Christian Martyrs
From time to time I write about the barbarity of the Islamic world. Often it is assumed that I am somehow unfamiliar with the barbarity of the Christian world. March 21st marked the 410th anniversary of the death at the stake of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Cantebury and the author of one of the enduring works of English literature, The Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer was proceeded to the stake by two friends. Today in Literature retells the tale:
But the more famous burning was the earlier one of Latimer and Ridley, made so by Latimer’s last words as the two were given the mercy of a bag of gunpowder around their necks, and the fire was lit: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”The West and Christianity has, to a degree, moved beyond settling religious disputes with a good old fashioned priest burning. But as we look at the Islamic world struggling to come to terms with its own need for an Englightenment, it is worth remembering how recent our own has been.
today in literature
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Like, just saying, the Balkan Orthodox community and Catholic Community beating the hell our of the European Islamic community and vice versas a plenty.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:05 am
The Balkan conflict has some rather specific roots, much as does the Palestinian-Israeli one. It’s helpful to distinguish between the narrowly-rooted and broadly-rooted sources of barbarity.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:10 am
Horse pucks.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:59 am
Sterling adovocacy there Alan…
Oddly, my point was that it was not so very long ago that the Christian West thought it a mercy to strap a bag of gunpowder under your chin when you were being burnt at the stake for heresy.
We have, in kumbaya speak, evolved from there….slightly.
March 23rd, 2006 at 9:38 am
“It’s helpful to distinguish between the narrowly-rooted and broadly-rooted sources of barbarity.”
Can’t we just shoot the asshats on both sides and be done with it?
March 23rd, 2006 at 9:57 pm
My “horse pucks” was aimed at the implication that the Christian world has anything to praise about the baddies it has spawned in recent memory. We are pretty good at being pretty bad in a broadly rooted manner even if we are also the font out of which democracy has flowed. The west, however, knows that you only have to scratch its surface to unleash its ugly as we saw in the Balkans. I think that self-awareness is something the Islamic world has yet to deal with internally.
PS - I reserve the right to shout “horse pucks” from any pulpit I find vacant. I recommend it highly.
March 23rd, 2006 at 11:28 pm
I should add, of course, that I accordingly reserve to you the right to think I am an arsehole.
March 24th, 2006 at 1:45 am
I missed the part where Christianity (Catholicism or Protestantism or Orthodox) was to blame for all, or even many, of the alleged evils of the past century, as opposed to political ideologies and cultural antagonism and economic interests. Perhaps you would care to enumerate a list of conflicts and explain why Christianity was the source, and how Christians fomented war in the name of their religion. To write of the “Christian world” makes about as much sense as “white people’s world” or “European world”. You’re describing the colour of the paint on the walls, not the structure of the house.
March 24th, 2006 at 2:07 am
Alan, with respect, I should never think a man who can hurl “horse pucks” from vacant pulpits an arsehole…Who knows where the next puck might end up.
IrC, my point was that Christianity qua Christianity had centuries of mayhem during which the official Church which was deeply emeshed with the State committed barbarities on the order of the barbarities which occur in the Muslim world. The West then had its Enlightenment and the state got out of the religion game (more or less).
March 24th, 2006 at 7:16 am
Sadly “less” given the relationship of the Christian churches with the tyrants of Russia, Germany, Serbia and others during the 20th century. Hide behind race if you like.
[And before anyone throws the atheist leftie horse puck, Minister’s kid and church attender here.]
March 25th, 2006 at 4:21 am
Yes; those were the centuries when social change and information moved slowly. It’s not as if there’s still a shortage of discussion and examples of different ways to treat other human beings decently.
What were the relationships between churches and tyrants? For example, what was the relationship of the Christian Orthodox church with the tyrants of Russia during the 20th century – other than being outlawed and underground for most of it, I mean? Is it your thesis that Christian religions spawned Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco?
March 28th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Not spawned but supported to some degree. Vatican and Mussolini. Orthodox church and Serbia. Russian Church and Czar for that matter. This is not rocket science and no thesis required.