Common Objections

Catholic Outlook

Catholic Outlook

Catholic Outlook

Common Objections

Catholic Outlook

__________ The Church __________

“The Catholic Church butchered 68 million people during the Middle Ages.”

Gary Hoge

Outrageous accusations like this one can be found in such anti-Catholic literature as Dr. Ed DeVries’ paper, “Are We Being Led to Rome?”, in which he accused the Catholic Church of slaughtering 68 million Baptists during the Dark Ages. This is remarkable, if only because the Baptist denomination did not exist in the Dark Ages (5th to 14th centuries). It was founded by John Smyth in Amsterdam in the 15th century (1607). But whoever these people may have been, the Catholic Church stands accused of killing 68 million of them. 

To give you some perspective, this is more than the entire population of Greece, the Balkans, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the British Isles, Germany, and Scandinavia combined for the year 1340, which was the peak of European population before it was decimated by the Black Plague, beginning in 1347.¹ One would think that the deaths of as many people as the Catholic Church is accused of killing would have been catastrophic to European society, and yet there is no mention of it in the history books. But the Black Plague, which killed “only” 25 million people, completely devastated and radically reoriented European society. According to Erika Witowski, of North Park University,

European economy and society changed drastically following the Black Death. Because so many people had died, there was a huge labor shortage. This ended the feudal system, since serfs could leave their manors and make a better living in cities. … The Black Death changed European history in many significant ways. Its fatal symptoms took many human lives, and its influence carried over into many areas of society. Economically, Europe flourished because depopulation allowed wealth for more people. … Europe would not be the same today without these changes, brought on through the devastation of the Black Plague.²

So, supposedly the Catholic Church killed more than twice as many people as the Black Plague without anybody noticing it, except certain anti-Catholic Protestant Fundamentalists. Obviously, this is absurd.

That is not to say, however, that no one was ever killed during various inquisitions and persecutions, but more sane estimates put the number as low as four thousand, spread over three centuries. Other estimates are higher, but the truth is, no one really knows how many people died. Let’s agree, though, that it was a lot of people, well into the thousands. The fact that the Catholic Church was at least indirectly responsible for so many deaths (which were actually carried out by the civil governments) is used by some to argue that it must not be the Church that Christ founded. The gist of the argument is that no true Christian church would do such a thing, the Catholic Church did such a thing, therefore it is not the true Christian church.

But religious persecution was not a uniquely Catholic behavior. The Protestants of that era persecuted each other, and Catholics, and witches, to the limit of their ability. If they were responsible for fewer deaths than the Catholic Church, it is only because they controlled less territory. 

For instance, in Germany, about 100,000 people were executed for alleged witchcraft.³ Martin Luther wrote, “I would have no compassion on these witches; I would burn them all.”⁴ In Protestant England, about 30,000 people were burned at the stake for witchcraft.⁵ According to secular historian Preserved Smith,

A … patent cause of the mania was the zeal and bibliolatry of Protestantism … Luther … seeing an idiotic child, whom he regarded as a changeling, … recommended the authorities to drown it, as a body without a soul. Repeatedly, both in private talk and in public sermons, he recommended that witches should be put to death without mercy and without regard for legal niceties … Four witches were burned at Wittenberg on June 29, 1540. The other Protestants hastened to follow the bad example of their master. In Geneva, under Calvin, 34 women were burned or quartered for the crime in the year 1545. A sermon of Bishop Jewel in 1562 was perhaps the occasion of a new English law against witchcraft … After the mania reached its height in the closing years of the century, anything, however trivial, would arouse suspicion … The Spanish Inquisition, on the other hand … treated witchcraft as a diabolical delusion.⁶

Protestants not only persecuted alleged witches, but also Catholics and even each other. As Johann von Dollinger wrote,

Historically nothing is more incorrect than the assertion that the Reformation was a movement in favour of intellectual freedom. The exact contrary is the truth. For themselves, it is true, the Lutherans and Calvinists claimed liberty of conscience … but to grant it to others never occurred to them so long as they were the stronger side. The complete extirpation of the Catholic Church, and in fact of everything that stood in their way, was regarded by the reformers as something entirely natural.⁷

According to Rousseau “the Reformation was intolerant from its cradle, and its authors were universal persecutors.”⁸ Protestant author Henry Hallam wrote that “persecution is the deadly original sin of the Reformed churches, that which cools every honest man’s zeal for their cause in proportion as his reading becomes extensive.”⁹

Some examples will illustrate the point. Lutheran church historian Walther Köhler wrote,

In Luther’s case it is impossible to speak of liberty of conscience or religious freedom …The death-penalty for heresy rested on the highest Lutheran authority … The views of the other reformers on the persecution and bringing to justice of [Protestant] heretics were merely the outgrowth of Luther’s plan; they contributed nothing fresh.¹⁰

Mennonite historian John L. Ruth wrote,

Young Bible students he [Ulrich Zwingli] once mentored were now advocating more radical reform … refusing to have their babies baptized, citing his own earlier ideas … In January, 1525, Zwingli agreed that they deserved capital punishment … for tearing the fabric of a seamless Christian society.¹¹

Catholic priest and historian Johannes Janssen wrote,

The persecution of the Anabaptists began in Zurich … The penalties enjoined by the Town Council of Zurich were “drowning, burning, or beheading,” according as it seemed advisable … “It is our will,” the Council proclaimed, “that wherever they be found, whether singly or in companies, they shall be drowned to death, and that none of them shall be spared.”¹²

Finally, Patrick F. O’Hare wrote,

A volume might be filled with indubitable facts to prove the intolerant spirit of Luther and of the various sects which his rebellion originated. The quarrels, hostilities and jealousies that constantly arose among one and all made them a prey to the fiercest dissensions. They anathematized and persecuted each other . . . and indulged in the coarsest and vilest invective … The Lutherans … denounced and excluded the reformed Calvinists from salvation. The Calvinists roused up the people against the Lutherans … Zwingli complained of Luther’s intolerance when he was the victim … but he and his followers threw the poor Anabaptists into the Lake of Zurich, enclosed in sacks.¹³

The point of all this isn’t to throw dirt at the Protestants, it’s merely to show that if dirt is to be thrown over this issue, we’re all going to get dirty. The “persecution argument,” cuts both ways. If it is an argument against the validity of Catholicism, then it is also an argument against the validity of Protestantism.

Let’s face it, some of our history as Christians is not very attractive, no matter on which side of the Reformation you find yourself, and Protestants who accuse the Catholic Church of atrocity are simply throwing stones from within their own glass house.

We may not be able to condone what our ancestors did, but perhaps we can try to understand it. People living back then had a very different attitude towards heresy than we do. In the Middle Ages, the entire society was organized around religion. Thus, heresy was not seen as simply a matter of personal sin or ignorance, but as a crime against the public order. To advocate a different religion was seen as a challenge to the state and the common good. Unfortunately, this led to some terrible persecution by whichever side had power at the time.