Hollywood anti catholic bullshit needs to stop

[WolfpackN64]

donathos said:

WolfpackN64 said:

I gave the possability for a wider interpretation not because I believe in such an interpretation. But because I actually want to give people who think otherwise space to argue along the lines of the same argument. I don't mind atheïsts, only when they bring no decent arguments to the table I start to get annoyed.

But my point is that, if you think that such an interpretation of your argument is permissible, then your argument doesn't make much of a claim -- does it? If your "necessary being" could be the Big Bang (whether that's your particular "interpretation" or not), then you haven't advanced an argument for anything that we would sensibly describe as a "god."

Really though, you've mentioned a couple of times, I think, that the Catholic Church was a force for good in the Middle Ages -- that things would have been worse otherwise -- and I'm interested in your thoughts about that.

The church acted in many ways as a mediator in many conflicts. Often banning weapons they thought cruel (usually that only delayed their use). The church kept a lot of records, including classical works in enviroments that were considered untouchable (abbeys), without which much knowledge would have been lost. Many advancements in measurement of time, philosphy and even mathematics were done by the clerus. In the cities, poor relief often only came through the church and in time of war, many people found safety in abbeys.

In the early colonial period, the church often acted to temper cruelty towards natives (something that is often overlooked). Even prompting Isabella of Span to give orders to the conquistadors to treat the natives with respect (they often didn't of course).