Threats to Religion

At the height of its expansion, Christianity faced multiple political and theological threats.  For example, the spread of Islam from the 7^th to 11^th centuries not only impeded on the ability for Christians to conquer land south of Europe, but also threatened Christian ideology.  By the same token, heretical “witches” were a threat to Christian theology because satanic manifestations on earth were the enemy of god.  In order for Christianity to maintain its political power and its existence, Christians needed to develop ways to combat these challenges to their authority.

            As Islam quickly spread west through North Africa, east to India and north to France, Pope Urban II realized that he had to find a way to reestablish Christianity’s dominance by conquering land and slowing the spread of Islam.  “In 1095, Pope Urban II declared the need for a ‘Crusade’ against the advancing Muslims.”  It was every Christian’s duty to take up arms against Islam and fight for Christianity.  This decision was very much a political strategy that the Pope chose in order to combat the rising threat of Islam.  The Pope felt that this act of aggression was justified to stop Islam from conquering more land and spreading its ideology.

            Centuries later, Pope Innocent the VIII felt that Christianity was faced with more of a theological than political threat.  In the late 15^th century, the fear of witchcraft began to spread among Christians.  Manifestations of the devil were thought to be living on earth, and they had to be exterminated if the idea that God was the most powerful force universe was to persist. In 1486, Pope Innocent encouraged members of the church to compile the Malleus Maleficarum, a guide to finding and exterminating witches. The Malleus Maleficarum laid out a systematic approach to holding trials for “witches” by torturing them into confessing that they worshiped the devil. The steps that needed to be taken were described as gruesome and inhumane, but were religiously justifiable.  In the end, Christians had to do whatever necessary to rid the world of Christianity’s enemies.

            What I find most interesting is that in both cases, the powerful and educated members of Christianity were the ones in position to declare which actions would be beneficial to Christianity. They gave the responsibility of carrying out these highly violent and seemingly unreligious acts to the less powerful because these people were not able to argue otherwise.  These are examples of decisions that individuals made in order for them to maintain power, even if these decisions seemed to contradict the values of the religions they represented.

            Throughout history, Christianity has faced political and theological threats and has found ways to combat them.  For example, the leaders of Christianity declared the need for Crusades and the implementation of “witch” trials to fight these threats. The overarching theme between these two instances is the absolute authority of the religious leadership that allowed them to make destructive and fatal decisions in order to maintain power.