(December 12, 2013 at 11:09 pm)Polaris Wrote: That lack of legitimacy that is more easily generated by religious doctrine was replaced by fear, fear garnered by mass executions never seen prior. Seems a fear of eternal damnation keeps people in check.
It's amazing how much more efficient it is to mow people down when you have assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, HMGs, bombs, grenades, flamethrowers, pistols, planes, tanks, bombers, etc etc etc instead of swords, spears, bows, arrows, and axes, isn't it? And you can get such good numbers on them, too, when there's about ten thousand now for every one that lived in the middle ages. And then there's that whole "global media" thing and "primitive computers" and "electrical-signals" thing to relay and record and transmit information on all those kills and murders and genocides to give some kind of general number. Makes it kinda hard to miss the incidents, too; those poor bastards in the first millenium ADE and over half of the second one sure didn't have that kind of ability to provide any kinds of verifiable records across any distance. Just imagine what numbers the Inquisition in all of its many forms across the dark-to-medieval ages actually achieved, and what percentage-of-population ratios they probably nailed! And hell, they sure didn't need the fear tactics we use today; they only hung the corpses of apostates and heretics from the gallows until rot and decay let the poor bastard's body finally split apart and fall to the ground. Oh and they also did the whole public lashing and stoning things, and the whole "burn them at the stake" stuff in public spectacles...
In the Dark Side of Christian History, Helen Ellerbe describes how the same men who had been both prosecutor and judge decided upon the sentence of heresy. Once an Inquisitor arrived to a heresy-ridden district, a 40 day period of grace was usually allowed to all who wished to confess by recanting their faith.
After this period of grace had finished, the inhabitants were then summoned to appear before the Inquisitor. Citizens accused of heresy would be woken in the dead of night, ordered, if not gagged, and then escorted to the holy edifice, or Inquisition prison for closer examination.
In 1244, the Council of Harbonne ordered that in the sentencing of heretics, no husband should be spared because of his wife, nor wife because of her husband, and no parent spared from a helpless child. Once in custody victims waited before their judge anxiously, while he pondered through the document of their accusation. During the first examination, enough of their property was likewise confiscated to cover the expenses of the preliminary investigation.
The accused would then be implicated and asked incriminating and luring questions in a dexterous manner of trickery calculated to entangle most. Many manual's used and promulgated were by the grand inquisitor Bernardus Guidonis, the Author of Practica Inquisitionis (Practice of the Inquisition) and the Directorium Inquisitorum (Guideline for Inquisitors) completed by Nicolaus Eymerich, grand inquisitor of Aragon. These were the authoritative text-books for the use of inquisitors until the issue of Torquemada's instructions in 1483, which was an enlarged and revised Directorium.
So, what's the difference between religious doctrine and fear? The answer is: None. Like how "state sponsored secularism" and "secularism" are the same damn thing, so too are "religious doctrine" and "fear."
I love your attempts to make Christianity seem so warm and inviting and cheerful in the face of the Reds' heinous assault against your "fellow" Christians (except they were not True Christians, because they were not of your demographic, so...y r u so mad bro?) so as to try to make "state sponsored secularism" so scary and evil and horrible, but the fact of the matter is, if Christianity had as much sway now as it did back then, as in, if it were still legitimate as it used to be and now no longer is, as in it had an army and weapons and its own dominion? Do you REALLY think that you and your lot would be any better?
No. No, Polaris, they would not be, and neither would you. Given how easily misled and deluded you and those who foolishly believe like you are, and how insecure people like you who believe the schlock are about what you supposedly believe so absolutely, I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that you guys would make the muslim extremists in the world look like a fucking Hollywood suburban street-gang in comparison.
Good thing you guys aren't legit anymore; the world remembers when you were, and history, unedited and free of choice pruning, does not smile kindly upon your religion's history.
