Tawi wrote:Catholics, for example, continue to respect and worship a Pope that deliberately and systematically covers up the rape of young children and threatens anyone wanting to come forward with full excommunication. That's a holy man if I've ever seen one (no sarcasm, actually). And thanks to his stance on contraception, there will be more death on his hands by the time he dies than any mass murderer in history, and the body count will continue to rise long after he's dead. The Catholic Church could use its influence for good for once if they would stop living in the Dark Ages.
Jd-, the mere fact that you used the term "Dark Ages" to give a negative feel to the Middle ages shows how ignorant you are of Christianity and its contributions. If you think Catholicism was the cause for the Dark Ages, then you are most certainly wrong. The Dark Ages was the result of the fall of the Roman Empire. When the empire fell, life fell into utter chaos, people forgot the importance of life's spiritual truths and daily life became filled with insecurity. People were too focused on survival. Violence became commonplace and Feudal systems rose as a counter. The Dark Ages was the consequence of the fall of such a great Empire. Power shifted to Constantinople, as Barbaric tribes settles in Europe. The Franks in Gaul, the Visigoths in spain and the Lombards and Ostrogoths in Italy, etc. Had the Catholic Church not even existed, the Dark Ages would still have come into existence. In fact, without the Catholic Church, the Dark Ages would've become a much darker age.
No one will deny the corruptions of the Church and the horrific deeds of the Popes during latter parts of the Medieval Age. But Christianity, Catholicism to be specific, played A VERY CRUCIAL ROLE, in keeping society stable and progress constant throughout the Middle Ages...to the point that they are credited to SHAPING WESTERN CIVILIZATION, deny this, give me evidence. While life was in chaos, it was Christianity that was the common ground that united the people as a whole. Monasteries blossomed and were key factors in preserving spiritual truths. Monks are credited to copying and translating several ancient manuscripts, preserving knowledge and keeping the knowledge of Greek and Latin alive. Mind you, during this time both Greek and Latin were practically considered as dead languages. Had these monasteries not come into existence, people during that time would have had to start of SCRATCH - science, mathematics, etc. Monasteries saved Western Civilization and Jd-, you should be grateful to us for that. Did I mention that monks also tutored Barbaric rulers, rulers give birth to a royal lineage of kings of different realms. People had complete trust in the church and believed her to be the way to salvation. Priests aided the poor and the sick and dwelled into the sciences. The Church, being the most powerful institution during that time, sponsored science and medicine. The Church gave rise to universities, revolutionized architecture and so on. For Pete's sake Humanism is originally a Christian idea as it was brought about my Catholic thinkers such as Erasmus and Montaigne. Ss it as time progressed, Church rulers were unable to handle the responsibility of such power. The church in the latter portions of the middle ages, became corrupt, more worldly.This gave rise to the reformation. HOWEVER, to deny the church credit for SAVING and SHAPING western civilization is just wrong. All of us owe a lot to Christianity, a lot more.
Had I had my History book with me, I could've written a lot more, believe me. Unfortunately, it's in my locker at school for the Christmas break. And before you say so, no it isn't a Christian history book, its a world history book written on neutral ground. It credits the Catholic Church for saving western civilization while mentioning the abuses it fell into later on. I'll say this, Jd- I appreciate the subbing you do for everybody but you are misinformed regarding the Catholic Church. - Tawi
And there was this jewish hating thing but I guess that wasn't worth noting...
Hey Tanner, since this is an overused atheistic claim, I'll give you an overused Christian response. There are no contradictions in the bible but there are what appear to be contradictions. It may be easy for atheists to come up with a list of things that confuse them but that's beside the point. One has to have knowledge of the bible, take the text as a whole and most importantly, deal with the translation by itself. Believe me, it isn't as easy as flipping through your printed version of the bible. Really, the contradictions in the Bible shouldn't bother Christians unless they are catechized on the manner. I'll agree that atheism has a good number of arguments but this is not one of them.
I need to go soon so I'll be back on that in a few hours.
I guess I'm done here, for now. 
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
