Actually, "the pattern" was that the "much bigger dialogue" was the defense of the mass murders through the invocation of "heresy." And the defense of the charge of heresy was through the invocation of what were claimed to be "anti-sex, or antinomian, or anarchist doctrines," but which could only be made by throwing context and deeper Cathar teachings to the wind.
Which always bemuses me, because the Catholics of the day wanted it both ways against the Cathars - they denied they were Christians, and at the same time accused them of heresy, a charge which can only be made against Christians. Because, of course, the Cathars never claimed to be Christians but acknowledged Jesus Christ and had a different interpretation of His teachings.
So if you want to invoke modern times to that situation, it is a direct match: what ISIL is doing in Iraq is exactly what the Church did to the Cathars in southern France. And for the same reasons - a different take on the same religious founder. Because you'll note that while ISIL kills whatever Christians come their way, they are overwhelmingly and mainly and openly targeting Muslims, with the goal of creating one world Islamic caliphate. Which is, of course, the real reason the Pope wiped out the Cathars - so there would be one world-spanning Christianity overseen by the Catholic Church - and no one and nothing else would be left alive to invoke Jesus. And that is EXACTLY the goal of ISIL concerning Mohammed.
So that's your real comparison to the Cathars. And in helping stop it today, Pope Francis is directly mitigating some of the terrible sin the Church committed so long ago, and I applaud him for it.
That he obviously intends it to support justification for a UN military, I'm not so pleased about. But then, roses always come with thorns.
Talisker, I am intensely interested in this because I understand that the prohibition of the intended killing of an innocent human being is one of the exceptionless norms of Moral Law. It is often violated in both medical and military contexts, but every such violation is a mortal sin.
Do you know anybody here who thinks that what was done at Beziers or Carcassone was justified? Do you know anbody who names Arnaud Amalric or Pope Innicent III as saints or heroes?
Has any Catholic on his forum defended the targeted or indiscriminate killing of noncombatants?
That's what "supporting genocide" would be, but I haven't seen anybody doing that.
I'm perfectly serious. I want to know who takes a "Kill all the Cathars" position.