In 1095, Emperor Alexius I sent a plea to Pope Urban II, asking for troops to help reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim hands. The feudal state of Western Europe, as well as the widely established religious superstition and fervor, allowed for the Papacy to make a call to all able-bodied men to embark on this Holy Crusade. [ (A&E Television Networks, LLC) ] Pilgrimage to Jerusalem was already a sign of piety among Christians, and as persecution of Christians at Jerusalem had become more and more frequent, the presence of soldiers became inevitable. It was out of a need to protect the pilgrims that the Knights Templar were born. [ (Addison) ]
The Roman high officials saw Jesus and his Christian followers as a major threat to the Empire, even though Jesus probably had no intention of becoming a zealot, or political rebel. A high governor and judge, Pontius Pilate, had Jesus arrested and crucified. Pilate accused Jesus of treason, because Roman Emperors were supposed to be thought of
10 Diocletian is most known for The Persecution of the Christians. On the twenty-third of February, A.D. 303 he commanded an army to raid a nearby Christian church, he seized all holy books and burned them to ashes. 11 He then began to call for the destruction of all sacred books and Christian churches. All the Christians were then apprehended and imprisoned and Galerius secretly ordered the imperial palace to be set on fire, that the Christians might be charged as the incendiaries, and a credible pretence given for carrying on the persecution with the greater brutalities. An overall sacrifice was commenced, which caused numerous deaths.
Upon his return he had gone to the pope and asked the pope to excommunicate the Archbishop of York. To excommunicate someone was to completely exclude them from participation with the Church. This was an extremely serious request on Thomas Becket’s behalf. When Henry had heard of this request he was livid. He was said to have shouted out to a crowd, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Four knights had heard what Henry shouted and took it to mean that he wanted Becket dead.
Although, this relative ease for the Jews soon came to the end with the Crusades. The objective of the Crusades was for the Christians to regain the Holy Land back from the Islamic adversaries. While traveling to the Holy land, the Crusaders decided to kill thousands
The rich and vast culture the indigenous people had was completely destroyed by the Spanish. The primary purpose of the expedition was to convert the natives to Christianity and save them from eternal damage. The Spaniards that were sent did not follow the rules that were given to them. Instead the Spanish did what they wanted and killed most of the indigenous people and stole all of the gold on the islands. Most of the gold they took they kept for themselves and only gave a small amount back to the Spanish rulers.
When the Nazis came to power they persecuted these people, took away their human rights and eventually decided that they should be exterminated. How did Adolf Hitler
The theologian Johann Maier had a goal to expose Luther and invited him to speak at a disputation: a public debate concerning the doctrines of free will and grace. At the disputation, which was between Maier and Luther’s colleague Andreas Karlstadt, Luther said that the popes did not have the exclusive right to interpret scripture. This made him an enemy of the pope. On 15 June 1520, the Pope, in the form of a letter told Luther to recant 41 sentences from his writings including the 95 Theses, and to do it within 60 days or risk excommunication. He refused to do this, set fire to the Papal Bull and defended his actions in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles.
October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic priest and Augustinian monk, nailed his 95 Theses on the entrance of the Wittenberg church, convicting the selling of “indulgences”, commissioned by Pope Leo X, as immoral conveniences (Oberman). These indulgences, for lack of a better term, were said to have guaranteed the diminution of sins and to have been used for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica and distribute funds to local districts (Graves). Tortured by obsessions of his own damnation, regardless of a life devoted to divine service, Luther came to consider that the customary means of achieving salvation were insufficient (“Martin Luther”). By nailing his 95 Theses to the gate of the Wittenberg church and stating the opinions
Rodolfo Acuna also mentions that in Cortez’s spread of Christianity and destruction of indigenous religion, he burned 400,000 manuscripts and destroyed 20,000 idols. After the invasion, the catholic church became the ”colonial religious institution”. The Catholic God then replaced all of the indigenous gods by Cortez’s choice. This caused a major effect on indigenous beliefs, they were forced to worship a God they never had before, they were forced to stop worshiping the Gods they did in fact believed on and their religious views were dramatically changed. Although the pope at the time had prohibited slavery, he stated that natives could only be enslaved if they were cannibals, therefore the Spaniards justified the enslavement of natives with the claim that they were cannibals.