The thinking changes with the ages, but remember they would be telling you that you are a heretic for saying so, and these were people who were "ordained by God" for their positions of religious authority. I personally prefer the modern interpretation that you and most Christians have these days.
The Dark ages are an example of times without respect for God and total contempt for law. The only times when humanity suffered worse, was in Islamic states ruled by Allah's Islamic laws, administered by his mercieless Clerics.
It is troubling to watch Christianity's extremes equated to Islam's norms.