Author: V Sundaram
Publication: News Today
Date: April 26, 2006
URL: http://www.newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06apr/2604ss1.htm
I have just finished reading a remarkably
perceptive book called The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe.
This is simply a book that everyone must sit down and read. Alice Walker in
her review of this book has observed: 'At a time when the so called 'religious
right' asserts that Christian values will save society from its rampant sins,
the ordinary citizen should know exactly how the Christian Church has attempted
'to save' societies in the past. It is a grim lesson, but one that is imperative
to absorb. Doing so could save lives'.
In a lucid, objective and accessible style,
Helen Ellerbe presents some of the long-hidden shameful secrets of organized
patriarchal religion. There is much in this book that does bear out the stigma
of a dark side: the role of Crusades, Inquisition, Witch-hunts etc. in Church
history, a knowledge of which is essential for a complete picture of the cultural
evolution of Western civilization. By denying evil we do harm. By denying
darkness we obscure the light. Over a period of more than two millennia, the
Christian Church has oppressed and brutalized millions of individuals in an
attempt to control and contain spirituality. 'The Dark Side of Christian History'
reveals in full detail the tragedies, sorrows and injustices inflicted upon
humanity by the Church. Helen Ellerbe's expose is a compelling and passionate
cry for human dignity and spiritual freedom.
During the dark Middle Ages, civilization
collapsed as the Church took control of education, science, medicine, technology
and the arts. Crusaders marched into the Middle East killing and destroying
in the name of the One Christian God. The Inquisition established a precedent
in the Middle Ages for the systematic policing and terrorisation of society.
The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation sparked wars
where Christians slaughtered other Christians, each convinced that theirs
was the one and only true path. And the Holocaust of the witch-hunts plumbed
the depths of horror as it eradicated countless women and men as well as the
belief in earth-based divinity. In 1785, the future American President Thomas
Jefferson wrote: 'Millions of innocent men, women, and children since the
introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned;
yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect
of coercion? To make one half of the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
To support error and roguery all over the earth'.
In June 1995, the Chicago Tribune reported
that Pope John Paul II had urged the Roman Catholic Church to seize the 'particularly
propitious' occasion of the new millennium to recognize 'the dark side of
its history'. In a confidential letter to Cardinals in 1994 which was leaked
to the Italian Press, Pope John Paul II asked the question: 'How one can remain
silent about the many forms of violence perpetuated in the name of our faith
wars of religion, tribunals of the Inquisition and other forms of violations
of the rights of persons?'
It is one of the known facts of history that
orthodox Christianity originally represented but one of many sets of early
Christian beliefs. With the passage of time, these orthodox Christians came
to wield immense political power in the Roman Empire. By cleverly adapting
their Christianity to appeal to the Roman Government, they were able to win
unprecedented authority and privilege. Their Church became known as 'The Church'.
This political victory in the field of religion enabled them to enforce conformity
to their practices. In doing so, the Church consistently chose tenets and
ideologies that best supported its control over the individual and society.
It let loose a process of terror and persecution among those who did not conform
to the tenets and ideology of the Church.
With the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD,
the Church took over temporal and spiritual leadership in Europe. Several
distinguished historians starting from Edward Gibbon in the 18th century have
categorically stated that the Church all but wiped out education, technology,
science, medicine, history, art and commerce. The Church amassed enormous
wealth even as the rest of society continued to languish in the dark ages.
When dramatic social changes took place after 1000 AD, the Church fought to
maintain its supremacy and control. It organized and rallied an increasingly
dissident society against its imagined or perceived enemies, instigating attacks
upon Muslims, Eastern Orthodox Christians and Jews. When all these military
crusades failed to put down dissent, the Church turned its might against European
Society itself, launching a brutal attack upon France and instituting the
Inquisition.
There has been no more organized effort by
a religion to control people and contain their spirituality than a Christian
Inquisition. Developed with the Church's own legal framework, the Inquisition
attempted to terrify people into obedience. As the Inquisitor Francisco Pena
declared in 1578: 'We must remember that the main purpose of the trial and
execution is not to save the soul of the accused but to achieve the public
good and put fear into others'. The Inquisition took countless human lives
in Europe and around the world as it followed in the wake of missionaries.
And along with the tyranny of the Inquisition, Churchmen also brought religious
justification for the commercial practice of slavery.
Thus the crusades and even the early centuries
of the Inquisition did little to teach people a true understanding of orthodox
Christianity. On the other hand, it was the Protestant Reformation and the
Catholic counter-Reformation in the 16th century and the first half of the
17th century that accomplished this. Only during the Reformation did the populace
of Europe adopt more than a veneer of Christianity.
Orthodox Christians built an organisation
that from the time of its inception encouraged not freedom and self-determination,
but obedience and conformity. To that end, any means were justified. Grounded
in the belief in a singular, authoritarian and punishing God, orthodox Christians
created a Church that demanded singular authority and punished those who disobeyed
its edicts. It is the limited belief in a singular supremacy and only one
face of God that has resulted in tyranny and brutality. Unity and oneness
within an orthodox Christian belief system are perceived to come from sameness
and conformity, not from the synergy and harmony of difference. A society's
diversity is more often viewed as a liability rather than as an asset. A peaceful
society is thought to be one where everyone is the same. No wonder Bertrand
Russell wrote that Christianity believes in creating a world of morons by
morons for morons.
Unfortunately for all mankind too many people
have chosen to remain silent about the dark side of Christian history. We
often hear from many many people that a Christian Church embodies the best
of Western civilization and that it has always brought peace and understanding
to the people it has touched in all parts of the world. They seem to be entirely
unaware of the Church's dark past. My intention is not meant to diminish the
beautiful, noble and glorious work that countless Christian men and women
have done through the ages to truly help others. I am only referring to the
'side' which has hurt so many and did such damage to spirituality across centuries.
As Helen Ellerbe beautifully puts it: 'The
Christian Church has left a legacy, a world view, that permeates every aspect
of Western society, both secular and religious. It is the legacy that fosters
sexism, racism, the intolerance of difference, and the desecration of the
natural environment. The Church, throughout much of its history, has demonstrated
a disregard for human freedom, dignity, and self-determination. It has attempted
to control, contain and confine spirituality, the relationship between an
individual and God. As a result, Christianity has helped to create a society
in which people are alienated not only from each other but also from the Divine'.
Jean-Pierre Lehmann has recently written a
brilliant article entitled 'The Dangers of Monotheism in the Age of Globalization'.
In this article he asks the question: 'Is there a link between monotheistic
religions and intolerance and hostility in the world as a whole today? Jean-Pierre
Lehmann has argued that monotheistic religions like Judaism, Christianity
and Islam have caused much turmoil throughout history' and continue to do
so even today. What is needed is a new global ethical and spiritual role model,
and in his opinion, the best candidate to fill that spot is India. The planet
needs a sense of moral order, spirituality and an ethical compass. The Indian
religious and philosophical traditions can provide a great deal of all three.
India is a microcosmic reflection of how globalization can work, especially
in its remarkable ability to have managed multiculturalism to such a brilliant
extent even in these turbulent times of never ending flux.
It should be clear from all this that the
belief in a singular supremacy lies at the root of chauvinism, racism and
totalitarianism. In this age of ever-expanding globalization, mankind cannot
escape from moving towards a more understanding world that values diversity,
spiritual freedom and human dignity. And we have to embrace the hope and pursue
the dream that not in the very distant future humanity will be free to act
humanely.
(The writer is a retired IAS officer - e-mail
the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com)