Kelly Xu
it had become a warrior using swords, pikes, and guns ??? The Church had begun with the Prince of Peace, who had bidden Peter put up his sword; it had become a warrior using swords, pikes, and guns against the Albigensians of France and the Jews of Spain. The lowly carpenter of Nazareth had been replaced by a Pope more richly housed than most emperors, and controlling more wealth than most states. In disputes between oppressors and oppressed the hierarchy had almost always supported the oppressors and suppressed the oppressed. The success of humanists and humanitarians in freeing the mind and the serf emboldened men to demand the taming of this dogmatic, obscurantist, intolerant and reactionary power. I would like to know what does the "it" in the first sentence refer to ? Thanks.
Jan 30, 2015 9:31 AM
Answers · 7
However, there are still other aspects of human history which show the falsity in attributing the "freedom" of modern people to "humanists" and so forth. Sexual Slavery, is still practiced worldwide, in which children as well as men and woman are still trafficked worldwide. Even in the United States for example our modern cities contain many "Massage Parlors" where people have been trafficked in from foreign countries to provide sexual services. In fact, the modern and "humanist" era of history, has not only tolerated the enslavement of modern people, but encouraged it worldwide. Many countries worldwide tolerate the practice of Sexual Slavery through corrupt governments and corrupt law enforcement.
January 30, 2015
For example, In the United States, where the enslavement of Africans culminated in the American Civil War (1861 to 1865) as a conflict over the right of the Southern Confederacy to secede from the USA, was a war that emerged over a social movement known as Abolition (the abolishing of slavery). It is common in the propagandistic literature of our time to read that this was a "humanist" movement. It was, in reality, a Christian Movement, lead in the USA by the family and associates of American minister Henry Ward Beecher. The Abolitionist movement to free the African Slaves in the USA got its life from the Abolitionist movement in England, lead by Christian William Wilberforce whose campaigning lead to the passage in England of Slavery Abolition Act 1833. This Abolitionist movement lead to the spreading of religious and spiritual objections to slavery as an inhumane practice inconsistent with Christian moral teaching.
January 30, 2015
The attribution of "freedom" to "humanists during the Enlightment as the consequence of the vaunting of "Reason" and "Science" is a misrepresentation of fact. The bloodiest wars and persecutions in all of human history were those which followed The Enlightenment, and not those which preceded it. Governments worldwide, controlled by those subscribing to Atheism and its political expressions have lead to massive loss of human life and the loss of "freedom" also.
January 30, 2015
"The success of humanists and humanitarians in freeing the mind and the serf emboldened men to demand the taming of this dogmatic, obscurantist, intolerant and reactionary power."--- This is an urban myth, perpetrated by skeptics who employ propagandistic techniques to manipulate the mind of the reading public and to misrepresent the facts of history.j The period it refers to as that of the "humanists" is The Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a general period of time in the 17th and 18th Centuries during which, along with the English Civil War and American Democratic Experiment The employment of religion as justification for the abuses of power by European Monarchies (King Charles of England who persecuted the Puritans and others in England) and (Louis the 14th of France whose extravagances impoverished his entire nation); lead eventually to the abandonment of the Church State alliance.
January 30, 2015
Hello Kelly: You have some general answers, but there are many other issues involved. First, The Christian Religion was eventually (and surprisingly) adopted by the Roman Empire as its "official" state religion, after several hundred years of bloody persecution. This began the alliance between "Church & State". Thereafter, for about the next 1500 years, the alliance of European monarchies and the Chruch was a consistent fact. The Chrisitian clergy crowned the heads of state, and the Church, by that association, transformed gradually, some of the most brutal humanity ever to hold power over their soverign nations. The Church, through its monastary system, was virtually the only system of education. Also, the church was able to eliminate the practice of slavery in Europe, and to elevate the status of women. When the wars known as "The Crusades" began a unique sect of "warrior monks" was instituted known as the Knights Templars to protect pilgrims going to and from Jerusalem. It was odd, because prior to that, no man or woman "with blood on their hands" was ever allowed into the monastic life. The text you cite contains misleading information also, especially in its concluding sentences.
January 30, 2015
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