Quote:
Originally Posted by EE-BO
There is some conjecture there, but I base it in large part on the literature of Spain during the Medievel and Renaissance periods. Just about every major work that survived takes on the church in some way. And many books, like Lazarillo de Tormes, are full of tales of church abuse of the citizenry sexually.
Then of course there are all the works the Chuch banned and destroyed. There are many partial texts out there that tell far more chilling tales- one a partial story about a female heroine who went from town to town and cut off the sexual organs of priests who took her in and tried to molest her.
The sheer importance of Church misdoings throughout the entirety of Spanish Literature of that time is a very telling and frightening thing.
But again, I do not equate that with today. It was not Catholicism itself that was evil- but rather the fact that the Church then wielded such a great power in Europe.
It is the component of power and economic influence that creates the temptation and the trouble.
And this is important because it separates the religion itself from the actions of the power structure of the Church. To an extent, parishoners who support such a church are tied to its actions- but that is still a far cry from all Mormons or all Catholics of 500 years ago being monsters.
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"Some conjecture" may be the understatement of a lifetime.
The parishioners are only tied to its actions if the parishioners are aware or should be aware of the abuse taking place or have some power or means to stop it. I'm not sure either the Mormons of today or the Catholics of history would meet that standard.
Are you aware that sometimes the things in books aren't real? Just asking.
ETA: I'm, of course, not saying that the Catholic Church historically wasn't corrupt. I just think you have to acknowledge that any entity as powerful as it was would face exaggeration of its faults.