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History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance

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Religious persecution and discrimination
By group
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icon Religion

Christians have at times persecuted non-Christians or adherents of other Christian denominations on the basis of conflicts in their religious beliefs.

For an of overview of the forms of religious persecution see the article: Religious persecution

Historical Overview

Early Christianity was a minority Religion in the Roman Empire and the early Christians were themselves persecuted during that time. After Constantine I converted to Christianity, it became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. In the view of some historians, the Constantinian shift turned Christianity from a persecuted into a persecuting religion.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, the further Christianization of Europe was to a large extent peaceful. However, encounters between Christians and Pagans were sometimes confrontational, and some Christian kings (Charlemagne, Olaf I of Norway) were known for their violence against pagans.

In the late Middle Ages, the appearance of the Cathars and Bogomils in Europe laid the stage for the later witch-hunts. These gnostic-influenced sects were seen as heretics by the Catholic Church, and the Inquisition was established to counter them.

After the Protestant Reformation, the devastation caused by the partly religiously motivated wars (Thirty Years' War, English Civil War, French Wars of Religion) in Europe in the 17th century gave rise to the ideas of Religious toleration or Freedom of religion and Religious pluralism.

Theological debate of persecution

Christian theology derives its sources from the teachings and actions of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament and several other sources depending on the Christian denomination. This makes the Bible, especially the canonical Gospels, the primary source in order to classify persecution by Christians as either religiously motivated persecution or ethnic persecution. Some churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, give weight to oral tradition.

Christian Theologians and Philosophers on religious persecution

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  • Saint Augustine (epistle against the Donatists)
    • Was convinced of the effectiveness of mild forms of persecution and developed a defence of their use. His authority on this question seems to have been undisputed for over a millennium in Catholic and later Protestant Christendom.
  • Saint Thomas Aquinas
    • Summed up the standard medieval position, when he declared that that obstinate heretics deserved "not only to be separated from the Church, but also to be eliminated from the world by death"
  • Martin Luther (On the Jews and their Lies)
  • John Calvin

The English 'Call for Toleration'

Nevertheless, while the Christian theologians mentioned above advocated religious persecution to various extents, it also were Christians who started off the idea of religious toleration in the England of the 1640s.:

All of these considered themselves Christians or were actual churchmen. Only in the 1690s a third group emerged that also rejected biblical authority.

Biblical Exegesis - Old Testament

The Old Testament has been the main source for Christian theologians advocating religious persecution. An example of this would be John Jewel. In defending the demand for religious uniformity by Elizabeth I of England, he declared: "Queen Elizabeth doth as did Moses, Josua, David, Salomon, Josias, Jesophat, ..."

  • In the Old Testament, God commands that the temples, idols, and sacred groves of the pagan non-believers be destroyed, and that those that follow other gods in the territory of God's people should be killed. According to mainstream Christianity, this, however, contrasts with the teaching of Jesus which regards love towards God and other people as the supreme law. I John 4 : 7 and 8 "Love is from God, (..) and who don't love don't know God, for God is love" Romans 13 : 9 and 10 " Commandments are summed up in this one : Love the other as yourself (...) Love doesn't cause harm to the others; so to love the others fulfill all the Law of God"
  • Leviticus 20:27 ("A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them.") and Exodus 22:18 ("You shall not permit a sorceress to live.") have been interpreted by some Christians as directing people to kill those who supposedly use magic. However the translation is debated and one interpretation is that it doesn't refer to the practices used by various occult groups modernly thought of as "Witchcraft", such as found in the Wiccan Faith, but rather curses intended to harm, or indeed only with necromancy (Peake's Commentary) - the Hebrew people coexisted with Pagans who not only believed in many gods, but often practiced "sorcery." Also see Christian views on witchcraft.
  • Leviticus 20:13 ("If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.") has been used to legitimise persecution of homosexuals, although this law is considered by many Christians to contradict essential teachings of Jesus.

Biblical Exegesis - New Testament

  • According to the canonical Gospel of Matthew (in the Antithesis of the Law), Gospel of Luke (Luke 10:27) and the Gospel of Mark (Mark 12:31), Jesus commanded to love one's neighbour as one's self and love God more than anyone, and called this the summary of the Mosaic Law. He further taught his followers to love their enemies. Representing persecution as an act of love is considered irreconcilable to these teachings by many. However, some have interpreted "neighbour" to only include Christians. Others believe that anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus is doomed to spend eternity in Hell; therefore, doing anything possible to save them from that fate (by forcing them to convert to Christianity by any means necessary) is an act of love.
  • According to the Christian Gospels, Jesus commanded people to withstand evil with good. Most Christians consider persecution to be an evil act.
  • According to the Christian Gospels, Jesus forbade to hate (cf. Luke 14:26, Revelation 2:6). Persecution implies hate. According to the canonical gospels and Acts of the apostles Paul of Tarsus, as well as Jesus himself, considered the commandment to love the supreme law.
  • According to the Christian Gospels, Jesus did not fight back when he was harassed, arrested, and crucified, nor did his disciples, except Saint Peter, who was rebuked by Jesus.
  • In the canonical Gospels, the Acts and the Letters, there is no description of any case of religiously condoned physical violence by Christians against non-Christians which could be used as a precedent for Christian persecution of other groups, apart from Jesus overturning the tables at Herod's Temple, (John 2:13-17, Matthew 25:31–46).
  • Christian persecutors considered the persecution of others as "necessary" in order to "protect the souls" of Christians against damnation by heretic teachings. See also: Inquisition. The Peace churches believe that Jesus rejected violence. For instance Paul of Tarsus ordered heretics to be admonished in the church or to be expelled from the church, not to be persecuted. See First Corinthians, chapter 5.
  • Matthew,27:25
St Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 27:25) quotes a Jewish mob crying, shortly before the Crucifixion, "His blood be on us and on our children;" this quotation is taken by some to refer to all Jews. This belief has been cited by many Anti-semites as justification for their animosity towards the Jews. Christian anti-Semites blame Jews in general for the death of Jesus (whom Christians believe to be God made man). This view held sway in many parts of Christian Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Similarly Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (aka Jacob Sprenger) in the Malleus Maleficarum (1486): And again, the Jews sin more greatly than the Pagans; for they received the prophecy of the Christian Faith in the Old Law, which they corrupt through badly interpreting it, which is not the case with the Pagans. Therefore their infidelity is a greater sin than that of the Gentiles, who never received the Faith of the Gospel. With the general rejection of anti-Semitism following the The Holocaust, this interpretation is held by only a scarce minority of contemporary Christians. This excuse for antisemitism also ignores the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew, as were the early church leaders.

Late antiquity

Main article: Decline of Hellenistic polytheism

The conflict between the Orthodox and Arian versions of Christianity was one of the causes of conflict between Christian peoples, in particular the early Christian church supported assaults on the kingdoms of the Arian Vandals and Goths.

"In the first Christian millennium, the execution of heretics appears to have been very rare indeed. When the heretic Priscillian and his followers were burned in 383, their persecutors were roundly condemned by bishops like Ambrose, Augstine's mentor."

Roman Empire

Main article: Persecution of Roman religion

When Constantine became the sole Roman Emperor in 323, Christianity became legal by the Edict of Milan. After the death of Constantine in 337, two of his sons, Constantius II and Constans took over the leadership of the empire. Constans, ruler of the western provinces, was, like his father, a Christian.

Constans was killed in 350, and soon after his brother became the sole emperor of the entire empire three years later. Constantius, also a Christian, decreed that all pagan temples in the empire be immediately closed. He warned that anyone who dared still offer sacrifices of worship to the once-revered gods and goddesses in these temples were to be put to death. Similarly, any governor to refused to enforce this decree was also to be punished.

But it wasn't just the emperors who persecuted the pagans. Lay Christians took advantage of these new anti-pagan laws by destroying and plundering the temples. Theologians and prominent ecclesiastics soon followed. One such example is St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. When Gratian became Roman emperor in 375, Ambrose, who was one of his closest educators, persuaded him to further suppress paganism. The emperor, at Ambrose's advice, confiscated the properties of the pagan temples; seized the properties of the vestal virgins and pagan priests, and removed the statue of the Goddess of Victory from the Roman Senate.

When Gratian delegated the government of the eastern half of the Roman Empire to Theodosius the Great in 379, the situation became worse for the pagans. Theodosius prohibited all forms of pagan worship and allowed the temples to be robbed, plundered, and ruthlessly destroyed by monks and other enterprising Christians.

A prominent example of this persecution is the case of the philosopher Hypathia of Alexandria. Hypathia was the daughter of the mathematician Theon. She was one of the most learned individuals of her time. She taught and elucidated Greek mathematics and philosophy. She lectured widely in Athens and Alexandria. But her widespread popularity and intelligence, coupled with her complete lack of interest in Christianity, so irritated the Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyril, that his attacks on her inflamed a mob to murder her in the year 415. The cruelty of the method of her murder can be seen by the description of it by the historian Edward Gibbon:

"On a fatal day, in the holy season of Lent, Hypathia was torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and inhumanly butchered by the hands of Peter the Reader and a troop of savage and merciless fanatics; her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp oyster shells, and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames. The just progress of inquiry and punishment was stopped by seasonable gifts; but the murder of Hypathia has imprinted an indelible strain on the character and religion of Cyril of Alexandria."

Under Theodosius the Nicene or Orthodox version of Christianity became the official religion, engendering conditions for conflict with the mostly Germanic tribes who had converted to the "heretical" Arian form of Christianity. In the year 416, under Theodosius II, a law was passed to bar pagans from public employment. All this was done to coerce pagans to convert to Christianity. Theodosius also persecuted Judaism, destroying a number of synagogues.

Greece

Main article: Persecution of Ancient Greek religion

During the christianization of Greece, there was much persecution of Ancient Greek religion. Followers were the subject of a great deal of religious intolerance from Christians. The priests were killed, the followers persecuted and killed, and the temples torn down to be made into limestone quarries, Christian Churches, or civic buildings. Many followers of the Hellenistic gods were punished and slain by Christians, and those caught worshipping or making sacrifices to their gods were often imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Many myths and accusations were issued against the Pagans of Greece. Christians used false accusations that the pagan Greeks killed Christians at their temples during ritualistic sacrifices to justify much religious persecution and blood shed. Many of these accusations were in part caused by a mistaken association with Greek pagans and the pagans of Thrace, who unlike the Greeks did commit human blood sacrifices.

Early Middle Ages

Further information: Christianization of the Germanic peoples

Christianization of the Germanic peoples was mostly voluntary, but there are a few exceptions, notably the Saxon wars, which are usually described as religious warfare rather than religious persecution, although neopagan authors often present them in support of a case for involuntary conversion Alcuin and other theologians at the court of Charlemagne opposed his treatment of the Saxons and insisted in peaceful and voluntary conversion.

Late middle Ages

"Not until 1022, when fourteen people were burned at Orleans, do we come across another case of executions in western Europe , though this may simply be due to the lack of sources for the earlier period.

The Inquisition and the Crusades

Main article: Spanish inquisition

In fully Christian Europe there were a number of persecutions directed against Jews and Christian heretics. There were massacres of Muslims and Jews when Jerusalem was taken by Crusaders in 1099.

Jews were also persecuted in Visigothic Spain and later elsewhere in Europe, especially after the emergence of the blood libel. Jews were eventually expelled from England by King Edward I. In Spain after the Reconquista, Jews were forced to either convert or be exiled. Many were killed. Although the Spanish had agreed to allow Muslims the freedom of religion in 1492, this was often ignored. In 1501, Muslims were offered the choice of conversion or exile. In 1556, Arab or Muslim dress was forbidden, and in 1566 Arabic language as a whole was prohibited in Spain.

In the case of the Martyrs of Córdoba (9th century), a group of Christians, led by Eulogius, publicly attacked Islam wishing to dissuade their fellows from the allure of Islam. (Note: This rather constitutes persecution of Christians!)

Some neo-Pagans believe that persecutions of witches were attacks on surviving Pagans, but this view is not widely accepted (see Burning times).

Muscovy and Imperial Russia government forcibly baptized Muslim Volga Tatars and pagan Chuvash, Mordva and Mari after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate and Astrakhan Khanate in the 1550s. Mosques were prohibited. This persecution ended only during the reign of Catherine II of Russia.

Christians and Gnostic sects

The attempts to suppress the neo-Manichean Cathar (or "Albigensian") faith took the form of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) – a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the ascetic religion practiced by the Cathars of Languedoc, which the Roman Catholic hierarchy considered heretical. It is historically significant for a number of reasons: the violence inflicted was extreme even by medieval standards; the church offered legally sanctioned dominion over conquered lands to northern French nobles and the King of France, acting as essentially Catholic mercenaries, who then nearly doubled the size of France, acquiring regions which at the time had closer cultural and language ties to Catalonia. This led to the creation of the Medieval Inquisition which was charged to suppress heresies.

The Waldensians, a group which can be considered a precursor to Protestant and Evangelical Christianity was likewise persecuted by the Inquisition.

Individuals whose views were considered deviant could be convicted and executed, as happened with Jerome of Prague, John Badby, and Jan Hus.

Reformation, Counter-Reformation and Colonialism

Conflict between Christian factions reached its height following the Reformation, as Protestants and Catholics struggled for control of territories in Western Europe. Catholic authorities persecuted Protestants in a number of jurisdictions, the most notorious being the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when the French king ordered the murder of all Protestants in France. Outbreaks against Catholics also occurred in Protestant countries, leading to endemic conflicts in some areas, such as Ireland, where the British government imported Protestants and expelled Catholic landowners following a long period of conflict over control of the island.

European colonization and imperialism was also fueled by Christian evangelism and sometimes by persecution of "pagan" communities. Spanish conquests in central and South America were accompanied by attempts to suppress native religions. Portuguese expansion in India was accompanied by persecutions of Hindus and Buddhists. By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs had been reduced in most Europeans countries to legal restrictions on those who did not accept the official faith. This often included being barred from higher education, or from participation in the national legislature. In colonized nations, attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity became more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments.

Execution of Hindus in India

Main article: Goa Inquisition

During the period of Colonial Conquest, it has been claimed that the Portuguese forced Christianity on the native Hindus through laws, acts of torture and executions.

Execution of Mennonites in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, described variously as Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites, were executed by Catholic authorities in Ghent in 1554. Strangled and burned, van der Leyen was finally dispatched with an iron fork. Thieleman J. van Braght's Martyrs Mirror is considered by modern Mennonites as second only in importance to the Bible in perpetuating their faith.

Jesuit persecution in Great Britain

Jesuits like John Ogilvie were under constant surveillance and threat from the Protestant governments of England and Scotland. Ogilvie was sentenced to death by a Glasgow court and hanged on March 10, 1615.

Brian Cansfield, a Jesuit priest, was seized while at prayer by English Protestant authorities in Yorkshire. Cansfield was beaten and imprisoned under harsh conditions. He died on August 3, 1643, from the effects of his ordeal. Another Jesuit priest, Ralph Corbington, was hanged by the English government in London, September 17, 1644, for professing his faith.

Expulsion of the Salzburgers from Austria

On October 31, 1731, the Catholic ruler of Salzburg, Austria, Archbishop Leopold von Firmian, issued an edict expelling as many as 20,000 Lutherans from his principality. Many Lutherans, given only eight days to leave their homes, froze to death as they wandered throughout the winter seeking shelter. The wealthier ones who were allowed three months to dispose of their property fared better. Some of these Salzburgers reached London, from whence they sailed to the Province of Georgia. Others found new homes in the Netherlands and East Prussia.

Persecution of Huguenots by Catholics

The slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) by Catholics at Sens, Burgundy, in 1562 occurred at the beginning of more than thirty years of religious strife between French Protestants and Catholics. These wars produced numerous atrocities. The worst was the notorious St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris on August 24, 1572. Thousands of Huguenots were butchered by Roman Catholic mobs. Although an accommodation between the two sides was sealed in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes, religious privileges of Huguenots eroded during the seventeenth century and were extinguished in 1685 by the revocation of the edict. Perhaps as many as 400,000 French Protestants emigrated to various parts of the world, including the British North American colonies. Persecution was resumed under Louis XV, 1724-1764, gradually subsiding in the decades leading up to the triumph of laïcité in France.

Drowning of Protestants in Ireland

Approximately one hundred Protestants from Loughgall Parish, County Armagh, were executed by mobs at the bridge over the River Bann near Portadown, Ulster. This atrocity occurred at the beginning of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Having held the Protestants as prisoners and tortured them, the Catholics drove them to the bridge, where they were stripped naked and forced into the water below at swordpoint. Survivors of the plunge were shot.

Massacres of Catholics in Ireland

Thousands of Catholic residents were massacred by Oliver Cromwell's Protestant troops at Drogheda, Wexford, and Waterford, during the Irish campaign of autumn and winter 1649. All of the survivors of Drogheda and many from other places were sold as slaves to the West Indies. In 1652, all Catholic-owned estates east of the River Shannon were confiscated, and their residents were evicted en-masse amid plague and famine that killed an even greater number. Approximately 600,000 people, nearly half the Irish population, died during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The penal laws of 1690 caused still more destitution and emigration.

20th Century

At the present time, most countries in which Christianity is the religion of the majority of the people, are either secular states or they embrace the separation of Church and State in another way. A list of countries in which Christianity still is the State religion can be found at the article on State religion.

Vietnam

Christian persecution of Buddhism in Vietnam caused the deaths of eight unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963 in the city of Huế in South Vietnam at the hands of the army and security forces of the Catholic government of Ngo Dinh Diem. The army and police had opened fired with guns and launched grenades into a crowd of Buddhists who had been protesting against a government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on the day of Vesak, which commemorates the birth of Gautama Buddha. Diem's denial of government responsibility in the incident, blaming the Vietcong, led to growing discontent among the Buddhist majority. It stoked the start of a protest movement by Buddhists against the religious discrimination of the Catholic-dominated Diem regime, known as the Buddhist crisis, and widespread large scale civil disobedience among South Vietnamese. After six months of tension, generals from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam conducted a coup on November 1 amid growing opposition to the regime, which saw the removal and assassination of Diem. This event is also known as the Hue Vesak shootings.

Serbia

Between 1992 and 1999, the government of Serbia engaged in persecution of religious minorities in Kosovo and throughout Serbia, including the "ethnic cleansing" of Albanian Muslims and destruction of mosques and other Islamic landmarks.

United States

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Separation of church and state in the United States and Talk:Historical persecution by Christians. (Discuss)
File:Gilecory.jpg
Giles Cory was pressed to death during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s.

During the Cold War, the United States often characterized its opponents as "Godless Communists" as opposed to Christian Americans, which tended to reinforce the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic. In the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush said, "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God."

The conservative Christian James Clement Taylor has commented on the subject of persecution of Wiccans that "these people of Wicca have been terribly slandered by us. They have lost jobs, and homes, and places of business because we have assured others that they worship Satan, which they do not. We have persecuted them..."

In 1999 a group of conservative Christian groups was formed on the initiative of Bob Barr. The group asked US citizens not to enlist or re-enlist in the U.S. Army until the Army terminates the on-base freedoms of religion, speech and assembly for all Wiccan soldiers. The boycott has since become inactive. George W. Bush stated "I don't think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.". In September 1985 some conservative Christian legislators introduced three pieces of legislation designed to take away the rights of Wiccans. The first one was House Resolution (H.R.) 3389 introduced September 19 by congressman Robert S. Walker (R-Penn.)

Senator Jesse Helms (R, NC) made an amendment, Amendment 705, in the House Resolution 3036, The Treasury, Postal, and General Government Appropriations Bill for 1986.

After being ignored for a while it got attached to HR 3036 by an unanimous voice vote of the senators. Congressman Richard T. Schulze (R-Penn) introduced substantially the same amendment into the Tax Reform Bill of 1985. When the conference committee met on October 30, the Helms Amendment was thrown out since they considered it not to be a budget issue. Following this Schulze withdrew his amendment from the Tax Reform Bill. Leaving only HR 3389, the Walker Bill. It managed to attract Joe Barton (R-Tex) who became a co-sponsor November 14. The Ways and Means Committee set aside the bill and quietly ignored it and it died with the close of the 99th session of Congress in December 1986.

See also

Literature

Notes

  1. see e.g.: John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration on Protestant England 1558-1689, 2000, p.22
  2. Padberg, 1998, 183
  3. for Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin see e.g. Coffey (2000), 22-24
  4. Coffey (2000), 22
  5. Auqinas, Summa Theologica, quoted after Aquinas, Selected Political Writings (Oxford, 1959), p.77
  6. This list is taken from: Coffey (2000), 50
  7. John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration on Protestant England 1558-1689, 2000, p.31
  8. Coffey 2000, 23
  9. Padberg (1998), 94f
  10. Strmiska, Michael F. "The Evils of Christianization: A Pagan Perspective on European History". In Terrie Waddell (editor) (ed.). Cultural Expressions of Evil and Wickedness: Wrath, Sex, Crime. Editions Rodopi B.V. ISBN 978-9042010154. From the Pagan point of view, we can ask what might have happened if Charlemagne had chosen a different path. What if he had pursued a policy of religious tolerance instead of religious persecution? {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  11. Padberg (1998), 97
  12. Coffey 2000, 23
  13. Lapidus (1988), p. 389
  14. BBC The curse of Cromwell
  15. Barbara Larkin (editor). International Religious Freedom (2000): Report to Congress by the Department of State. ISBN 0756712297. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  16. Rob Sherman Advocacy March 3, 2002
  17. The National Secular Society
  18. A Christian Speaks of Wicca and Witchcraft
  19. Bob Barr, civil libertarian: the right wing of the ACLU - Interview
  20. Bob Barr On a Literal Witch Hunt!
  21. Witches, Pagans, and the Media
  22. A Summary of Anti-Witchcraft Activity in the 99th Congress

References

  • Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic societes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22552-3.

External links

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