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| This article gives an overview about '''historical cases of persecution by Christians''', also taking a look at cases of ]fare and ]. Important Christian theologians had, during ] and the ], advocated ] to various extents. However, ] witnessed the turning point in the '''Christian debate on persecution and toleration'''. |
This article gives an overview about '''historical cases of persecution by Christians''', also taking a look at cases of ]fare and ]. Important Christian theologians had, during ] and the ], advocated ] to various extents. However, ] witnessed the turning point in the '''Christian debate on persecution and toleration'''. Christians have since broadly trended toward an embrace of ] in which they "look back on centuries of persecution with a mixture of revulsion and incomprehension."<ref> Coffey 2000: 206.</ref> | ||
| ==Historical Overview== | ==Historical Overview== | ||
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| By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs had been reduced in most Europeans countries to ], in the form of legal restrictions on those who did not accept the official faith. This often included being barred from higher education, or from participation in the national legislature. In colonized nations, attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity became more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments. | By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs had been reduced in most Europeans countries to ], in the form of legal restrictions on those who did not accept the official faith. This often included being barred from higher education, or from participation in the national legislature. In colonized nations, attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity became more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments. | ||
| At the present time, most countries in which Christianity is the religion of the majority of the people, are either ]s or they embrace the ] in another way. (A list of countries in which Christianity still is the state religion can be found at the article on ].) |
At the present time, most countries in which Christianity is the religion of the majority of the people, are either ]s or they embrace the ] in another way. (A list of countries in which Christianity still is the state religion can be found at the article on ].) | ||
| Some recent political conflicts are sometimes considered as religious persecution. Among these, there is the case of the ] in ] on May 8, 1963 and the ] of Albanians, most of them Muslim, in ] between 1992 to 1999, along with Bosnian Muslims. <ref name="irf2000">{{cite book| | Some recent political conflicts are sometimes considered as religious persecution. Among these, there is the case of the ] in ] on May 8, 1963 and the ] of Albanians, most of them Muslim, in ] between 1992 to 1999, along with Bosnian Muslims. <ref name="irf2000">{{cite book| | ||
Revision as of 07:15, 23 June 2009
This article gives an overview about historical cases of persecution by Christians, also taking a look at cases of religious warfare and religious violence. Important Christian theologians had, during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, advocated religious persecution to various extents. However, Early modern Europe witnessed the turning point in the Christian debate on persecution and toleration. Christians have since broadly trended toward an embrace of religious toleration in which they "look back on centuries of persecution with a mixture of revulsion and incomprehension."
Historical Overview
Early Christianity was a minority Religion in the Roman Empire and the early Christians were themselves persecuted during that time. After Constantine I converted to Christianity, it became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. Already under the reign of Constantine I, Christian heretics had been persecuted; Beginning in the late 4th century A.D. also the ancient pagan religions were actively suppressed. In the view of many historians, the Constantinian shift turned Christianity from a persecuted into a persecuting religion.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, the further Christianization of Europe was to a large extent peaceful. However, encounters between Christians and Pagans were sometimes confrontational, and some Christian kings (Charlemagne, Olaf I of Norway) were known for their violence against pagans.
In the late Middle Ages, the appearance of the Cathars and Bogomils in Europe laid the stage for the later witch-hunts. These (probably gnostic-influenced) sects were seen as heretics by the Catholic Church, and the Inquisition was established to counter them.
After the Protestant Reformation, beginning in 1517, western Christianity became divided into Catholicism and several Protestant denominations. The divide between the new denominations was deep. Protestants commonly alleged that the catholic Pope was the Antichrist. Conflicts between Christian factions reached their heights in France with the French Wars of Religion and the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in Germany with the Thirty Years' War and in England with the English Civil War.
Following the devastations caused by these wars, the ideas of Religious toleration, Freedom of religion and Religious pluralism gained ground in Europe.
European Colonialism, that was accompanied by Christian evangelism and often by violence, led to the suppression of indigenous religions in the territories conquered or usurped by the Europeans. The Spanish colonization of the Americas largely destroyed the Aztec and Inca civilization. However, Colonialism (and later European Imperialism) as a whole were not motivated by religious zeal; the suppression of the indigenous religions was their side result, not their main purpose. Only partial aspects, like the Goa Inquisition, bear resemblance to the persecutions that occurred on the European continent.
Christian advocacy of persecution
Persecution in the 4th and 5th century A.D.
Main article: Persecution of religion in ancient RomeAfter he had adopted Christianity following the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan in 313 (together with his co-emperor Licinius). Since 306 there had already had been several edicts that granted Christians religious toleration in parts of the Empire, but the Edict of Milan removed all obstacles to the Christian faith and made Empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship. Constantine's supported the church with his patronage; He had an extraordinary number of large basilicas build for the Christian church, and endowed it with land and other wealth. In doing this, however, he required the Pagans "to foot the bill". According to Christian chroniclers it appeared necessary to Constantine "to teach his subjects to give up their rites (...) and to accustom them to despise their temples and the images contained therein," which led to the closure of pagan temples due to a lack of support, their wealth flowing to the imperial treasure; Constantine I did not need to use force to implement this, although his subjects are said to simply have obeyed him out of fear. Only the chronicler Theophanes has added that temples "were annihilated", but this is considered "not true" by contemporary historians. According to the historian Ramsay MacMullen Constantine desired to obliterate non-Christians but lacking the means he had to be content with robbing their temples towards the end of his reign.. He resorted to derogatory and contemptuous comments relating to the old religion; writing of the "obstinacy" of the pagans, of their "misguided rites and ceremonial", and of their "temples of lying" contrasted with "the splendours of the home of truth".
During the course of his life he progressively became more Christian and turned away from any syncretic tendencies he appeared to favour at times and thus demonstrating, according to his biographers, that "The God of the Christians was indeed a jealous God who tolerated no other gods beside him. The Church could never acknowledge that she stood on the same plane with other religious bodies, she conquered for herself one domain after another".
After the 3-year-reign of Julian the Apostate (ruled 361 to 363), who revived the Roman state paganism for a short time, the later Christian Roman Emperors sanctioned "attacks on pagan worship". Towards the end of the 4th century Theodosius worked to establish Catholicism as the privileged religion in the Roman Empire."Theodosius was not the man to sympathise with the balancing policy of the Edict of Milan. He set himself steadfastly to the work of establishing Catholicism as the privileged religion of the state, of repressing dissident Christians (heretics) and of enacting explicit legal measures to abolish Paganism in all its phases."
Two hundred and fifty years after Constantine was converted and began the long campaign of official temple destruction and outlawing of non-Christian worship Justinian was still engaged in the war of dissent.
The Augustinian consensus
The transformation that happened in the 4th century lies at the heart of the debate between those Christian authors who advocated religious persecution and those who rejected it. Most of all, the advocates of persecution looked to the writings of Augustine of Hippo, the most influential of the Christian Church Fathers. Initially (in the 390s), he had been sceptical about the use of coercion in religious matters. However, he changed his mind after he had witnessed how the Donatists (a schismatic Christian sect) were "brought over to the Catholic unity by fear of imperial edicts." When Augustine had characterized himself in De utilitate credenti (392), he said he was cupidus veri, eager for truth. But in his 93. letter he described himself as quietis avidus, needing rest, and gave as reason the agitating Donatist. From a position that had trusted the power of philosophical argumentation, Augustine had moved to a position that emphasised the authority of the church. Augustine had become convinced of the effectiveness of mild forms of persecution and developed a defence of their use. His authority on this question was undisputed for over a millennium in Western Christianity. Within this Augustinian consensus there was only disagreement about the extent to which Christians should persecute heretics. Augustine advocated fines, imprisonment, banishment and moderate floggings, but, according to Henry Chadwick, "would have been horrified by the burning of heretics." In the late Antiquity those burnings appear very rare indeed, the only certain case being the execution of Priscillian and six of his followers in 383. Their persecutors were roundly condemned by bishops like Ambrose, Augstine's mentor.
The treatment of heretics
Further information: Christian heresyWith the adoption of Christianity by Constantine I (after Battle of Milvian Bridge, 312), heresy had become a political issue in the late Roman empire. Adherents of unconventional Christians beliefs not covered by the Nicene Creed like Novatianism and Gnosticism were banned from holding meetings, but the Roman emperor intervened especially the conflict between orthodox and Arian Christianity, which resulted in the burning of Arian books.
In contrast to the late antiquity, the execution of heretics was much more easily approved in the late Middle Ages, after the Christianization of Europe was largely completed. The first known case is the burning of fourteen people at Orleans in 1022.In the following centuries groups like the Bogomils, Waldensians, Cathars and Lollards were persecuted throughout Europe. The Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) codified the theory and practise of persecution. In its third canon, the council declared: "Secular authorities, whatever office they may hold, shall be admonished and induced and if necessary compelled by ecclesiastical censure, .. to take an oath that they will strive .. to exterminate in the territories subject to their jurisdiction all heretics pointed out by the Church."
Saint Thomas Aquinas summed up the standard medieval position, when he declared that that obstinate heretics deserved "not only to be separated from the Church, but also to be eliminated from the world by death"
The Protestant theory of persecution
The Protestant Reformation changed the face of Western Christianity forever, but initially it did nothing to change the Christian endorsement of religious persecution. The Reformers "fully embraced" Augustine's advocacy of coercion in religious matters, and many regarded the death penalty for heresy as legitimate. Furthermore, by presenting a much more powerful threat to catholic unity than the heretic groups of the Middle Ages, the Reformation led to the intensification of persecution under catholic regimes.
- Martin Luther had written against persecution in the 1520s, and had demonstrated genuine sympathy towards the Jews in his earlier writings, especially in Das Jesus ein geborener Jude sei (That Jesus was born as a Jew) from 1523, but after 1525 his position hardened. In Wider die Sabbather an einen guten Freund (Against the Sabbather to a Good Friend), 1538, he still considered a conversion of the Jews to Christianity as possible, but in 1543 he published On the Jews and their Lies, a "violent anti-semitic tract."
- John Calvin helped to secure the execution for heresy of Michael Servetus, although he unsuccessfully requested that he should be beheaded instead of being burned at the stake.
Effectively, however, the 16th century Protestant view was less extreme than the mediaeval Catholic position. In England, John Foxe, John Hales, Richard Perrinchief, Henry Thorndike and Jonas Proast all only saw mild forms of persecution against the English Dissenters as legitimate. But (with the probable exception of John Foxe), this was only a retraction in degree, not a full rejection of religious persecution. There is also the crucial distinction between dissent and heresy to consider. The Elizabethan bishop Thomas Bilson was of the opinion that men ought to be "corrected, not murdered", but he did not condemn the Christian Emperors for executing the Manichaens for "monstrous blasphemies".
The Protestant Churches were more inclined towards ecclesiastical tolerance, although this might simply be the result of different political circumstances. The Lutheran theologian Georgius Calixtus advocated the ecumenical unity of the church. Another Lutheran theologian, Rupertus Meldenius, brought the understanding ecclesiastical tolerance under the phrase: in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas (in necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion) in 1626.
Christian advocacy of toleration
The English Protestant 'Call for Toleration'
While the Christian theologians mentioned above advocated religious persecution to various extents, it was also Christians who helped pioneer the concept of religious toleration.
In his book on 'The English Reformation', particularly in the chapter 'The Origins of Religious Toleration', the late A. G. Dickens argued that from the beginning of the Reformation there had “existed in Protestant thought – in Zwingli, Melanchthon and Bucer, as well as among the Anabaptists – a more liberal tradition, which John Frith was perhaps the first echo in England”. Condemned for heresy, Frith was burnt at the stake in 1533. In his own mind, he died not because of the denial of the doctrines on purgatory and transubstantiation but “for the principle that a particular doctrine on either point was not a necessary part of a Christian’s faith”. In other words, there was an important distinction to be made between a genuine article of faith and other matters where a variety of very different conclusions should be tolerated within the Church. This stand against unreasonable and profligate dogmatism meant that Frith, “to a greater extent than any other of our early Protestants”, upheld “a certain degree of religious freedom”.
Of course, Frith was not alone. John Foxe, for example, “strove hard to save Anabaptists from the fire, and he enunciated a sweeping doctrine of tolerance even towards Catholics, whose doctrines he detested with every fibre of his being”.
In the early 17th century, Thomas Helwys was principal formulator of that distinctively Baptist request: that the church and the state be kept separate in matters of law, so that individuals might have a freedom of religious conscience. Helwys said, the King “is a mortal man, and not God, therefore he hath no power over the mortal soul of his subjects to make laws and ordinances for then and to set spiritual Lords over them". King James I had Helwys thrown in Newgate prison, where he had died by 1616 at about the age of forty.
By the time of the English Revolution Helwys’ stance on religious toleration was more commonplace. However, whilst accepting their zeal in desiring a ‘godly society’, some contemporary historians doubt whether the English Puritans during the English Revolution were as committed to religious liberty and pluralism as traditional histories have suggested. However, historian John Coffey’s recent work has emphasised the contribution of a minority of radical Protestants who steadfastly sought toleration for so called Heresy, Blasphemy, Catholicism, non-Christian religions, and even Atheism. This minority included the Seekers, as well as the General Baptists and the Levellers. Their collective witness demanded the church to be an entirely voluntary, non-coercive community able to evangelise in a pluralistic society governed by a purely civil state. Such a demand was in sharp contrast to the ambitions of the magisterial Protestantism of the Calvinist majority.
In 1644 the "Augustinian consensus concerning persecution was irreparably fractured." This year can be identified quite exactly, because 1644 saw the publication of John Milton's Areopagitica, William Walwyn's The Compassionate Samaritane, Henry Robinson's Liberty of Conscience and Roger William's The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution. These authors were Puritans or had dissented from the Church of England, and their radical Protestantism led them to condemn religious persecution, which they saw as a popish corruption of primitive Christianity. Other non-Anglican writers advocating toleration were the Richard Overton, John Wildman and John Goodwin, the Baptists Samuel Richardson and Thomas Collier and the Quakers Samuel Fisher and William Penn. Anglicans who argued against persecution were: John Locke, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, James Harrington, Jeremy Taylor, Henry More, John Tillotson and Gilbert Burnet.
All of these considered themselves Christians or were actual churchmen. Only from the 1690s onwards a third group emerged that advocated religious toleration, but, unlike the radical Protestants and the Anglicans, also rejected biblical authority; this group is referred to by Coffey as the Deists, and prominently included Voltaire, Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Thomas Jefferson and the English-Irish philosopher John Toland.
Joseph II issued the Patent of Toleration in 1781.
Modern Christian policy
Anglicism
Following the debates that started in the 1640s the Church of England was the first Christian church to grant adherents of other Christian denominations freedom of worship, with the Act of Toleration 1689, which nevertheless still retained some forms of religious discrimination and did not include toleration for Catholics. At present, only individuals who are members of the Church of England at the time of the succession may become the British monarch.
Roman Catholicism
On the seventh of December 1965 The Catholic Church as part of the Vatican II council issued the decree "Dignitatis Humanae" that dealt with the rights of the person and communities to social and civil liberty in religious matters. It states: "2. The Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. Freedom of this kind means that all men should be immune from coercion on the part of individuals, social groups and every human power so that, within due limits, nobody is forced to act against his convictions in religious matters in private or public, alone or in associations with others. The Vatican Council further declares that the right of religious freedom is based on the very word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom must be given such recognition in the constitutional order of society as will make it a civic right...but if it presumes to control or restrict religious activity it must be said to have exceeded the limits of its power...Therefore, provided the just requirements of public order are not violated, these groups have a right to immunity so that they may organize their own lives according to their religious principles...From this it follows that it is wrong for a public authority to compel its citizens by force or fear or any other means to profess or repudiate any religion or to prevent anyone from joining or leaving a religious body. There is even more serious transgression of God's will and of the sacred rights of the individual person and the family of nations when force is applied to wipe out or repress religion either throughout the whole world or in a single region or in a particular community".
On 12th of March 2000 Pope John Paul II prayed for forgiveness because "Christians have often denied the Gospel; yielding to a mentality of power, they have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown contempt for their cultures and religious traditions"
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the present Pope Benedict XVI) wrote "The quality of exemplarity which the honest admission of past faults can exert on attitudes within the Church and civil society should also be noted, for it gives rise to a renewed obedience to the Truth and to respect for the dignity and the rights of others, most especially, of the very weak. In this sense, the numerous requests for forgiveness formulated by John Paul II constitute an example that draws attention to something good and stimulates the imitation of it, recalling individuals and groups of people to an honest and fruitful examination of conscience with a view to reconciliation"
Biblical Exegesis
Christian theology derives its sources from the teachings and actions of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament and several other sources depending on the Christian denomination. This makes the Bible, especially the canonical Gospels, the primary source in order to classify persecution by Christians as either religiously motivated persecution or ethnic persecution. Some churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, give weight to oral tradition.
The Old Testament has been the main source for Christian theologians advocating religious persecution. An example of this would be John Jewel. In defending the demand for religious uniformity by Elizabeth I of England, he declared: "Queen Elizabeth doth as did Moses, Josua, David, Salomon, Josias, Jesophat, ..."
Old Testament
- In the Old Testament, God commands that the temples, idols, and sacred groves of the pagan non-believers be destroyed, and that those that follow other gods in the territory of God's people should be killed. According to mainstream Christianity, this, however, contrasts with the teaching of Jesus which regards love towards God and other people as the supreme law. I John 4 : 7 and 8 "Love is from God, (..) and who don't love don't know God, for God is love" Romans 13 : 9 and 10 " Commandments are summed up in this one : Love the other as yourself (...) Love doesn't cause harm to the others; so to love the others fulfill all the Law of God"
- Leviticus 20:27 ("A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them.") and Exodus 22:18 ("You shall not permit a sorceress to live.") have been interpreted by some Christians as directing people to kill those who supposedly use magic. However the translation is debated and one interpretation is that it doesn't refer to the practices used by various occult groups modernly thought of as "Witchcraft", such as found in the Wiccan Faith, but rather curses intended to harm, or indeed only with necromancy (Peake's Commentary). Also see Christian views on witchcraft.
- Leviticus 20:13 ("If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.") has been used to legitimise persecution of homosexuals, although this law is considered by many Christians to contradict essential teachings of Jesus. This is part of a greater debate about which, if any, parts of the Old Testament are binding for Christians, since much of Leviticus, for examples, applies to very tribal customs of the ancient Hebrews, including long verses on sacrifice ritual. Another long section is devoted to ritual cleanliness followed even today with Orthodox Jeudaism that is not adhered to by any Christian denomination, along with large parts of the Bible.
New Testament
- According to the canonical Gospel of Matthew in the Antithesis of the Law, Luke 10:27, and the Mark 12:31, Jesus commanded to love one's neighbour as one's self and love God more than anyone, and called this the summary of the Mosaic Law. He further taught his followers to forgive(Mark 11:25) and love their enemies(Matt 5:44). Representing persecution as an act of love is considered irreconcilable to these teachings by many. However, some have interpreted "neighbour" to only include Christians. This would seem to contradict the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10: 25-37, in which the titular character is explicitly a foreigner and infidel. Others believe that Jesus is the only way(Jn 14:6, Acts 4:12) and that anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus is doomed to spend eternity in Hell.
- Some passages forbid Christians to hate(1 Jn 3:14-15) while some passages condone it(Luke 14:26, Revelation 2:6).
- Some passages forbid judging the unbelievers(Matt 7:1, 1 Cor 5:13) while others condone it(John 7:24). Jesus himself judged the Pharisees(Matthew 23, Luke 11:42-47) and the unbelieving cities (Matt 11:20-24, Luke 10:13-15).
- Apostle Paul told the Christian believers to avoid unbelievers and demolish their beliefs and practices(2 Cor 10:5, 2 Cor 6:14, Gal 1:9,1 Cor 10:20-21, 1 Cor 15:33, Col. 2:8, Rom 16:17). Thus, some Christians especially those in the Christian Right believe it's their moral duty to fight and oppose anything they regard as the "work of the devil". This includes opposition to science(creation-evolution controversy, use of birth control, research into embryonic stem cells etc.), liberal democracy (separation of church and state), and progressive social policies(rights of people of other races and religions, of women, and of people with different sexual orientations)
- According to the Christian Gospels, Jesus did not fight back when he was harassed, arrested, and crucified, nor did his disciples, except Saint Peter, who was rebuked by Jesus.
- In the canonical Gospels, the Acts and the Letters, there are cases of religiously condoned physical violence by Christians against non-Christians which could be used as a precedent for Christian persecution of other groups. Examples include Jesus overturning the tables at Herod's Temple, (John 2:13-17, Matthew 25:31–46), Peter striking Ananias and Sapphira dead, Paul striking Elymas blind(Acts 13:9-11), the Parable of the Minas which contains the controversial verse "But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me"(Luke 19:27) and the belligerent visions in the Book of Revelation (eg Rev 2:26-27,12:7-10, 19:11-21). Ironically however, Paul states, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."(Eph 6:12)
- Christian persecutors considered the persecution of others as "necessary" in order to "protect the souls" of Christians against damnation by heretic teachings. (See also Inquisition). For instance Paul of Tarsus ordered heretics to be admonished in the church or to be expelled from the church. (See Deliver unto Satan). The Peace churches believe that Jesus rejected violence.
- Matthew 27:25 quotes a Jewish mob crying, shortly before the Crucifixion, "His blood be on us and on our children;" this quotation is taken by some to refer to all Jews. This belief has been cited by many Anti-semites as justification for their animosity towards the Jews. Christian anti-Semites blame Jews in general for the death of Jesus (whom Christians believe to be God made man). This view held sway in many parts of Christian Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Similarly Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (aka Jacob Sprenger) in the Malleus Maleficarum (1486): And again, the Jews sin more greatly than the Pagans; for they received the prophecy of the Christian Faith in the Old Law, which they corrupt through badly interpreting it, which is not the case with the Pagans. Therefore their infidelity is a greater sin than that of the Gentiles, who never received the Faith of the Gospel. With the general rejection of anti-Semitism following the The Holocaust, this interpretation is held by only a scarce minority of contemporary Christians. This excuse for antisemitism also ignores the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew, as were the early church leaders.(See Antisemitism in the New Testament)
Late middle Ages
"Not until 1022, when fourteen people were burned at Orleans, do we come across another case of executions in western Europe , though this may simply be due to the lack of sources for the earlier period.
The Inquisition and the Crusades
Main article: InquisitionIn fully Christian Europe there were a number of persecutions directed against Jews and Christian heretics. There were massacres of Muslims and Jews when Jerusalem was taken by Crusaders in 1099.
Jews were also persecuted in Visigothic Spain and later elsewhere in Europe, especially after the emergence of the blood libel. Jews were eventually expelled from England by King Edward I. In Spain after the Reconquista, Jews were forced to either convert or be exiled. Many were killed. Although the Spanish had agreed to allow Muslims the freedom of religion in 1492, this was often ignored. In 1501, Muslims were offered the choice of conversion or exile. In 1556, Arab or Muslim dress was forbidden, and in 1566 Arabic language as a whole was prohibited in Spain.
Some neo-Pagans believe that persecutions of witches were attacks on surviving Pagans, but this view is not widely accepted (see Burning times).
Muscovy and Imperial Russia government forcibly baptized Muslim Volga Tatars and pagan Chuvash, Mordva and Mari after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate and Astrakhan Khanate in the 1550s. Mosques were prohibited. This persecution ended only during the reign of Catherine II of Russia.
Christians and Gnostic sects
The attempts to suppress the neo-Manichean Cathar (or "Albigensian") faith took the form of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) – a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the ascetic religion practiced by the Cathars of Languedoc, which the Roman Catholic hierarchy considered heretical. It is historically significant for a number of reasons: the violence inflicted was extreme even by medieval standards; the church offered legally sanctioned dominion over conquered lands to northern French nobles and the King of France, acting as essentially Catholic mercenaries, who then nearly doubled the size of France, acquiring regions which at the time had closer cultural and language ties to Catalonia. This led to the creation of the Medieval Inquisition which was charged to suppress heresies. It should be noted that the Cathars themselves inflicted hellish violence, often simple banditry, in the region.
The Waldensians, a group which can be considered a precursor to Protestant and Evangelical Christianity was likewise persecuted by the Inquisition.
Individuals whose views were considered deviant could be convicted and executed, as happened with Jerome of Prague, John Badby, and Jan Hus.
18th-20th Century
By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs had been reduced in most Europeans countries to religious discrimination, in the form of legal restrictions on those who did not accept the official faith. This often included being barred from higher education, or from participation in the national legislature. In colonized nations, attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity became more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments.
At the present time, most countries in which Christianity is the religion of the majority of the people, are either secular states or they embrace the separation of Church and State in another way. (A list of countries in which Christianity still is the state religion can be found at the article on State religion.)
Some recent political conflicts are sometimes considered as religious persecution. Among these, there is the case of the Hue Vesak shootings in Vietnam on May 8, 1963 and the ethnic cleansing of Albanians, most of them Muslim, in Kosovo between 1992 to 1999, along with Bosnian Muslims.
See also
Literature
- John Coffey (2000), Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England 1558-1689, Studies in Modern History, Pearson Education
- Ramsay MacMullen, "Christianizing The Roman Empire A.D.100-400, Yale University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-300-03642-6
- Ramsay MacMullen, "Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eight Centuries", Yale University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-300-07148-5
Notes
- Coffey 2000: 206.
- see e.g.: John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration on Protestant England 1558-1689, 2000, p.22
- *Lutz E. von Padberg (1998), Die Christianisierung Europas im Mitterlalter, Reclam Template:De icon, p. 183
- ^ MacMullan 1984:49.
- quoted after MacMullan 1984:49.
- MacMullan 1984:50.
- MacMullan 1984: 141, Note 35 to Chapter V; Theophanes, Chron. a. 322 (PG 108.117)
- MacMullan 1984:96.
- "A History of the Church", Philip Hughes, Sheed & Ward, rev ed 1949, vol I chapter 6.
- C. G. Herbermann & Georg Grupp, "Constantine the Great", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, New Advent web site.
- ^ Coffey 2000:22.
- "Studies in Comparative Religion, "The Conversion of the Roman Empire, Philip Hughes, Vol 3, CTS.
- R. MacMullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eight Centuries, P151, ISBN 0-300-07148-5
- Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West, ed. by Johannes van Oort et al., 2001, back cover
- ^ Kurt Flasch: Augustin - Einführung in sein Denken Template:De icon, 3. ed., Reclam, 2003, p.168
- quoted after Coffey 2000: 23.
- ^ Coffey 2000:23.
- Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV 1215
- Auqinas, Summa Theologica, quoted after Aquinas, Selected Political Writings (Oxford, 1959), p.77
- Thomas Kaufmann, 2005: Luthers "Judenschriften in ihren historischen Kontexten (Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen) Template:De icon, p. 526
- Coffey 2000: 23, 24
- Coffey 2000: 24.
- see Coffey 2000: 24,25.
- Coffey 2000: 24,26; Thomas Bilson 1585, The True Difference between Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion, pp. 19,20, 383.
- German Misplaced Pages: Rupertus Meldenius
- Dickens, A.G. (1978). 'The English Reformation'. London & Glasgow: Fontana/Collins. p. 438.;
- Dickens, A.G. (1978). 'The English Reformation'. London & Glasgow: Fontana/Collins. p. 116.;
- Dickens, A.G. (1978). 'The English Reformation'. London & Glasgow: Fontana/Collins. p. 116.;
- Dickens, A.G. (1978). 'The English Reformation'. London & Glasgow: Fontana/Collins. pp. 439–440.;
- Helwys, Thomas (1612;). ‘A Short Declaration on the Mystery of Iniquity’.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: year (link); - Coffey, John (1998) "Puritanism & Liberty Revisited: The Case for Toleration in the English Revolution," The Historical Journal, Cambridge University Press.
- Coffey 2000: 47.
- ^ Coffey 2000: 50.
- This list is taken from: Coffey (2000), 50
- Austin Flannery (General Editor), Vatican Council II - The Conciliar and Post Concilliar Documents, 1981 Edition
- "POPE JOHN PAUL II ASKS FOR FORGIVENESS", (MARCH 12, 2000), fetched 16th april 2007
- "Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION: THE CHURCH AND THE FAULTS OF THE PAST", International Theological Commission held in Rome from 1998 to 1999, fetched 17th April 2008
- John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration on Protestant England 1558-1689, 2000, p.31
- Coffey 2000, 23
- Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic societes. Cambridge University Press. p. 389. ISBN 0-521-22552-3.
- Barbara Larkin (editor). International Religious Freedom (2000): Report to Congress by the Department of State. ISBN 0756712297.
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