Anti Catholic Propaganda

So what is the truth about the Crusades?

They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

Muslim thought divides the world into two spheres, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War. Christianity—and for that matter any other non-Muslim religion—has no abode. Christians and Jews can be tolerated within a Muslim state under Muslim rule. But, in traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed and their lands conquered.

it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam’s rivals, into extinction. http://www.crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm

Myth 1: The Crusades were wars of unprovoked aggression against a peaceful Muslim world.
Myth 2: The Crusaders wore crosses, but they were really only interested in capturing booty and land. Their pious platitudes were just a cover for rapacious greed.
Myth 3: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 they massacred every man, woman, and child in the city until the streets ran ankle deep with the blood
Myth 4: The Crusades were just medieval colonialism dressed up in religious finery
Myth 5: The Crusades were also waged against the Jews.
Myth 6: The Crusades were so corrupt and vile that they even had a Children’s Crusade.
Myth 7: Pope John Paul II apologized for the Crusades
Myth 8: Muslims, who remember the Crusades vividly, have good reason to hate the West
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/print2005/tmadden_crusades_print.html


The Myth of Hitler's Pope, Rabbi David G. Dalin
"Moreover, notes historian Thomas Madden, "of all medieval institutions, the [Catholic] Church stood alone in Europe in its consistent condemnation of Jewish persecutions." Throughout the Middle Ages, Rome and the papal states "were the only places in [western] Europe where the Jews were at all times free from attacks or expulsions." The Jews were expelled from Crimea in 1016, Paris in 1182, England in 1290, France in 1306, Switzerland in 1348, Hungary in 1349, Provence in 1394, Austria in 1422, Spain in 1492, Lithuania in 1495, and Portugal in 1497, In Italy, however, the Jewish community was under papal protection and was never expelled. Indeed, by the beginning of the fifteenth century, "the only safe place in Europe to be a Jew was in the lands of the pope."

The Real InquisitionInvestigating the popular myth.
Among the best recent books on the subject are Edward Peters's Inquisition (1988) and Henry Kamen's The Spanish Inquisition (1997), but there are others. Simply put, historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. So what is the truth?

The Inquisition was not born out of desire to crush diversity or oppress people; it was rather an attempt to stop unjust executions. Yes, you read that correctly. Heresy was a crime against the state. Roman law in the Code of Justinian made it a capital offense. Rulers, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw them as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath. When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment,

Compared to other medieval secular courts, the Inquisition was positively enlightened. Why then are people in general and the press in particular so surprised to discover that the Inquisition did not barbecue people by the millions? First of all, when most people think of the Inquisition today what they are really thinking of is the Spanish Inquisition. No, not even that is correct. They are thinking of the myth of the Spanish Inquisition. Amazingly, before 1530 the Spanish Inquisition was widely hailed as the best run, most humane court in Europe. There are actually records of convicts in Spain purposely blaspheming so that they could be transferred to the prisons of the Spanish Inquisition. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.asp


Perhaps the most extreme act of book-banning in history occurred on Oct. 27, 1553, in Geneva, when the brilliant theologian Michael Servetus was led to the stake, to be burned alive together with his book, the Christianismi Restitutio, the Restoration of Christianity, in which he denied the existence of the Holy Trinity and attacked the Protestant ruler of Geneva, John Calvin


Oliver Cromwell was deemed a moderate because he massacred only Catholics and Anglicans, not other Protestants. This Puritan general commanded Bible-carrying soldiers, whom he roused to religious fervor. After decimating an Anglican army, Cromwell said, "God made them as stubble to our swords." He demanded the beheading of the defeated King Charles I, and made himself the holy dictator of England during the 1650s. When his army crushed the hated Irish Catholics, he ordered the execution of the surrendered defenders of
Drogheda and their priests, calling it "a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches."

Ukrainian Bogdan Chmielnicki was a Cossack Cromwell. He wore the banner of
Eastern Orthodoxy in a holy war against Jews and Polish Catholics. More than 100,000 were killed in this 17th-century bloodbath, and the Ukraine was split away from Poland to become part of the Orthodox Russian empire.


In 1656, the Friends of Society, also called Quakers, arrived in Boston and were greeted by quite a welcome wagon. The Puritans, the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had them whipped, jailed and hanged for breaking their strict religious codes that they enforced as laws. Yes, these were the folks who a quarter of a century before fled Europe in order to have religious freedom. Once here, however, they only wanted freedom for their own religion. The Quakers were banished from Boston and hung if they returned. Eventually an area called Pennsylvania http://www.helium.com/tm/364298/firs...-quakers-early

Quakers: Persecution in colonial MassachusettsA law was passed at the same time, subjecting every shipmaster importing Quakers or Quaker writings to a heavy fine; adjudging all Quakers who should intrude into the colony to stripes and labor in the house of correction, and all defenders of their tenets to fine, imprisonment, or exile..


1700 - In June, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months, upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution. New York then passes a similar law

1702 - In Maryland, the Anglican Church is established as the official church, financially supported by


Persecution of Catholics still alive
In India, Catholic churches are regularly burned by Hindu Fundamentalists, and both Hindus and local animist groups have harassed and killed Catholic converts. In Pakistan, which disagrees with India about everything else, an Islamic Fundamentalist government does the same. Even great charity is no protection. Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity have been threatened in India and three of them were murdered in Yemen in the 1990s. Following is the first in a series of articles by Robert Royal, author of the soon-to-be released book Catholic Martyrs of the 20th Century.
http://www.catholicherald.com/royal/royal1.htm

Our Sunday Visitor: Persecution of Catholics still alive, oppression’s face fanatic, traditional http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=19509

Two Teens Were Planning Columbine-Style Church Bombing Two Westerville teens are accused of plotting to bomb a Catholic church and two area restaurants in a Columbine-style attack, investigators said.Westerville police charged Scott Ennis, 16, and Daniel Woodrum, 15, each with delinquency counts of conspiracy to commit arson. Both are students at Westerville North High school. http://thegreatrealization.wordpress...hurch-bombing/

Bomb attack on NI Catholic churchSeptember 5, 2007 A Catholic church has been damaged by a bomb attack in Co Down, the PSNI revealed yesterday http://www.boston.com/news/world/eur...tholic_church/

Graffiti carry threats against PopeNaples, Oct. 5, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Threats against Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) have been scrawled on the walls of buildings in Naples, Italy, a few weeks before a visit there by the Pontiff.

Graffiti reading "Death to the Pope" and "Death to Ratzinger" have appeared in the Italian city, where Pope Benedict is scheduled to make a one-day visit on October 21. Italian police officials believe that the graffiti were the work of leftist groups. In April of this year, death threats against Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa prompted police to provide the archbishop, who heads the Italian episcopal conference, with police protection. Those threats-- which also came in the form of graffiti, as well as anonymous letters http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=53969

San Francisco's 'Anti-Catholic' Resolution Prompts LawsuitAccording to Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, “The demagoguery and virulent words of this resolution are reminiscent of the anti- Catholic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothings, which marred our Nation’s earlier history. San Francisco may as well have put up signs at the City limits: ‘Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed.” http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=410

Christians attacked by Muslims in NigeriaLagos, Oct. 5, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Militant Muslims have torched the homes of several Christian families in Nigeria, the relief group Aid to the Church in Need reports. At least 8 homes of Christian families have been burned to the ground, and other Christian homes damaged, in a series of attacks in the town of Tudun-Wada, the group reports. Nine Christians, including a Catholic priest, were injured during the attacks.

Violence between Christians and Muslims has become a major concern in Nigeria, where the population is split between the heavily Islamic north and the mostly Christian south. Several northern states have adopted Islamic law, despite strong protests from Christians living there http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=53972

The Act of Settlement, 1701, William III1.This makes the succession of Catholics, the illegitimate, or those who are adopted illegal.

2.That whosoever shall hereafter come to the possession of this Crown, shall join in communion with the Church of England, as by law established

3.The sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland must join in communion with the Church of England. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A695441

Earlier in 2006, Blair rejected calls for repeal.

"Talking about Prince William, he can marry by law a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone, but not a Roman Catholic,” he said. "That seems to me anomalous and I think it should go." http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=24206