BigJim

It's not a bad deal if you're the one in charge.

Apologist

Let us presume that any of that was a direct result of the Germanics taking over. Prove that the Church was to blame. The Church was in power long before the Dark Ages.

JustBlazed

Hey kids, look what I found today! Poster propaganda from Fascist Catholics during WWII



An Italian poster from World War II using the image of Jesus to elicit support for the fascist cause from the largely Catholic population. The portrayal of an African-American US Army soldier desecrating a church fosters racist sentiment.

InquisitorGeneralis

On the contrary. The Catholic Church is what built Western Civilization, keeping culture alive with the monasteries and even creating the modern University system. What's more, if the Church so actively suppressed science, then why were so many scientists priests? Please answer that.

Astreja

The gods that I hang out with (inasomuch as I think they're gods) are the Aesir and Vanir. I consider myself a heiðinn, albeit a skeptical one. I celebrate the seasons, wear Mjollnir and/or a valknut around my neck, and raise the occasional glass of mead to Odin et al. So yes, I am technically a pagan.

Astreja

Yes, the very same "barbarians" who had a democratic parliament, seafaring skills, and writing -- Including some very complex poetry that still stands up very well today (and which can be read fairly easily in the original Old Norse by anyone who's familiar with modern Icelandic).

InquisitorGeneralis

Good. That's better than being a Protestant.

Piking Viking

Last time I checked the ancient Greeks were the ones with the biggest contributors to what we call Western Civilization. I guess I didn't realize they were catholic. You learn something new everyday.

More like hoarding and supressing it from anyone outside of the clergy.

Sure.

Because people inside the clergy had the free time to pursue such endeavors. Was that so difficult?

InquisitorGeneralis

This part of your post is the most illustrative. The Church engaged in a good activity, science, and you find a way to somehow twist it into a put-down. But to answer your criticism, science wasn't just something these priests did in their "free time." They actually were scientists, as I had said in my post. Apparently you failed to read that part correctly?

Piking Viking

I've done no such thing. I think you're confusing me with someone else. Secondly, The church itself wasn't the one engaging in the activity it was members of the clergy doing science in spite of the church.

Now you're twisting my words. What I meant, and apparenlty you missed, was that the clergy was actually afforded the benefits of having the education and free time to be able to persue scientific endeavors. Something a peasant who has to work 15+ hours a day didn't have the luxury of doing.

And I didn't disagree. You just tried to twist my words into something evil.

Apparently you need to stop putting words in my mouth.

Just because many scientists at the time were Catholic really doesn't mean anything at all for the Church as a whole. This is almost as laughable as when you see muslims trying to do the same equivocation about Islam.