Shalom Shabbat,
Truth be told, the history of the Catholic church hurts. We all know what happened in the dark ages and middle ages through the Reformation to its modern incarnation today. We are astounded by it's stained history of bloodshed and unashamed control of people. At the same time it cannot be denied that the people of the church did do much good as well. Does the good cancel out the bad? I'm not an apologist for them but I'd say that the history of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular has had its swings back and forth in the annals of human enlightenment and terror.
Perhaps one day history may reveal that the violence generated late in the first millineum was in response to the violence caused by the spread of Islam. Before Islam there is little evidence of the church resorting to violence. However, when pushed to defend themselves, they became as vicious as the enemy and the resulting race for religiosity led to the Crusades and the Inquisition and the conquest of the New World and other territories. However, "sanity" crept back in under the radar and as Europe prospered, the Europeans began to treat people a little differently. After World War II, popular humanism caught on and the spread of information swung the pendulum from the side of domination of the human spirit to the other side of freedom. It was ridiculous to fight and kill over religion. Besides, the world was a lot bigger than thought and there are simply too many people and religions to dominate. The story of salvation must be more than what was preached in the earlier centuries, and so began Vatican II and a change to accommodate much of the world's population.
With regards to the claims made above, I dare say that in Malaysia the Catholic and daughter churches did contribute significantly in the building of a social fabric that stands till today via their schools, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly, charities, etc. I studied in a La Salle school, and I appreciate the values that were taught. There was a respect for all people and their religions. Nobody was forced to convert to anything, and equality in education was upheld. Discipline was strict but not overbearing.
Be that as it may, I am convinced that if pushed hard enough, Christians will again rise to the challenge and will oppose violence with violence. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are a response to the Islamic terror, plain and simple. People can claim all sorts of things about Bush policies and oil hegemony but the simple fact is that the people have replied to violence with violence. In this war, their enemies will lose when the stakes are raised because they have the power to destroy all enemies. Will Durant can make his claim because history cannot be denied, but the sad part is that many people have forgotten that there are several actors on this stage and they all interact with each other. Demonising one over the other is useless and leads to losing the plot and the upcoming cast and main lead actor.
Edited by user Saturday, March 22, 2008 11:00:12 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
