VIOLENCE IN CHRISTIANITY:

 

 

Violence always had a dominating role part in the Christian Tradition:

In the beginning, the Christians had great respect for human blood. Blood shedding was a major sin in their eyes, because the order was easy and clear:

"Do not kill! "

 

The first Christians did not joined gladiator fights or the army, because they saw, themselves, as Jesus, as messenger of peace.

Therefore they could not and would not kill under any circumstances. They preferred to get murdered by the Romans instead of giving up their opinions.

 

The heathen Caesar, Emperor and Murderer Constantine let the nails with which they crucified Jesus to be worked into his helmet and the bridle of his horse, after he was victorious under the sign of the cross, at the Milvian Bridge. For many Christians, this was a unbelievable blasphemy. But not only that. This heathen Caesar made the Christian Religion a state religion. By that he got their worldly leader. Now they were a part of the establishment. They got property, Status and power and had to defend this new position. In the beginning, killing was generally forbidden, but only a little later, Caesars and Generals had only to do penance after they murdered. by the time, these things disappeared too.

But not only these things changed, the conversion of was changed too:

In the beginning, the church was against the using of violence in order to convert people and to oppress wrong teachings.

You can recognise the fast change, because Pope Leo, the great (440‑461) praised the Caesar, that he tortured and murdered heretic for the church.

 

The Christians were very glad, that their religion was the only one, which was not persecuted in the roman empire. (This is explained by the fact, that the Church itself persecuted all the other religions after it was made a state religion by the Caesar Constantine. There the loving of the enemies was forgotten very quickly!)

 

Until the year 175 there was nearly no Christian soldier in the army. But after an edict of Theodoslus in the year 416 the army was only allowed to be joined by Christian soldiers. The ideal Christ was no longer the lonely, simple and brotherly monk, but the greedy, brutal and murdering warrior with his bloodied sword, who had to send all the unbelievers back to god. And he did like that.

 

A few fact of the Christian history are mentioned here, for the memory:

 

In the year 782: 4.500 People were murdered in one day to Christianise the Saxons.

5.000 dead Steding fanners, who were murdered by the Bremen arch shop, because they could not pay the " 1st of the church".

In the year 1099: 70.000 murdered Muslims in one day because of the conquering of Jerusalem.

Over 100. 000 people were burned at the stake by a great‑inquisitor and 97.000 were sent on the galley by the same one.

More than 4 million Indians (Men, women and children) were murdered in the 16th century in order to Christianise them.

In only one night of the year 1572, 20.000 Huguenots were murdered.

More than 200.000 people were burned as witches in the 17^th century.

In the year 1846: Dozens of executions and 2.000 political prisoners as a testament of Pope Gregory XVI.

70 dead ones because of the defending of the Vatican‑state, through papal soldiers in the year 1870.

In the first six weeks of the year 1941: 180.000 dead people because of a catholic‑fascist Croatia.