nb194

Religion has slaughtered, tortured and mutilated more human beings than any other force on earth. Despite this, there are people who will argue that religion, even though it's not reality, serves a valuable purpose in society. That it teaches us to be a good person. People also argue that the lack of religion in modern society is responsible for our present social problems. But the facts contradict this view. In most countries where religion is widely practiced there are more social problems and more crime than in many other countries where religion is less practiced. Saying that being religious equals being a good person is a long way from being true. And by studying the facts of history we find it has never worked that way.

In the year 1095 Pope Urban II called for the first crusade and enlisted most of western Europe in his cause to rescue Jerusalem from Muslim control. It was the largest army in the history of the world. With the cry Deus vult! (God wills it), thousands took the cross. Some began by massacring Jews in the Rhine valley. Then in December of 1099, after a torturous march, the crusaders launched an all out assault on the holy city of Jerusalem. The carnage was so bad that there were accounts of men wading in blood up to their ankles. After the slaughter, the soldiers of Christ found an image of Jesus and wept for joy. Pope Urban had promised that those who fought would be granted total forgiveness for all their sins.

In 1209, Pope Innocent III called for a new crusade against the Cathars in southern France. The Cathars saw women as the equals of men. Women even preached the gospels. This was heresy so a massive army was assembled to weed out the heretics. When it reached the town, women and children fled to the church for sanctuary. The crusaders stormed the church with a rallying cry, "kill them all, God will know his own". The bloodthirsty crusaders then marched on to the next town. Those suspected of heresy were tied together on lines, their noses cut off, their eyes gouged out and led to the next town to warn the people of what was coming. In the massacre of the Cathars, ten times more Christians were killed than the total number martyred in the old Roman colosseum.

In the middle of the 14th century Europe was hit by the plague, or the black death. Many considered it God's retribution on a sinful world. People attacked their Jewish neighbors, accusing them of having poisoned the wells. Groups such as the flagellants blamed the Jews for the spread of the disease and wiped out entire Jewish populations. The flagellants were groups of Christians who subjected themselves to ritualized whipping as atonement for sin. The flagellants would assume the position of their worst sin. Then the leaders would beat them with a whip. This whip was a stick 2 or 3 feet long with leather thongs on the end of it and metal embedded in the thongs. Ironically this did more to spread the plague than to stop it because their bloody open wounds were prone to infection.

In 1486 Pope Innocent VIII authorized the "Malleum Maleficarum" or Hammer Against the Witches. It was a supplement to the scripture of Exodus 22:18; "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." It was a book intended to aid in identifying and destroying witches. This book had more printings than any other book with the exception of the Bible itself. It was distributed in half a dozen languages across Europe. The accused were often tortured until they confessed or accused others. The courtroom became a playground for the sexually suppressed Christian community. Since a mole or birthmark was proof enough the examiners were rarely disappointed. Proven guilty, the witch was executed by hanging or beheading. Then the corpse was burned at the stake. When Martin Luther and John Calvin split from the Catholic church they were just as relentless at persecuting witches. Prince Bishop Gregore II killed more than six hundred people. But instead of burning the corpses, he burned the accused alive. In the last legal witch trial, occurring in 1782, a Swiss woman was beheaded. In all, over one hundred thousand people(mostly women) were murdered in the name of God.

In the early stages, French Protestantism was largely inspired by Martin Luther. However, by 1550 the movement spread so rapidly it included one-fourth of all Frenchmen. After that date, the leadership of the movement was increasingly taken over by John Calvin. French Calvinists (Huguenots) were the targets of the "Wars of Religion". These religious and political civil wars were fought from 1562 to 1598 and were caused by opposing religious lines between members of the Huguenots with ties to nobility and two weak monarchs supporting Catholicism. The Huguenots formed a strong and often aggressive minority in their conflict with the Catholic crown. But on August 24, 1572, several thousand Huguenots were killed in the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The killing began in Paris and was extended to the provinces, continuing until October. It is estimated that tens of thousands were slaughtered.

Both Judaism and Christianity historically have viewed homosexuality as sinful. Leviticus 20:13; "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." This religious condemnation was put into written law. As a result, homosexual activity became a crime, for which the penalty in early courts was death. The Fleta, 1290AD, is the first mention of criminal punishment for homosexual behavior in the English common law tradition. It prescribed that sodomites were to be buried alive, but may not have been adopted. The Britton, 1300, prescribes that sodomites are to be burned alive, but there is little indication that this was carried out in England at this time. However, such executions are known to have taken place on the continent where their sanction derived from an enactment of Justinian and served to link sodomites to heretics. The Buggery Act, 1533, defines it as a felony punishable by hanging until dead. The number of executions for buggery in Britain increased at the end of the eighteenth century and into the second decade of the nineteenth century. The death penalty for buggery was not formally abolished in England and Wales until 1861.

These horrifying events unquestionably stand out in history. And religious leaders would like us to forget that they ever happened. Obviously we have forgotten them. Because today nothing has changed. Arabs and Jews continue to kill each other throughout the Middle East. Catholics and Protestants murder each other on the streets of Northern Ireland. Hindus and Muslims kill each other in India and Pakistan. Christians and Muslims murder each other in Beirut. American religious cults often end in mass suicide. White supremacists quote the Bible to justify their crimes of hatred. Christians quote the scriptures in defense of their often bloody war against abortion and homosexuality. On September 11, 2001, Muslims clearly demonstrated that a belief in religion and the reward of an afterlife encourages a devaluation of this life. To justify these irrational acts one must only subscribe to the fantasy of religion. Clearly there is a danger not being in touch with reality.

So, after reading that do you still think religion is good? Why?

__________________

"People are crazy and times are strange, I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range,
I used to care, but things have changed..."