Chrstianity and Violence: Modern America
Index
|
||
|
||
|
||
Although one might imagine that the violence of Christianity would be relegated to the distant past, that hasn't been the case. The course of modernity has been one strewn with blood, bones, and bodies - much of which can be attributed to Christianity.
This isn't simply a matter of attributing violence to individual Christians who may or may not have been following their own ideals. Attributing violence to Christianity itself means that the violence must somehow stem more-or-less directly from Christian doctrines and Christian ideas. That is exactly what we see happen during the religious wars of the Reformation, the treatment of witches, and even Northern Ireland.
-->Reformation
The Reformation was supposed to restore a more original and more pure form of Christianity. One of the results was the death of millions upon millions of Europeans during decades almost unprecedented religious violence.Witches
Witches have long been feared and hated in Christian circles. Even today, pagans and Wiccans remain a target of Christian persecution and violence - even in America. It seems that they long ago took on an identity which reached far beyond their own existence and became a symbol for Christians - but a symbol of what?Holocaust
Was the Nazi Holocaust religious or was it secular? A bit of both, actually. Nazi oppression and massacres against political opponents and gypsies were obviously secular in nature - but the determination to exterminate the Jews from the face of the earth cannot possibly be understood without the background of centuries of persistent and violent Christian anti-semitism, generally encouraged by religious authorities.Northern Ireland
The terrible combination of nationalism, politics and religion has had deadly consequences for the people living in Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants have been vilifying, attacking, torturing and killing each other in a seemingly endless cycle. What role does Christianity play in all of this violence?
