Because Christianity Was Never Cruel
Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” ever known.
Historical revisionism at it’s best, right from the horses mouth.
During the Inquisitions how many people were tortured and put to death by Christians in the name of their religion and their god?
* Was that not cruel and a violation of justice?
How many people were tortured and burned at the stake by Christians in the name of their religion and their god during the witch hunts?
* Was that not cruel and a violation of justice?
What about the Aboriginal children who were sexually, physically, and mentally assaulted and abused by nuns and priests?
* Was there no cruelty or violations of justice there?
* What about those god fearing folks in the KKK who used (and continue to use) the bible for their segregationist tripe?
* Was there no cruelty or violations of justice there?
Hitler was a good Catholic lad, he quoted the Christian scripture time and time again and used it as a justification for his actions and decisions.
* Was the holocaust not a violation of justice? Was there no cruelty?
There was a great line in the movie The Da Vinci Code, it goes like this
As long as there has been one true god there has been killing in his name.
And that my friends is a fact.
We missed our regular Sunday open trackbacks and comments post so we’re doing it today with this one.
Did he deny that Christians weren’t cruel?
No.
He simply stated a fact: atheism has led to cruelty.
And Hitler was not a “good Catholic lad”. Anyone who has studied Hitler seriously knows that. If he ever invoked Christian symbols, it was not in a way that was compatible to the Catholic Faith. In fact, that’s why the pope wrote an encyclical in German– to denounce Nazism.
As long as there has been one true god there has been killing in his name.
Getting rid of God didn’t make it better.
“As long as there has been one true god there has been killing in his name.”
Getting rid of God didn’t make it better.
As long as there’ve been humans, there’s been killing. One true God just gives us another excuse.
Oh, and Amen, Brother!!!!
We’ve been down this road before SUZANNE, when Benedict the Revisionist said the Shoah was “inspired by a neopagan racist ideology“, and shortly thereafter when folks started denying that Hitler was a Christian.
Funny thing about that ‘eh….. those godless communists are cruel, but no mention of Christian cruelty or injustice at all — why do you suppose that is?
Which should tell you something SUZANNE. The cruelty and injustice the world has experienced has little to do with Christianity, or the lack thereof – and everything to do with the people who pervert and abuse a given philosophy or belief structure in the quest for power and control over others.
If Benedict was an honest man he’d say that.
Nice try Suzanne. The implication clearly was that religion is superior to atheism because those “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice”. He was clearly trying to say we need to strengthen religion because atheism is “bad”… which is crap.
The dull man can identify the faults of others.
The wise man can identify faults within himself.
” He was clearly trying to say we need to strengthen religion because atheism is “bad”… which is crap.”
Actually, that wasn’t what the passage was about:
He writes:
The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history. A world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God. A God with responsibility for such a world would not be a just God, much less a good God. It is for the sake of morality that this God has to be contested. Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. If in the face of this world’s suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim. A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world.
Religion doesn’t “need” strengthening. It’s good as it is.
and everything to do with the people who pervert and abuse a given philosophy or belief structure in the quest for power and control over others.
The pope might agree to some extent to that proposition. He argues for the necessity of freedom in his encylical. He says that structures (which are necessary) can never replace authentic freedom. There must always be the freedom to choose evil.
Shoah was “inspired by a neopagan racist ideology“, and shortly thereafter when folks started denying that Hitler was a Christian.
Hitler did not believe in any kind of classic Christianity. He did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, or his salvific sacrifice, or the sacraments, or the Church. And if that isn’t proof enough, the pope wrote a whole encylical against Nazi ideology– in German so he’d get the message. It was called Mitt Brennender Sorge. Hitler was not a “good Catholic boy”. Not by a long shot. The Pope did not think so. Hitler repeatedly denied basic Catholic ideas such as the equality of the races, the right to life, and he persecuted the Catholic Church for standing up for her doctrines. Hardly the mark of a faithful Catholic.
As long as there’ve been humans, there’s been killing. One true God just gives us another excuse.
Too true. Unfortunatly it’s human nature to find someone to blame. Athiests want to blame religious folks and vice versa. It’s just easier then admitting mankind is inherently cruel.
And do you not think that a good part of the protest against the injustices of the world and of world history was because the church was ultimately recognized as the cruel, unjust, corrupt, and hypocritical, organization that it was (and
IMO, continues to be)?
Exactly!
Sorry SUZANNE, Hitler quite obviously believed himself to be a Christian and publicly acknowledged his Lord and Saviour…. btw, what did the pope of the day have to say about the Nazis?
Hangnails are cruel.
Maybe not as cruel as Pinochet, but cruel.
See?
…
AAAND that random comment is brought to you by the rest of the paragraph being cut off. In my copy-paste as I wandered away and then back again.
However, since it is sufficiently surreal, I will leave it.
Surreal is fun.
Argh, my comment was eaten up by cyberspace.
Exactly!
The pope was repeating what was said by the Marxists. The problem is that in trying to redeem mankind themselves, they also brought cruelty.
Sorry SUZANNE, Hitler quite obviously believed himself to be a Christian and publicly acknowledged his Lord and Saviour
Hitler’s Jesus was a revolutionary, not a divine being. Hitler’s Jesus did not redeem the sins of mankind through his salvific sacrifice. Hitler’s Jesus was never meek or humble.
And if you want to know what the Pope said, read for yourself:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge_en.html
The Pope wrote:
You will need to watch carefully, Venerable Brethren, that religious fundamental concepts be not emptied of their content and distorted to profane use. “Revelation” in its Christian sense, means the word of God addressed to man. The use of this word for the “suggestions” of race and blood, for the irradiations of a people’s history, is mere equivocation.
Pope Pius XI saw right through Hitler. He knew you couldn’t take Hitler at his word, because he used words in a different meaning than what the Catholic Church meant. That’s why you can’t take the quotations that you cite as face value.
And oh yeah:
“It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. ”
The notion that Christ’s power lay in his “fighting” not his “suffering” is anathema to the Catholic Faith. Christ’s greatest act was the sacrifice on the cross, his suffering and passion.
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Regarding the observation “Hitler was not a “good Catholic boy”. Not by a long shot. The Pope did not think so.” , we recall:
The fact that the Curia is now making its peace with Fascism shows that the Vatican trusts the new political realities far more than did the former liberal democracy with which it could not come to terms. …The fact that the Catholic Church has come to an agreement with Fascist Italy …proves beyond doubt that the Fascist world of ideas is closer to Christianity than those of Jewish liberalism or even atheistic Marxism…
- Adolf Hitler in an article in the Völkischer Beobachter, February 29, 1929, on the new Lateran Treaty between Mussolini’s fascist government and the Vatican
Whooee! Does anyone think the fascist Mussolini could have assumed power in Italy without the support of the Vatican? The problem for fundamentalists occurs when they believe the Pope to be infallible and simultaneously believe that the Nazis were evil. This sets up a double-bind situation for the poor fundy. She can denounce the concept of papal infallibility. Or, she can contest that he Pope was not wrong to condone Nazism.
Or… she can try to rewrite history.
JB