COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
I don't agree with the claim that Christians are the most
persecuted religious group, but I do think interested readers should be aware
of the fact that Syria's Assad is one of more important defenders of Christian
rights in the world.
He runs a secular state with protection for all religions in
a part of the world where that is not common.
As to one reader's comment, "Christians are responsible
for their fair share of colonialism, tribalism and persecution," I only
wish to say it is a great understatement.
Centuries of insane brutality are a major portion of our
Christian heritage.
The Crusades continued with looting and slaughter on a grand
scale for centuries, wives being left locked in metal chastity belts while
their husbands raped their way across the East.
The conquistadors wiped out or enslaved Native Americans
with priests in tow for on-the-spot conversions.
Christopher Columbus literally crushed entire Native
American populations under the sign of the cross.
The Holy Inquisition. Bloody Mary. The St Bartholomew’s Day
massacre. The Pope issuing a gold medal in celebration of Catherine di Medici's
mass slaughter of Hugonauts in their beds. The Thirty Years War.
Indeed, both world wars were led by men trained in the
Church - the Kaiser, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and others.
Even The Holocaust was the work of Christian-raised men.
Islam has no record of horrors to match Christianity's.
And as for Judaism, just read the Old Testament's endless
tales of slaughter and prejudice and rapine.
