What are your views on the Church's Christianization of Europe?

Sammy-San

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Similar to how the middle east wasnt always muslim, Europe wasnt always Christian. There were pagan religions (still practiced today by small amounts of people), until Europe was Christianized.

I think spreading Christianity by the Church and converting people from paganism to Christianity was a good thing obviously, but what about the church outlawing other religions and things like that?

Even though the Old Testament theocracy banned other religions, God's intention was that during the Old Testament he created a covenant with a specific group of people in a specific area, where they would serve him.

Christians view the OT as just that- an important part of God's history with his people-but its not the core and main essence of the Bible like Christ's story in the New Testament is. Its not the big picture.

Jesus didnt, nor did he order his followers, to destroy pagan temples, unlike Mohammad. The history of early Christianity is far different from the history of early Islam in the sense that it didnt involve forcing people to stop practicing other religions. The early Christians disagreed with and preached against it, but allowed people to practice false religions.

I wouldnt go so far as to call the Church's actions of banning other religions in medieval Europe "evil", but rather, they werent the will of God, and I disagree with them.

I highly doubt Christianization resulted in people being saved-it probably only resulted in cultural Christianity being more popular.
 

Erth

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Even though the Old Testament theocracy banned other religions, God's intention was that during the Old Testament he created a covenant with a specific group of people in a specific area, where they would serve him.
I think this is also how it happened during the middle ages in Europe. There were exceptions, but I view those as mistakes and wrong-doings. For the most part, people were left in peace to live their lives, as long as they did not stir up riots, or come to church with their paganism.


Jesus didnt, nor did he order his followers, to destroy pagan temples, unlike Mohammad. The history of early Christianity is far different from the history of early Islam in the sense that it didnt involve forcing people to stop practicing other religions. The early Christians disagreed with and preached against it, but allowed people to practice false religions.
I wouldnt go so far as to call the Church's actions of banning other religions in medieval Europe "evil", but rather, they werent the will of God, and I disagree with them.
The general banning of other religions only came about with Protestantism. There was a totalitarianism in Protestantism that was previously unheard of. When Protestantism became state religion, that totalitarian streak went out of control. White wall tyranny and generally invasive tactics against any differences are examples of this. The abolition of monasticism is another. A simplified, vulgar form of Christianity took hold and demanded absolute submission. When the priests came to visit people's houses, they would hold interrogations. And so on.
 
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BryanW92

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Similar to how the middle east wasnt always muslim, Europe wasnt always Christian. There were pagan religions (still practiced today by small amounts of people), until Europe was Christianized.

I think spreading Christianity by the Church and converting people from paganism to Christianity was a good thing obviously, but what about the church outlawing other religions and things like that?

Even though the Old Testament theocracy banned other religions, God's intention was that during the Old Testament he created a covenant with a specific group of people in a specific area, where they would serve him.

Christians view the OT as just that- an important part of God's history with his people-but its not the core and main essence of the Bible like Christ's story in the New Testament is. Its not the big picture.

Jesus didnt, nor did he order his followers, to destroy pagan temples, unlike Mohammad. The history of early Christianity is far different from the history of early Islam in the sense that it didnt involve forcing people to stop practicing other religions. The early Christians disagreed with and preached against it, but allowed people to practice false religions.

I wouldnt go so far as to call the Church's actions of banning other religions in medieval Europe "evil", but rather, they werent the will of God, and I disagree with them.

I highly doubt Christianization resulted in people being saved-it probably only resulted in cultural Christianity being more popular.

There's a lot of threads on CF about how Christianity was paganized by the church's tendency to move into an area and, rather than convert by the sword, just subvert the local religion by inserting Christianity into their customs and practices.
 
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Bramwell

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It's arguable how much of Europe was really "Christianized". Certainly a lot of the continent claimed Christ' name for their system of religion. But a lot of evil was also done under that banner by European "Christians", which beared no resemblance to the life and teachings of Jesus.

It's the same today for so many countries. America is, for example, a nominally Christian country. But does it really function as a nation with its roots in Christ' teaching? Not even close.
 
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CGL1023

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I think this is also how it happened during the middle ages in Europe. There were exceptions, but I view those as mistakes and wrong-doings. For the most part, people were left in peace to live their lives, as long as they did not stir up riots, or come to church with their paganism.




The general banning of other religions only came about with Protestantism. There was a totalitarianism in Protestantism that was previously unheard of. When Protestantism became state religion, that totalitarian streak went out of control. White wall tyranny and generally invasive tactics against any differences are examples of this. The abolition of monasticism is another. A simplified, vulgar form of Christianity took hold and demanded absolute submission. When the priests came to visit people's houses, they would hold interrogations. And so on.

I would refer you to Foxe's Book of Martyrs. John Wycliffe, for example, was martyed before the Reformation as were many over all the prior centuries following the ministries of the apostles. The Inquisition belongs here as a discussion topic as does the practice of systematic anti-semitism.
 
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JLR1300

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"The general banning of other religions only came about with Protestantism. There was a totalitarianism in Protestantism that was previously unheard of. When Protestantism became state religion, that totalitarian streak went out of control. White wall tyranny and generally invasive tactics against any differences are examples of this. The abolition of monasticism is another. A simplified, vulgar form of Christianity took hold and demanded absolute submission. When the priests came to visit people's houses, they would hold interrogations. And so on."

This comment was made by someone who desires to completely rewrite history. It belongs in the same category as those who say that Hitler never killed any Jews. The Roman Catholic church burned hundreds of thousands of Protestants at the stake. It was the Catholic church that started the Spanish Inquisition and persecuted and tortured untold multitudes of poor people all across europe simply because they would not renounce protestant doctrines like justification by faith alone. You cannot name a single protestant church that did anything like that. Tell me.... when did the Great Presbyterian Inquisition or the Methodist Inquisition or the Southern Baptist Inquisition or the Assembly of God Inquisition Occur? LOL. One of the reasons the Catholic church burned so many multitudes at the stake is because there was no separation of Chruch and State. It was protestants who came to America who insisted on putting separation of church and state into the constitution and granting complete religious freedom. The rise of Protestantism brought about more democracy and more religious freedom in the world. Prior to the Protestant reformation the Catholic church was in power for 1000 years. (It's not a coincidence that the period of Catholic influence is known as the dark ages) During that time there was no religious freedom and no Democracy. Catholics had 10000 years (from 500 a.d. to 1500 a.d.) to use their influence to bring about religious freedom and instead of doing that we see them at the end of that time during the 15 and 16oo's burning multitudes at the stake in the inquisition for being protestants. So don't give us your rewrite of history because some of us went to college and seminary and we have some education.
 
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