■ 22 June 2008 | 7:36 AM
Revised Catholic history
Re 'Church before state,' letter, June 17:
The writer who extolled '20 centuries' of Catholic peace and justice needs to get some history books and learn of the brutal history of the church. He might think twice about being so enthralled by its current message.
To my knowledge there has never been a church with a history so full of brutality, repression, abuse, bigotry or racism, and it has never truly addressed the abuse of young boys and girls.
Does he know nothing about the Reformation or Martin Luther? The church continues to treat women as second-class citizens.
Nancy Warden
Manteo, N.C.
COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
The church....
brought all of this on itself when it became a government in its own right. Sorry Don, but your faith has a history mirred in tyrrany and abuse, it blames others for its shortcomings then condemns them in a futile attempt to cover up its own issues. If the only true way to God is through Catholicism then we are all doomed to an enternity of darkness.
facts remain facts
For much of the history of western civilization christianity was the catholic, then universal, church. The apologist always wishes to deflect the conversation form historic fact by charging “bashing”. Those apologists should take heart in the fact that the protestant sects have also had their flings with terror, torture, killing and justification of crimes against humanity based on doctrine.
NANCY IS RIGHT
Anytime you put your religion on a pedestal and portray it as being a paragon of virtue and more righteous than others, you are opening the door for rebuttals. Nancy's post is right on the mark. The Catholic Church's history has many instances of cruelty and inhumane treatment of people. You need look no further than the Inquisitions, the torture and killing of people such as Giordano Bruno whose only "crime" was not adhering to orthodoxy, and the mass murder of men, women, and children at Montsegur. Look how well Galileo was treated.
One of the Martin Luther's motivations was the culture of immorality within the Catholic Church that ran all the way up to the office of the Pope. Yes, those instances did happen several hundred years; nonetheless, it all happened within the 20 centuries of "peace and justice" that the original poster wrote about.
Beyond irresponsible.
Usually, I'm not an apologist for my Faith, but I'm tired of the histrionics of people who delight in dragging Catholicism through the slime because of what were principally the actions of secular rulers and misguided clergy hundreds of years ago, or of a small group of deviants who should have never been ordained during the last century.
Catholics make up over 17% of the population of our planet. It would be insanity not to think that, as in any large organization, some people in the priesthood and its hierarchy were not, or are not, worthy of their vows. Thankfully, their numbers were, and are, relatively small; but to denigrate an entire Religion for the acts of those errant souls, past or present, is beyond irresponsible.
Perfection only exists in God and will never exist in man. To understand and accept this, is to begin to walk down the path to tolerance.