User:Jenhawk777/Violence and Christianity
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Violence and Christianity is both a complex and a controversial subject because of conflicting claims that Christianity causes violence, that violence is only tangentially connected to Christianity, and that Christianity prevents violence.[1][2][3][4]
- Since the sixteenth century and the writings of Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, the widely accepted position has been that 'intolerance within Christianity' has caused much of the violence in western history. It can be traced from them on through Edward Gibbon and the tremendous influence of his "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" written in 1776–1781, and on still into the modern works of Ramsay MacMullen, James J. O’Donnell, T.D.Barnes, and many more.[5] This belief has dominated the discussion of this subject for over two hundred years.[5][6]
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Rodney Stark, professor of social sciences, and Kathryn Corcoran agree with this view. In Religious Hostility: A Global Assessment of Hatred and Terror they conclude intolerance is a primary cause of violence and much of that is contributed by the world's religions.[7] Many eminent scholars of Christian antiquity have created a large body of work connecting intolerance and violence in Christianity's past. Wilhelm Heitmeyer and John Hagan identify some of these as, the Inquisitions, the Crusades, Wars of Religion, and antisemitism.[8] Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver holds traditional Christian theology responsible for a host of more contemporary issues such as capital punishment, corporal punishment, slavery, colonialism, and the subjection of women.[9][10]
- William Cavanaugh calls into question this traditional view of intolerance and religion. Quoting evidence from sixteenth and seventeenth century historians, he demonstrates the "religious wars" of the Late Middle Ages were not solely religious by showing that participants and motives for those wars crossed religious boundaries. Cavenaugh offers numerous examples of those belonging to the same church fighting and killing each other, and those from different churches, collaborating. Cavenaugh sees Christianity as a contributing factor, but sees the root cause of those wars as the rise of the secular state. Cavenaugh casts doubt on the rigid division between religion and the other factors, such as economics, social upheaval and politics, contributing to these wars.[4]
Ancient historian H.A. Drake indicates that, while intolerance is part of the picture of Christianity and violence, it is insufficient as an explanation by itself. The additional economic, political, and social analysis Drake advocates indicate the upheaval that results from cultural-ideological change is what causes violence in most cases and not religion by itself.[11][12]
- Claiming that Christianity causes violence implies human nature would be less violent without Christianity's influence. Yet removing Christianity and replacing it with no religion at all—exemplified by atheism—has not decreased violence in some cases but has instead increased it.[13] Examples include: ""some of the more violent exponents of the French Revolution, the ... militancy of Marxist-Leninist atheism, and the prominence of atheism in totalitarian states formed in the 20th century. ...In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke railed against 'atheistical fanaticism.' The 1937 papal encyclical Divini Redemptoris denounced the atheism of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, which was later influential in the establishment of state atheism across Eastern Europe and elsewhere, including Mao Zedong's (aka Mao Tse-tung) China, Communist North Korea and Pol Pot's Cambodia."" These non-religious societies killed more of their own people than any other societies in history.[14]
Cavenaugh underlines this with examples from sixteenth century historians that show the replacement of the authority of the church with the authority of the state did nothing to end violence. It only replaced violence in defense of the church with violence in defense of politics and nationalism.[15][4][5] Rudy Rummel's comparative chart shows conflict related deaths have risen every century since the sixteenth century, culminating in the twentieth century as the bloodiest in history.[16] This is no doubt partly because of modern weapons and warfare.[17]
- Yale Divinity Professor Miroslav Volf argues that Christianity "should be seen as a contributor to more peaceful social environments."[18] Ira Chernus, Professor Of Religious Studies agrees. He says, "Most of the great 'nonviolence' leaders in the U.S., both men and women, were people of deep religious and moral faith. Most of them came to nonviolence first through their faith, not cerebral analysis. They were preachers more than philosophers..."[19] A survey of 20th century theology shows many examples.