starry dynamo in the machinery of night

Victims of the Christian Faith

sanityscraps:

christiantheatheist:

4th and 5th centuries - Jewish synagogues burned, death toll unknown
316 - Pagan priests killed and temples destroyed
Between 3rd and 6th century - Thousands of Pagans killed
356 - Pagan services declared punishable by death
372-444 - Thousands killed for practising birth control
386 - Priscillianus and six followers beheaded for heresy
4th century - Philosopher Sopatros executed by Christian authorities
408-450 - Theodosius has children killed for playing with Pagan symbols
694 - Jews enslaved and children forcibly baptized
6th century - Pagans declared void of all rights
782 - 4500 beheaded as they were unwilling to convert to Christianity
10th to 12th century - Jewish communities destroyed and hundreds killed
1095 - First crusade
1096 - Thousands killed in Hungary and Turkey
1098 - Over 100,000 Turks killed
1098 - Thousands killed in Syria and bodies eaten by Christians
1099 - Jerusalem conquered with 60,000 victims
1099 - Thousands of ‘heathens’ slaughtered in Israel
1147 - Several hundred Jews killed in France during second crusade
Total victims of crusades - Estimated to be between 1 and 5 million
1209 -  Beziérs destroyed with between 20,000 to 70,000 victims
1209 - Multiple other French cities destroyed, thousands killed
1232-1324 - Estimated 1 million Cathar heretics killed
Other heresies globally, killing over 100,000 people
1234 - Between 5,000 and 11,000 Germans killed for not paying suffocating church taxes
1290 - 10,000 Jews killed in Bohemia
1389 - 3,000 Jews killed
1391 - Seville’s Jews killed (4,000) or sold as slaves (25,000)
15th century - 1,019 churches and 17,987 villiages plundered by Knights of the Order
15th century - Crusades against Hussites, with thousands killed
1415 - John Huss burned at the stake
1484-1750 - Several hundred thousand witches hung or burned with several thousand extimated to have been killed between the start of Christianity and 1484
1492 - 150,000 Jews expelled from Spain, many dying along the way
Late 15th century - 10,220 burnings
1527 - Michael Sattler, family, and followers executed
1538 - Professor B.Hubmaier burned at the stake
1568 - 3 million ‘rebels’ ordered to be killed with between 5,000 and 6,000 protestants drowned by Spanish troops
1572 -  20,000 Huguenots killed by command of pope Pius V
16th and 17th centuries - Tens of thousands of Gaelic Irish ‘pacified and civilised’ by English troops
17th century -  Magdeburg sacked, 30,000 protestants killed
1600 - Giordano Bruno burned at the stake
1648 - 200,000 Jews massacred in Poland
1697 - Thomas Aikenhead hung for blasphemy

Not only is Christianity responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people, but it is also responsible for the mistreatment and abuse of billions worldwide. People who claim religions to be harmless are terribly misinformed and ignorant.

This incomplete list does not include Christianity’s impact on natives, which can be found on the source page.

This hardly stopped in 1697. Something was just revealed this week showing that the Catholic Church knew about the abuse of over 10,000 children just in Holland and did nothing about i.

So often, I’m torn between strongly disliking Christianity and acknowledging the positive affect it has on the lives of many people I hold dear. I think one needs to differentiate between Christianity as a faith, a belief in God and Jesus and the like, and Christianity as an institution. It is the institution I have the issue with - ignoring the abuse of children, sanctioning countless murders in the name of Christ, interfering in politics, etc. The institution of Christianity, and the idea that Christianity is the ‘norm’ and anything or anyone that deviates from this norm is wrong/s fool/to be ignored, are what I dislike. The people who use their beliefs as a way of helping them cope are not people I take issue with.

Much the same as I dislike the laws in various Middle Eastern countries that prohibit women from doing various things (amongst other laws), those laws don’t make me despise Islam. They make me despise the narrow-minded ‘followers’ of it who use it for their own gains.

Religion in the hands of those in power can be a dangerous tool, as their actions affect entire societies - religion in the hands of the everyday follower can be a very positive thing.

(Source: articles.exchristian.net, via andnonefornonsensebye)