Klonor
13-01-2006, 23:52
It seems, in the past few years, that it has become customary, dare I say trendy, to bemoan and besmirch Islam as an evil, violent, and fascist religion. But it is often forgotten that Christianity also has a smiliarly evil, violent, and fascist history of its own. Now, both religions are off-shoots of Judaism and descend from my own faith with many common beliefs and bonds. I pride myself on being fair-minded and un-judgmental of all religions and I feel that basing your views of all on the actions of a few will only lead to unjustified hatred, but too often the lessons learned in the study of Christianity go unremembered when dealing with Islam. Lessons such as the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. Perhaps it would be better to grant Islam a bit of leeway when judging it. So, without further ado, a little history lesson on the shady past of the Christian faith.
CRUSADES
The Crusades were a series of wars by Western European Christians to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusades were first undertaken in 1096 and ended in the late 13th century. The term Crusade was originally applied solely to European efforts to retake from the Muslims the city of Jerusalem, which was sacred to Christians as the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was later used to designate any military effort by Europeans against non-Christians. And this is where the real purpose of my thread begins. I've always wondered how some people could make arguments on these boards when the evidence presented in previous posts points to the contrary. I wondered if it was because people did not read entire posts of length such as this. So I'm testing this fact. I bet there will be quite a few people to post on this thread based on the opening paragraph and the beginning of this paragraph. They won't see all this that I'm writing right here at all. And I will enjoy a good laugh. So, if you are reading this, please don't spoil it for me. Instead of posting and having a good laugh at my obnoxious trick, just simply reply with "I agree", and leave any private comments in my telegram box. And, if you are so inclined, make a similar post of your own, with it's own hidden message. Now back to the charade. Stick around through the next paragraph for another easter egg. In a broad sense the Crusades were an expression of militant Christianity and European expansion. They combined religious interests with secular and military enterprises. Christians learned to live in different cultures, which they learned and absorbed; they also imposed something of their own characteristics on these cultures. The Crusades strongly affected the imagination and aspirations of people at the time, and to this day they are among the most famous chapters of medieval history.
THE INQUISITION
The Inquisition was a judicial institution established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with seeking out, trying, and sentencing persons guilty of heresy. In the early church the usual penalty for heresy was excommunication. With the establishment of Christianity as the state religion by the Roman emperors in the 4th century, heretics came to be considered enemies of the state, especially when violence and the disturbance of public order were involved. St. Augustine gave a somewhat reluctant approval to action by the state against heretics, but the church generally disapproved of coercion and physical penalties. And I'm back. I wonder how many people have even made it this far down even after reading the little message in the first paragraph. I imagine I've lost a few readers even though they knew I'd be back here. I think I will allow this thread to hover around like this for a while, depending on the amount of responses I get to the false subject compared to the responses concerning the actual intent. I know that this has probably been done before; I don't think I'm being particularly witty here, but I think this is going to be very amusing for me, to say the least. It is kind of like those tests you used to get in the first day of class in high school that told you to read through the entire instructions before starting, and in the instructions it told you to just answer the final question and hand it in. Then you could enjoy a little chuckle as you saw people struggle through the impossibly hard test, not realizing that a joke was being played upon them. At any rate, I've let this go on long enough, so I think I'm just about done. Just to recap, if you read all this, just respond with "I agree" so I know you got the joke without ruining the joke, and leave me a telegram with your reactions. Thanks. Oh, and check out the links I provide. And now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast. For those of you who spend way to much time on here, no, you're not seeing double, this is a re-posted thread. It was posted a few months ago by Sdaeriji and did really well and I thought it'd be good to bring it back. I got his permission first and added a few touches of my own, but that's really just these few sentences saying this is a re-post and a few words here and there to give it my feel. Enjoy! The grand inquisitor and his tribunal had jurisdiction over local tribunals in colonies such as Mexico and Peru, which were usually more concerned with sorcery than heresy. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands in 1522, where it failed to wipe out Protestantism. The Spanish established it in Sicily in 1517, but were unable to do so in Naples and Milan. Historians have noted that many Protestant lands had institutions as repressive as the Spanish Inquisition, such as the consistory in Geneva at the time of the French reformer John Calvin. The Inquisition was finally suppressed in Spain in 1834.
So, in conclusion, I think that Christians ought to approach their attitudes towards Islam with a little bit more civility, since Christianity has its own violent and unsavory past.
For some more information on the violent history of Christianity, I refer you to these sites.
http://www.time.com/archive/religion/christianity/h4587340293384673/article/hypocrisy/heylookifoundjimmyhoffabackhere/iamsuchajerk/4342328373593.html
http://www.newyorktimes.com/archive/scienceandreligion/article4328372639834/christianityandislam/ohmygod/bigfoot/iwonderifnessieisbackheretoo/234092347262983.html
http://www.english.aljazeera.net/culture/religion/NR/exeres/8b323237v23/thisiswhereameliaearhartcrashed/ibetalotofpeopleragonmeforincludinganaljazeeralink/7B09E3B6-0AED-496F-B5D8-39C7DCF65E44.htm
CRUSADES
The Crusades were a series of wars by Western European Christians to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusades were first undertaken in 1096 and ended in the late 13th century. The term Crusade was originally applied solely to European efforts to retake from the Muslims the city of Jerusalem, which was sacred to Christians as the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was later used to designate any military effort by Europeans against non-Christians. And this is where the real purpose of my thread begins. I've always wondered how some people could make arguments on these boards when the evidence presented in previous posts points to the contrary. I wondered if it was because people did not read entire posts of length such as this. So I'm testing this fact. I bet there will be quite a few people to post on this thread based on the opening paragraph and the beginning of this paragraph. They won't see all this that I'm writing right here at all. And I will enjoy a good laugh. So, if you are reading this, please don't spoil it for me. Instead of posting and having a good laugh at my obnoxious trick, just simply reply with "I agree", and leave any private comments in my telegram box. And, if you are so inclined, make a similar post of your own, with it's own hidden message. Now back to the charade. Stick around through the next paragraph for another easter egg. In a broad sense the Crusades were an expression of militant Christianity and European expansion. They combined religious interests with secular and military enterprises. Christians learned to live in different cultures, which they learned and absorbed; they also imposed something of their own characteristics on these cultures. The Crusades strongly affected the imagination and aspirations of people at the time, and to this day they are among the most famous chapters of medieval history.
THE INQUISITION
The Inquisition was a judicial institution established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with seeking out, trying, and sentencing persons guilty of heresy. In the early church the usual penalty for heresy was excommunication. With the establishment of Christianity as the state religion by the Roman emperors in the 4th century, heretics came to be considered enemies of the state, especially when violence and the disturbance of public order were involved. St. Augustine gave a somewhat reluctant approval to action by the state against heretics, but the church generally disapproved of coercion and physical penalties. And I'm back. I wonder how many people have even made it this far down even after reading the little message in the first paragraph. I imagine I've lost a few readers even though they knew I'd be back here. I think I will allow this thread to hover around like this for a while, depending on the amount of responses I get to the false subject compared to the responses concerning the actual intent. I know that this has probably been done before; I don't think I'm being particularly witty here, but I think this is going to be very amusing for me, to say the least. It is kind of like those tests you used to get in the first day of class in high school that told you to read through the entire instructions before starting, and in the instructions it told you to just answer the final question and hand it in. Then you could enjoy a little chuckle as you saw people struggle through the impossibly hard test, not realizing that a joke was being played upon them. At any rate, I've let this go on long enough, so I think I'm just about done. Just to recap, if you read all this, just respond with "I agree" so I know you got the joke without ruining the joke, and leave me a telegram with your reactions. Thanks. Oh, and check out the links I provide. And now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast. For those of you who spend way to much time on here, no, you're not seeing double, this is a re-posted thread. It was posted a few months ago by Sdaeriji and did really well and I thought it'd be good to bring it back. I got his permission first and added a few touches of my own, but that's really just these few sentences saying this is a re-post and a few words here and there to give it my feel. Enjoy! The grand inquisitor and his tribunal had jurisdiction over local tribunals in colonies such as Mexico and Peru, which were usually more concerned with sorcery than heresy. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands in 1522, where it failed to wipe out Protestantism. The Spanish established it in Sicily in 1517, but were unable to do so in Naples and Milan. Historians have noted that many Protestant lands had institutions as repressive as the Spanish Inquisition, such as the consistory in Geneva at the time of the French reformer John Calvin. The Inquisition was finally suppressed in Spain in 1834.
So, in conclusion, I think that Christians ought to approach their attitudes towards Islam with a little bit more civility, since Christianity has its own violent and unsavory past.
For some more information on the violent history of Christianity, I refer you to these sites.
http://www.time.com/archive/religion/christianity/h4587340293384673/article/hypocrisy/heylookifoundjimmyhoffabackhere/iamsuchajerk/4342328373593.html
http://www.newyorktimes.com/archive/scienceandreligion/article4328372639834/christianityandislam/ohmygod/bigfoot/iwonderifnessieisbackheretoo/234092347262983.html
http://www.english.aljazeera.net/culture/religion/NR/exeres/8b323237v23/thisiswhereameliaearhartcrashed/ibetalotofpeopleragonmeforincludinganaljazeeralink/7B09E3B6-0AED-496F-B5D8-39C7DCF65E44.htm