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Christianity didn’t do anything that article states. People did. It is safe to say that what the Christians of Rome did to the pagans was not Christianity and

Christianity didn’t do anything that article states. People did. It is safe to say that what the Christians of Rome did to the pagans was not Christianity and was not an act of Christ.

makeitshine 3y ago
How else do you judge a religion/philosophy/way of life except by the people, societies and actions it produces?
- Podgajski 3y ago
  I am homeless. America didn’t cause my homelessness, people did. You didn’t cause my homelessness, well, maybe you didn’t or probably you didn’t. You see, I judge people, not religions, or philosophies or ways of life. Because a religion can hold a varying type of people, even people who can act in ways that are 180° Different from what a religion states. Christians follow Christ. To follow Christ to act like Christ. It’s that simple.
  - makeitshine 3y ago
    America was created, is composed of, and run by people. Religions are as well. Looking at the products of the system people take part in is a measure of the underlying people who run it. It's the same as people looking at financial reports to gauge the health of the economy.
    - Podgajski 3y ago
      Thank you for agreeing with me?
      - makeitshine 3y ago
        Not really, I'm saying the religion and it's outputs are an indicator of the sort of people it contains. An aggregation, a heuristic, or whatever you want to call it. I can't judge every single person in Christianity individually, but I can look at what it has produced as a whole and not like the majority of what I see.
bruce511 3y ago
You are conflating Christianity the religion (in a theoretical context) with Christianity the actions of those professing to be Christian. In the context of "did Christ advocate for this" your answer may be valid (although biblical text has often been creatively warped to justify anything.) However this article is in the context of "how did people, professing to be Christian, influence and alter the government and culture of the Roman state. Clearly the collective beliefs of large religious groups permeate governments to this day. And yes the behaviour of some Christians causes profound embarrassments shame to the wider Christian body. Ultimately when some group of Christians behaves in an intolerant, hypocritical, self-serving, shameful way, and does it while claiming Christian principles, then all Christians are tarred with that brush. And while I can argue that its people, not Christ, that acts that way, that argument will fall on deaf ears. I'll conclude by pointing out thus is not limited to Christianity. Muslims suffer the same effect. Most in the west tar all Muslims based on the actions of a few. That's worth remembering when either you, or they, are lumped with extreme fundamentalists who profess the "same religion."
- Podgajski 3y ago
  I’m not confusing anything. I’m clarifying because statements like this article make it seem like Christianity is the problem and not the people. When Saint Francis was told by God to “rebuild the church“ the message was that the church was decaying from within. my point is that the article states that Christianity did so-and-so. My rebuke is that to say that it was Christianity was like saying that it was a teachings of Christ that led to the persecution. All I’m doing is adding clarification because the church right now has enough evil in it to go around and not focusing on the good but focusing on the evil only destroys the goodness of the church.
  - bruce511 3y ago
    I didn't say confusing, I said conflating :) I do agree that saying "christianity" in the context of the headline is ambiguous. It could be taken to mean "the teachings of Christ", or "the actions of people who profess to follow Christ", or perhaps "the outcomes of the teaching of Christ, as interpreted by fallible, misguided, or manipulated flocks. " And I would suggest, as I think you are suggesting, that reconciling some of the behaviour of todays Christians, with the teachings of Christ, can be, well, challenging.
solumunus 3y ago
That’s not how history works.
- Podgajski 3y ago
  I have a bachelors of science in history. Have you ever read Howard Zinn’s of peoples history of the United States? You should.
  - solumunus 3y ago
    What I said is plainly true.
lazyninja987 3y ago
[dead]

Christianity didn’t do anything that article states. People did. It is safe to say that what the Christians of Rome did to the pagans was not Christianity and was not an act of Christ.

makeitshine 3y ago

How else do you judge a religion/philosophy/way of life except by the people, societies and actions it produces?

Podgajski 3y ago
I am homeless. America didn’t cause my homelessness, people did. You didn’t cause my homelessness, well, maybe you didn’t or probably you didn’t. You see, I judge people, not religions, or philosophies or ways of life. Because a religion can hold a varying type of people, even people who can act in ways that are 180° Different from what a religion states. Christians follow Christ. To follow Christ to act like Christ. It’s that simple.
- makeitshine 3y ago
  America was created, is composed of, and run by people. Religions are as well. Looking at the products of the system people take part in is a measure of the underlying people who run it. It's the same as people looking at financial reports to gauge the health of the economy.
  - Podgajski 3y ago
    Thank you for agreeing with me?
    - makeitshine 3y ago
      Not really, I'm saying the religion and it's outputs are an indicator of the sort of people it contains. An aggregation, a heuristic, or whatever you want to call it. I can't judge every single person in Christianity individually, but I can look at what it has produced as a whole and not like the majority of what I see.

bruce511 3y ago

You are conflating Christianity the religion (in a theoretical context) with Christianity the actions of those professing to be Christian. In the context of "did Christ advocate for this" your answer may be valid (although biblical text has often been creatively warped to justify anything.) However this article is in the context of "how did people, professing to be Christian, influence and alter the government and culture of the Roman state. Clearly the collective beliefs of large religious groups permeate governments to this day. And yes the behaviour of some Christians causes profound embarrassments shame to the wider Christian body. Ultimately when some group of Christians behaves in an intolerant, hypocritical, self-serving, shameful way, and does it while claiming Christian principles, then all Christians are tarred with that brush. And while I can argue that its people, not Christ, that acts that way, that argument will fall on deaf ears. I'll conclude by pointing out thus is not limited to Christianity. Muslims suffer the same effect. Most in the west tar all Muslims based on the actions of a few. That's worth remembering when either you, or they, are lumped with extreme fundamentalists who profess the "same religion."

Podgajski 3y ago
I’m not confusing anything. I’m clarifying because statements like this article make it seem like Christianity is the problem and not the people. When Saint Francis was told by God to “rebuild the church“ the message was that the church was decaying from within. my point is that the article states that Christianity did so-and-so. My rebuke is that to say that it was Christianity was like saying that it was a teachings of Christ that led to the persecution. All I’m doing is adding clarification because the church right now has enough evil in it to go around and not focusing on the good but focusing on the evil only destroys the goodness of the church.
- bruce511 3y ago
  I didn't say confusing, I said conflating :) I do agree that saying "christianity" in the context of the headline is ambiguous. It could be taken to mean "the teachings of Christ", or "the actions of people who profess to follow Christ", or perhaps "the outcomes of the teaching of Christ, as interpreted by fallible, misguided, or manipulated flocks. " And I would suggest, as I think you are suggesting, that reconciling some of the behaviour of todays Christians, with the teachings of Christ, can be, well, challenging.

solumunus 3y ago

That’s not how history works.

Podgajski 3y ago
I have a bachelors of science in history. Have you ever read Howard Zinn’s of peoples history of the United States? You should.
- solumunus 3y ago
  What I said is plainly true.

lazyninja987 3y ago

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