Is christianity really that bad? Or was?

wikistates page. · by **Epicnopolis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:28 pm

OK. So according to family guy (Yes I know. But they're normally spot on with that kind of stuff.) So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right? Tell me your thoughts/rants/insults/mehs/explanations because I don't know much on this subject. So, start ranting NSG!

by **New Kereptica** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:29 pm

Visigoths assraping Rome caused the Dark Ages.

by **Zatarack** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:30 pm

If we didn't have Christianity we wouldn't have had the Caliphates.

by **Gauntleted Fist** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:31 pm

inb4christianitydoesnotsuck/Xtianityfails

No, really. That's a likely conclusion to this thread.

by **RightLeaningChristians** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:32 pm

Papal Infallibility is making me doubt!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

wikistates page. · by **Epicnopolis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:41 pm

So confused...

by **Peisandros** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:44 pm

An assertion made on Family Guy is a really, really bad place to start a thread.

by **Gauntleted Fist** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:46 pm

Epicnopolis wrote:So confused...

Welcome to General!

wikistates page. · by **Epicnopolis** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:48 pm

Peisandros wrote:An assertion made on Family Guy is a really, really bad place to start a thread.

Eh...I honestly disagree.

by **Lacadaemon** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:03 pm

I'm sure it didn't help.

by **Druidville** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:04 pm

Epicnopolis wrote:So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right?

No. Barbarian tribes had no technology. It took them years to go from small groups of efficient killers to an organized nation with a vibrant culture.

by **Dododecapod** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:02 am

Druidville wrote:
Epicnopolis wrote:So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right?

No. Barbarian tribes had no technology. It took them years to go from small groups of efficient killers to an organized nation with a vibrant culture.

No, they already had the "vibrant culture" part. And it didn't take long for many of the tribes to become highly civilized under Roman influence.

When Belisarius reconquered Rome for the Byzantine Empire in the 300s, the Byzantines (who called themselves Romans, of course) wore a combination of Hunnish and Greek dress, and spoke mostly Greek. The Visigoth "invaders" they defeated wore togas and spoke Latin...

by **Dyakovo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:45 am

Epicnopolis wrote:OK. So according to family guy (Yes I know. But they're normally spot on with that kind of stuff.) So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right? Tell me your thoughts/rants/insults/mehs/explanations because I don't know much on this subject. So, start ranting NSG!

Christianity didn't cause the Dark Ages, but it did contribute, it also did not stop the advance of technology though it did nor really contribute to to the advancement either.

by **South Lorenya** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:02 am

Sensible christians aren't bad.

Hard-liners are.

by **Blouman Empire** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:03 am

Epicnopolis wrote:OK. So according to family guy (Yes I know. But they're normally spot on with that kind of stuff.) So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right? Tell me your thoughts/rants/insults/mehs/explanations because I don't know much on this subject. So, start ranting NSG!

Your basing your history/knowledge on what you saw on Family Guy?

This is what is wrong with a lot of people and not just Family guy but other popular tv shows and movies.

by **Dyakovo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:06 am

Blouman Empire wrote:
Epicnopolis wrote:OK. So according to family guy (Yes I know. But they're normally spot on with that kind of stuff.) So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right? Tell me your thoughts/rants/insults/mehs/explanations because I don't know much on this subject. So, start ranting NSG!

Your basing your history/knowledge on what you saw on Family Guy?

This is what is wrong with a lot of people and not just Family guy but other popular tv shows and movies.

QFT

by **Cabra West** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:18 am

Insipred some great art, helped burn some witches, founded some hospitals, went on crusades...

I guess it's just about what you value most, really.

by **Pope Joan** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:03 am

Christianity preseved culture during the dark ages.
It promoted literacy, and cultivated the ideal of chivalry as a way to turn the ruling bullies and thieves into gentlemen with a sense of noblesse oblige.

by **Kobrania** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:07 am

I thought it was the Muslims that were the major technological power in the dark ages. :eyebrow:

by **Blouman Empire** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:08 am

Dyakovo wrote:
Blouman Empire wrote:
Epicnopolis wrote:OK. So according to family guy (Yes I know. But they're normally spot on with that kind of stuff.) So Christianity caused the dark ages and stopped the advance of technology right in its tracks right? Tell me your thoughts/rants/insults/mehs/explanations because I don't know much on this subject. So, start ranting NSG!

Your basing your history/knowledge on what you saw on Family Guy?

This is what is wrong with a lot of people and not just Family guy but other popular tv shows and movies.

QFT

Cheers man, don't think anyone has actually done that to me before.

by **The Archregimancy** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:22 am

Dododecapod wrote:
No, they already had the "vibrant culture" part. And it didn't take long for many of the tribes to become highly civilized under Roman influence.

When Belisarius reconquered Rome for the Byzantine Empire in the 300s, the Byzantines (who called themselves Romans, of course) wore a combination of Hunnish and Greek dress, and spoke mostly Greek. The Visigoth "invaders" they defeated wore togas and spoke Latin...

While I wouldn't dispute the basic point about the syncretic nature of late classical Mediterranean civilisation, your history is off on several counts - and by at least two centuries.

Belisarius (500-565 AD) lived in the 6th century, and the Gothic War took place between 535-554.

The Gothic War was against the Ostrogoths, not the Visigoths; while the majority of the population of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy were Latin-speaking, the small Gothic ruling elite remained largely Germanic in language and material culture until Belisarius' conquest (which was greatly facilitated by the bubonic plague).

Theodoric, the greatest of the Ostrogothic kings, was, however, aiming for a syncretic combination of Latin and Gothic culture, and mutual tolerance between his own Arian Christian Ostrogoths and the Catholic majority of his kingdom's population. Ultimately, he failed.

The Visigothic kingdom was in modern Spain.

Greek had always been the majority language of administration in the Eastern Roman Empire, so there was nothing unusual in the forces of the Eastern Empire speaking Greek in the 6th century, just as they would have been doing for the last 500 years; the governing class of Constantinople in the early to mid 6th century, however, was nonetheless still often Latin-speaking, and Justinian himself was a native Latin speaker from what is today the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Belisarius' native language is unknown, but he was born in what's now southern Bulgaria, which had a mix of Latin and Greek-speaking communities at the time. Greek would not finally be made the formal language of adminstration at the expense of Latin in the Eastern / Byzantine Empire until the reign of Heraclius (reigned 610-641), partially in response to the final loss of most of the non-Greek speaking regions of the Empire under dual attack from Arabs and Slavs.

by **Telemia** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:34 am

Cabra West wrote:Insipred some great art, helped burn some witches, founded some hospitals, went on crusades...

I guess it's just about what you value most, really.

Cheers to that.

I honestly think Christianity helped a bit. Made a diety above human influences, gave people hope that there wasn't just more war or nothing (Norse) or just endlessness in torment (Greek). Made people defining themselves morally something to strive for; the perfection of humility a goal for life.

It also laid the foundations of national principles and laws we have now in just about every country. Some will argue that Judaism had, but I don't see that it even closely outweighs Christianity as the world's largest religion. It spread extremely quickly and appealed to the better nature of man.

by **Kobrania** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:36 am

Telemia wrote:
Cabra West wrote:Insipred some great art, helped burn some witches, founded some hospitals, went on crusades...

I guess it's just about what you value most, really.

Cheers to that.

I honestly think Christianity helped a bit. Made a diety above human influences, gave people hope that there wasn't just more war or nothing (Norse) or just endlessness in torment (Greek). Made people defining themselves morally something to strive for; the perfection of humility a goal for life.

It also laid the foundations of national principles and laws we have now in just about every country. Some will argue that Judaism had, but I don't see that it even closely outweighs Christianity as the world's largest religion. It spread extremely quickly and appealed to the better nature of man.

And the worst. :eyebrow:

by **Alsium** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:37 am

Kobrania wrote:I thought it was the Muslims that were the major technological power in the dark ages.

During the early medieval period they were but then the western christian nations surpassed them.

by **Kobrania** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:39 am

Alsium wrote:
Kobrania wrote:I thought it was the Muslims that were the major technological power in the dark ages.

During the early medieval period they were but then the western christian nations surpassed them.

Mostly due to the formers Isolationism.
Imagine if the khan didn't die so early and continued his conquest of Europe?