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Subject:      Re: Inklings Discussion
From:         Andrew Rilstone <andrew@aslan.demon.co.uk>
Date:         1997/07/25
Message-Id:   <SxZvvHA3j+1zEwdY@aslan.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups:   alt.books.inklings,alt.books.cs-lewis,rec.arts.books.tolkien
[More Headers]

In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.970723214113.27198A-
100000@astro.ocis.temple.edu>, Nick Cuce' <dcuce@astro.ocis.temple.edu>
writes
>their religious convictions
>are so deep that, when their logic fails, they often resort to fighting to 
>prove their point.  this happened many times in the course of history, 
>including the crusades, the spanish inquisition, and the salem witch-trials.

The Salem Witch Trials, were (I believe) an outbreak of mass-hysteria in
a small community. The people there thought that a supernaturally evil
force was attacking them, and executed a large number of people (some of
them Christians) who they thought were in league with it. They were not
examples of the use of violence to win an argument with a group  of non-
Christians. 

The First Crusade was a military campaign based on the premise that the
Holy Places in Jerusalem rightly belonged to Christians. It's aim was
not to force Moslims to become Christians, something which the medieval
Law of Battle in any case precluded. Later Crusades were also
territorial in nature. They were not examples of the use of violence to
win an argument with a group of non-Christians.

The purpose of the Inquisition was (and is) to route out heresy and
unorthodox beliefs in the Catholic Church. The stories of the torture
and iron maidens and what not that the Inquisition used are pieces of
propoganda created by zeaolous protestants. But even if they were true,
they would be examples of Christians killing EACH OTHER -- not of them
resorting to violence to win an argument with a group of non-Christians.

I don't think that any of the examples you quote reflect particularly
well on the Church. But your claim that they are examples of Christians
resorting to violence and coercion to win the argument when logic
deserts them is simply not true. And your implication -- that they are
the Same Sort of Thing as Lewis avoiding conversations with his old
friend on subject which would upset both of them --is farcical.

It is my contention that "witch burning-crusades-inquisition" is a
mantra which non Christians resort to when logic deserts them.
-- 
Andrew Rilstone  andrew@aslan.demon.co.uk   http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/
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       "Why can't I be a non-conformist like everybody else?"
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