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1. The Crusades
Where: Jerusalem, Israel
When: 1095–1291
Jerusalem has been a significant city for Christians, Jews and Muslims for centuries, and as a result has been the focus of many religious conflicts. These started after the Turks banned Christian pilgrims from the city in 1087, prompting Pope Urban II to promise crusaders forgiveness of their sins if they could win it back. Over the next few centuries there were nine separate Crusades to recover the Holy Land, and each time the crusaders either failed to win or failed to keep any of the territory they had conquered. They did, however, gain a great deal of knowledge from the more scientifically and culturally advanced Muslims.
2. The Spanish Inquisition
Where: Spain
When: 1478-1834
The Spanish Inquisition was just one of several inquisitions established between the 12th and 19th centuries, but is infamous for its methods of torture. ‘Inquisition’ refers to the tribunal court system used by the Catholic Church to root out heretics, but the one in Spain was established by the Catholic monarchy. All Jews and Muslims in the country had to convert to Catholicism or leave, and King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella used the Spanish Inquisition to assess the converts’ dedication. Those accused were sometimes tortured to extract a confession of heresy and sentenced to life in prison if they didn’t confess.
3. Galileo’s conviction
Where: Italy
When: 1633
When Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei published evidence proving the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Catholic Church deemed him heretical and summoned him to appear before the Inquisition in Rome. According to scripture, the Earth was considered the unmovable centre of the universe, and could not be disputed. Galileo was found guilty by the Holy Office and banned from publishing his work. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was later reduced to house arrest, where he spent the rest of his life.
4. Glorifying suffering
Where: Kolkata, India
When: 1950-97
Mother Teresa, the Albanian nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor in India, has been criticised for ‘glorifying’ their suffering instead of relieving it. This claim came from a group of academics at the University of Montreal and has been seconded by journalists and medical professionals who claim the facilities run by her Missionaries of Charity organisation provided inadequate patient care despite receiving hundreds of millions in donations. Such criticisms have been ignored by the Catholic Church, who chose to canonise her in 2016.
5. Spotlight scandal
Where: Boston, USA
When: 2002
On 6 January 2002, ran with the front page headline; “Church allowed abuse by priest for years” and thrust the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church into the public domain. The newspaper’s team of investigative journalists had uncovered the widespread abuse of children by several of the district’s priests and revealed a cover-up that saw those accused being removed and allowed to work in other parishes. The story encouraged other victims to come forward and soon similar patterns of abuse were uncovered elsewhere in the United States and several other countries.
6. The Great Schism
Where: Europe
When: 1054
When the Roman Empire fell in 476, divisions in political rule gave rise to differences in the beliefs and practices of Western and Eastern Christians. This led to the Great Schism; a rift between the leaders of Rome in the West and Constantinople in the East. The rift has never been resolved and resulted in the break between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
7. Mormon polygamy
Where: United States
When: 1852-90
Also known as plural marriage, polygamy was practised by many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the last part of the 19th century. Despite exposing the church to hostility from the outside world, Mormon leaders preached it was the will of God. However, increasing pressure from the US government eventually led the church to ban polygamy, and today anyone who practices it is excommunicated.
8. Protestant Reformation
Where: Europe
When: 1517-1648
The printing press gave rise to perhaps the biggest religious upheaval in Europe, as it allowed German monk Martin Luther and his fellow reformers to spread their message. Luther criticised the pope’s sale of indulgences, and inspired German peasants to revolt against the Catholic Church. Similar movements began erupting all over Europe, resulting in the establishment of several different branches of Christianity.
9. Female priests
Where: Hong Kong
When: 1944
For centuries only men could be ordained in the major Christian religions, but in 1944 things began to change. That year in Hong Kong, Florence Li Tim-Oi became the first Anglican female priest, paving the way for the Right Reverend Libby Lane to be consecrated as the Church of England’s first female bishop in 2015. However, many religions still do not allow the ordination of women, including the Catholic Church, which has said it will never change.
10. Contraception
Where: Worldwide
When: Ongoing
The three major branches of Christianity (Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) all condemned contraception before the 20th century. While Catholicism allows natural family planning, artificial contraception is deemed intrinsically evil. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI asserted that handing out condoms is not the solution to combatting AIDS and might make the problem worse, despite data stating that condom use could reduce the risk of HIV transmission by approximately 85%.
In "All About History - Book of Christianity", UK,2017 , excerpts pp. 104-105. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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