[Mojo-jo-jo]

But to pretend that Christians were not responsible for many of the greatest atrocities in history is not dealing with reality. Religion in modern, advanced societies is generally a good thing. But religion in backward, medieval societies can be very close to evil.

Your point is well taken, however you have left one varaiable out of your reasoning. And that is, for a LONG time "the church" WAS both church and state...and during that time people did not have access to the Bible.(they weren't called the Dark Ages for nothing! and the medival church leaders knew that control over literacy and the distribution of the Bible equated to control over the "peasants") I argue that there were very few true Christians during the Dark Ages, and if there were, they were tortured/imprisoned/killed due to their opposition to the "Holy" Roman Empire.(the said medival society)

[detsaoT]

I argue that there were very few true Christians during the Dark Ages, and if there were, they were tortured/imprisoned/killed due to their opposition to the "Holy" Roman Empire.(the said medival society)

Most excellent points, indeed! I think you may have hit the nail on the head with your post.

:) ttt

[MarMema]

"These examples illustrate the extent to which Christians in the Middle Ages were exposed to the events, characters, and teachings of the Bible, even when few of them could read it. In both worship and daily life, events from the life of Christ and other biblical scenes were present in sculpture, mosaic, and stained glass, in books, in drama, and in architecture."

"These works of art show why historian Henri Daniel-Rops claimed that the first and most fundamental characteristic of medieval religion was the influence of Holy Scripture."

From here

The Byzantines used icons to tell stories from the Bible. In our church we worship as the Byzantines did and still use icons to tell the stories.