Talk:Militant Christianity

Catholic Church - easily the most bloodthirsty of the Christian denominations, they've been spreading the gospel of peace via the sword for centuries. At least Islam tends to focus on converting (or killing) the infidel. Catholicism had no problem turning on their own. The Inquisition is a good example, as is the Albigensian Crusade, which gave rise to that wonderful peaceful saying, "Kill them all; for God knows His own".

This is the kind of content that makes RationalWiki look bad & reinforces the old "atheist fundamentalists" stereotype. We can't describe Catholicism as "easily the most bloodthirsty of the Christian denominations" based on medieval practices (crusades, inquisition), when all cultures in that era were much more violent than today. How is this any different than when Conservapedia & its ilk cite the atrocities of Nazi Germany & the USSR as examples of the dangers of atheism? As for Islam focusing on killing the infidel, this is only some of the more radical elements & not Islam as a whole. Ŵêâŝêîôîď^{Methinks it is a Weasel} 12:15, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Rubbish. The fact remains that Catholicism, more than any other Christian sect used violence, war, torture etc, to promote it's cause. The Nazi/atheism argument is a strawman, because Nazi's did not use violence to promote atheism (as CP and other idiots claim), but rather Nazism, whereas the crusades and the inquisition and their ilk were expressly designed to foster Christianity (as well as line the pockets of the Pope). The age in which they took place is irrelevant. --PsygremlinRunāt! 12:23, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

The age in which they took place is not irrelevant, because these things would not occur today. Modern Catholicism cannot be held to be more bloodthirsty than other Christian sects (most of which did not exist in that period) because of what the medieval church did or supported, when they do not do or support these things any longer. In fact we have already have part of an article about this fallacy. Ŵêâŝêîôîď^{Methinks it is a Weasel} 12:44, 24 January 2010 (UTC)