What do you think about the catholic involvement in inqisitions during the middle ages?
608063
Given the following:\n\nA) Non-Catholics were not only seen as heretics, but because church and state were so intertwined, they were also traitors, and\n\nB) People tend to be as harsh and hostile as their environment, and\n\nC) the lack of any real technology made theirs a harsh environment with high mortality rates, and\n\nD) being basically ignorant of any realistic concept of how the universe works, and\n\nE) fearing that divine displeasure would result in the destruction of the realm,\n\nit therefore followed that anyone who rocked the boat was a definite threat to the "natural" order of life.\n\nSo, one removes the threat. It's a matter of survival.\n\nLook at it from THEIR viewpoint. Given what I said, they were actually being rather kind. They gave those accused a chance to recant and save their souls at least. By their lights that was Christian.\n\nDo not judge the past by the mores of the present.\n\nWere it to happen today we would be incensed. I know this because the Muslim fundamentalists are busy doing the same thing, with one exception. They kill you without a trial. And look how we responded to the news that a perfectly nice young man was to be killed for becoming a Christian. We're NOT medievals anymore. Muslim fundamentalists may be, but we're not. We've grown up beyond being scared of the dark.\n\nBTW, it wasn't, strictly speaking, merely Catholic involvement. It was Catholic inspired and Crown ordered. The Inquisition was carried out by members of the clergy, but always under orders from the king.
799310
Europeans had an Alliance with the Jews way back during the time of the Crusaders.  They cooperate to control the European economy.
656921
A lot happened in 1288!\n\nHere is more information at www.wikipedia.org\n\nps. The person above is giving fantasy answers to your questions. Could people please be serious on this website please? If you make a joke of it, it doesn't work very well!
1125119
I agree. Just like if you want to know about baking a cake, don't ask your local plumber, as a baker of a bakery that makes cakes. But don't just ask someone in the church that may not have a perfect understanding of their religion, not everyone thats catholic are scholar on Catholism. Ask someone who are in authority. Like a bishop or a missionary, or whoever else who should know alot.
445204
It depends. Are they Catholic?
461048
Hmm, good question.\n\nI seem to recall a passage in the Bible about Jesus throwing moneychangers and salesmen out of the temple... apparently their presence in the house of God offended His son.\n\nThere does seem to be a conflict of interest present between the Catholic Church (RCC) and God's Word.  Then again, the RCC's leader, the pope, said that the Bible was something that the average person shouldn't worry too much about, and to just accept whatever the RCC said instead.  \n\nYeah.
235141
For centuries, religion and statecraft have been combined. In fact, many of the community leaders were religious figures themselves. The Christian religion was born as a persecuted following in a Jewish world, but was soon a power to contend with as the Holy See, or the Catholic Church, itself became powerful enough to influence questions of statecraft. In fact, ever since Constantine converted to Christianity on his deathbed, the Church has been increasingly involved in matters of politics. In the Middle Ages this entanglement became so acute that various forms of corruption entered the Church, and various people protested against this tendency. The Protestant Revolt by Luther and Calvin was as much inspired by anxiety at this entanglement as by other Catholic corruptions. It was during these turbulent years when kings and royalties were changed and reinstated with the frequency of seasons that the concept of separation of Church and State developed. It would be erroneous to attribute any one person with inventing the concept or carrying it forward. The fact is that there was a need for a reassessment of Church-State relations and it was reflected in popular thought, and in the writings of the great thinkers like Montesquieu and Machiavelli. If one were to put a date, one would say that the concept arose in the 16th century - although it would not be quite accurate to simply matters to a particular date.
1011082
I think that this site has a good discussion. http://www.franciscan-anglican.com/The_Problem_of_Evil.htm\n\n(Nice XTC lyric references btw)
136039
The Catholics use intercession to the Saints.\nI do not agree that they should be doing this at all, but i do not think they are "Worshipping" them.   Now there is the Virgin Mary that they do seem to Idolize.  I respect the Virgin Mary greatly, but I do not worship her.  \n\nI do not need any man nor saint to get to God.  I peay directly to God and to his son Jesus Christ.
867538
some believe the catholic church
760289
Seems to me Christians were not allowed to lend money at interest during the Middle Ages. \n\nGoogle search:  moneylender medieval\n\nhttp://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/Community/exe/history/medievaljew.htm\n\nIt appears that at least sometimes a Jew in Exeter (England) could contract with the king to be a (money collector?); in turn, he belonged to the king, who in turn protected him.  He was able to build houses and hold lands, but it sounds as though his employment opportunities were seriously limited to "what the law of (the Christian's) church forbade the Christian."
883562
These Paintings and symbols, you're describing where\npainted mostly in the middle ages, or have their roots there.\nAnd most Paintings depicting Saints and Holy figures, where commissioned by the rich Church and there affiliates, whom choose to be selective, not to upset the Pope.
861832
That is correct.  My grandfather actually fought in the crusades during the middle ages.  He told me all about it before he died in 1996
105553
The Catholic Church. \nThe Monastic Order called "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon" popularly known as the "Knights Templar"\nThe Order was founded in 1119 and they were exempt from all authority except that of the Pope\nThey received massive donations of money, land, and noble-born sons from families across Europe.\nThough the primary mission of the Order was a military one, only a small percentage of its members were actually at the front lines, while many others were involved in developing a financial infrastructure to support the warrior branch. The Order also innovated ways of generating letters of credit for pilgrims who were journeying to the Holy Land, which involved pilgrims depositing their valuables with the Order before setting off on the journey. This may have been the first form of checking put into use. From this mixture of donations and shrewd business dealing, during the 12th and 13th centuries the Order acquired large tracts of land both in Europe and the Middle East, built churches and castles, bought farms and vineyards, was involved in manufacturing and import/export, had its own fleet of ships, and for a time even owned the entire island of Cyprus.
659267
I would say it began because of the rising wealth and importance of the merchant class.  Though still a definitively Christian period, there seems to be an increased interest in learning about secular things.  This could also have developed because of the absence of the papacy which at the time was in Avignon, France.
576191
Nice use of Rome as an example. Only that you left out the part where the Romans treated the Goths and Visigoths as a source of cheap but more often as slave labor. \n\nSounds very familiar.
345244
Islam is a a leftover remnant of the Middle Ages. Just as it would be a bad idea to listen to a doctor who practiced Middle Ages medicine (e.g. bleeding people?) and to listen to politicians from the Middle Ages (e.g. Machiavelli's Prince), it is a bad idea to blindly practice religions from the Dark Ages.\n\nChristians will tell you that Christianity is old like that, but if you look at the modern churches, they are very different and have changed, modernized. The ones that haven't modernized (polygamist Mormons, for instance) are negative influences on peoples lives. And yes, the same goes for Shinto and Hindu, look at the way that Shinto was used to justify WWII in Japan, and how some Hindus today are going on racist murderous rampages.