Where would Western Civilization be without an institution and unifying center such as the Catholic Church to bring it together in religion, in it’s fight against the various invaders of the past.
It isn’t fair to compare different dark periods of Western history, the Church consists of humans, and humans are imperfect, have an organization for 1700 years and you will have fuel for every argument that you want to make, good or bad.
American slavery needs to be seen in it’s historical context, so do different periods of Church history, a person can’t jump around from century to century of world history and human behavior, and cultural and societal norms and constantly apply our current sensitivities to that era and then say “aha!” the Catholic Church!.
History isn’t over, Islam is here again, and a combination of the Catholic Church and meaty, American Protestant Christianity is needed to defeat it.
ansel12 wrote:
“Where would Western Civilization be without an institution and unifying center such as the Catholic Church to bring it together in religion, in it’s fight against the various invaders of the past.”
I can see that you are an optimist. But the truth is that you don’t even know the answer to your own question. You assume that the answer would be that Western Civilization would be worse off. But, you know, you could very well be wrong, dead wrong. If the pope had simply followed the way of Christ, the way of the apostles, the way of the martyrs we so praise in the Te Deum Laudamus, maybe we would have won, just as we won over the pagan religion of the divine emperors of Rome. Don’t be so sure that you understand history better than God Himself.
In the same way, Obama is quick to ask where would we be if he hadn’t bailed out the banks (TARP ... and, yes, I know that happened on Bush’s watch, but with tremendous pressure from Obama and the Dems) and hadn’t stimulated the economy with $787,000,000,000. My answer to his question would be: maybe we would have been a helluvalot (this is kingdom-of-the-left phraseology, if you were wondering) better off than we are now.
“History isn’t over, Islam is here again, and a combination of the Catholic Church and meaty, American Protestant Christianity is needed to defeat it.”
To dream of the church defeating a faith, false as it is, with swords is just too sad for words. If this is your thinking and your strategy, we have already lost.
... and lest you think me a dreamy-eyed idealist and squishy pacifist, I give you this example from American history. Who beat the snot out of the Barbary pirates, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson? Why? Think before you answer.