5 ms·

Never bet on the church to defend your rights should be a long acquired wisdom by now.

• ethbro 6y ago
  That's reductive of complex traditions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_(antiquity) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_(antiquity)
  • raxxorrax 6y ago
    I meant the church, not christianity. The roman catholic church killed christians all over Europe if they didn't accept the official doctrine. What is typical for the church is its behavior to suck up to anyone with influence or power.
• jpmoral 6y ago
  Individual priests, nuns, and laity have often been at the forefront of defending people's rights in dictatorships. The organisations' track records have been more checkered.
  • raxxorrax 6y ago
    True, I was more precise in another comment. I meant the roman catholic church specifically, not christians in general. And not all churches of course. When my father died when I was young I got into some financial troubles. The local christian community helped me with direct monetary support, no questions asked. I will certainly not forget that even if I payed them back multiple times by now and don't really believe. They also have a lot of shelters for homeless and others in need of help in my country without any missionary ambitions (today at least, historically it was for missionary purposes). They help out where the state fails and it fails a lot. Still the institution of the roman catholic church and christians are not synonymous to me. And any form of criticism is certainly directed at the churches power structures, not at their priests. I think the current pope is quite nice, but I disagree with him here.