Church and Monks

By MSN Menon

A word to clear up my stand. I have nothing against Jesus, but everything against the church. It has been the source of hatred in the world ever since its inception. It wants to convert the Hindus. It says that Christianity is superior. Dear Reader, here are some glimpses of Christian history. You judge for yourself whether Christianity is superior. - Author

This is what an authority writes on the Christian monks of the second and third centuries: "Whoever wore a black robe was invested with tyrannical powers-temples were turned into tombs of these monks for the adoration of their bones-even of the basest and most depraved of men."

Alexandria, not Greece, was the centre of Greek civilisation. The church naturally wanted to destroy it. A virtuous, beautiful and influential lady was one of its victims. She was the leader of the Neo-Platonists (a kind of Advaitists). A Christian mob killed her in the most brutal manner in 415 AD. She was stripped and cut into pieces and burnt. All for what? For holding a different opinion.

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Christian crimes and brutalities were the worst in Latin America. European adventurers conquered, pillaged and devastated the Antilles, Peru and Mexico. Whole Red Indian populations perished at the hands of these Christian conquistadores armed with the sword and the Bible. The greed for gold led the Spaniards to commit appalling atrocities in their newly conquered territories. "By million upon million whole nations and races were remorselessly cut off," writes Draper (Intellectual Development of Europe Vol. II) The Bishop of Chiape, he says, and recorded that 15 million were exterminated in his time. Draper goes on: "From Mexico and Peru a civilisation that might have instructed Europe was crushed out."

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Was Christianity interested in knowledge? It was not. When the Christians came to power in Rome the barbarous ways of the Romans did not lessen. In fact, they grew. The emperor Theodissius ordered the destruction of the most splendid library in the temple of Seraphis. The job was entrusted to Archbishop Theophilus, a fanatic. In his enthusiasm he destroyed many temples in Egypt.

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The slave trade was the worst crime in human history. It denied humanity to the Negroe. It was perpetrated by Christians and had the blessing of the pope. The trade began in the 16th century and lasted for three centuries. It was called "the commerce in ebony" derisively. Here is a description of the trade: "The Negroes were piled in the holds of the ships as many as they could contain and they remained there without air or light during the passage of several weeks. They died in hundreds. The survivors were sent to sugar and coffee plantations where the overseers made them work under the leash. (Seignobos, History of Medieval and Modern Civilisation) The dead were thrown into the sea so that for centuries this sea route to America was invested by sharks."

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All these show that the highly ethical doctrines of Jesus had no impact on these white men even after 1500 years of Christianity. As in the case of the Mongols, who could not absorb the compassionate doctrines of the Buddha and remained pagan and shamanists, Christian Euroe failed to absorb the spirit of mercy.

Writes one of the great historians of Europe: "They (Christians) might have baptized their children, they might have flocked to the church-all these they might have done and yet they were as far away from the spirit of Christianity as they were from their pagan gods.

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The story of the Inquisition is perhaps the most terrible of all. It was instituted by the Pope himself and manned by churchmen. It shows how the church had no impact on the Europeans.

Lorento, who had free access to the records of the Spanish Inquisition, tells us that more than 30,000 "apostates" were burnt alive and 24,000 were given various punishments by the Spanish Inquisition.

The Inquisition perfected torture. On this historian WEH Lecky says: "What strikes us most in considering the medieval torture is not so much their diabolical barbarity, which is impossible to exaggerate, as the extraordinary variety and what may be termed the artistic skill they displayed- In every prison, the crucifix and the rack stood side by side."

Torture was finally abolished, but not through the remorse of the Church, but by pressure brought on the church by the intellectuals of the age-Montesquieu, Voltaire, Montague and others.

But the Christian societies of Europe and America took to other forms of torture for they initiated new barbarities as masters of the new colonies.

Dear Reader, judge for yourself: can such a religion claim to be superior to Hinduism? Can people who profess such a religion be entrusted with the care of humanity? The answer is No. Mahavira preached Ahimsa 2500 years ago. And it is still a living faith among Jains. Why? Because the Jains are true to their faith.