapel was “Onward Christian Soldiers’ One of the following lines was ‘marching as to war”. I didn’t think much about it then, but much of the history of organized Christianity has been a form of conquest, even against each other as during the wars of the Reformation.
So I would be cautious about supposing that homegrown religion fanaticism is something new here. It has just been a bit underground.
Great comment. I would also suggest to anyone who is in California who has the time and opportunity to tour the Missions up and down the California coastal areas that they have a look into the massive burial sites around those missions - those sites contain the remains of many who were enslaved, killed and disregarded as they hadn’t converted, were viewed as having no souls, no humanity.
The Ku Klux Klan is an American Protestant-led Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group, sometimes called America’s first domestic terrorist group.
Also see Father Coughlin, ‘the radio priest”, who broadcast out of the Detroit area in the 1930’s, who supported fascism and anti-Semitism, among other things.
This isn’t new. It’s been underground and re-emerging, empowered - again.