Religions in History

Religions in History Information Sheet

Christianity

Reasons for Christian Persecutionduring the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was generally quite tolerant in its treatment of other religions. The imperial policy was generally one of incorporation - the local gods of a newly conquered area were simply added to the Roman pantheon and often given Roman names. Even the Jews, with their one god, were generally tolerated. …

… For the Romans, religion was first and foremost a social activity that promoted unity and loyalty to the state - a religious attitude the Romans called pietas, or piety. Cicero wrote that if piety in the Roman sense were to disappear, social unity and justice would perish along with it.

The early Roman writers viewed Christianity not as another kind of pietas, piety, but as a superstitio, "superstition." Pliny, a Roman governor writing circa 110 AD, called Christianity a "superstition taken to extravagant lengths." Similarly, the Roman historian Tacitus called it "a deadly superstition," … Religious beliefs were valid only in so far as it could be shown to be old and in line with ancient customs; new and innovative teachings were regarded with distrust.

The Roman distaste for Christianity, then, arose in large part from its sense that it was bad for society. In the third century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote:

How can people not be in every way impious and atheistic who have apostatized from the customs of our ancestors through which every nation and city is sustained? ... What else are they than fighters against God?

… hatred of Christians also arose from the belief that proper "piety" to the Roman gods helped to sustain the well being of the cities and their people. Though much of the Roman religion was utilitarian, it was also heavily motivated by the pagan sense that bad things will happen if the gods are not respected and worshiped properly. "Many pagans held that the neglect of the old gods who had made Rome strong was responsible for the disasters which were overtaking the Mediterranean world." …

On a more social, practical level, Christians were distrusted in part because of the secret and misunderstood nature of their worship. …

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Christianity Under Constantine

The status of Christianity changed considerably in the fourth century because of one person, Emperor Constantine the Great, who officially permitted and promoted Christianity in the Roman Empire. The emperors who followed Constantine I continued his legacy; they were all Christian except one. A little later in the century, Theodosius I (379-395) required that all of his subjects be Christian. Now the former "persecuted church" was in danger of becoming a worldly and "oppressing church."

At the time of the Edict of Milan, the Roman Empire was at war with Persia. Rome began to consider Christians in the Persian Empire as potential allies. As a result, the Persian Empire persecuted Christians under its rule, the worse time being between 339 and 379, under Sapor II. Thousands of Christians were martyred.

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Separationof Christianity into Roman Catholicism and the Greek Orthodox Church

The division of the Church arose in part over the rivalry between Rome and Constantinople. Both East and West held the same fundamental creed, but the Eastern Church did not recognize the supremacy of the pope. In the East, Greek was the language of ritual, not Latin and in the east married men were allowed to enter the lower clergy. The Greek Church used leavened bread, while the Roman used unleavened in the Eucharist. Monks in the East, the hair of monks was shaved off in the front in the West on the top.When the Bishop of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other in 1053-4, the separation was complete.One of the main doctrinal causes of the split in the 11th century was controversy over filoque Latin for "and (from) the Son." The Roman Church, following St.Augustine maintained that the Holy Ghost proceeded from both the Father and the Son. The Eastern Church maintained that there was no basis for such a doctrine and maintained that the Holy Ghost proceeded only from the Father.

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Islam

Mali and Mansa Musa

From the fourth to the sixteenth century, three empires controlled much of West Africa and several key cities of the Saharan trade route. Between the empires of Ghana and Songhai, Mansa Musa reigned over the empire of Mali during its golden years. His control of gold mines and key cities in the Saharan trade route gave him the wealth he needed to attract the attention of the world. This attention was directed towards Mali because of his devotion to Islam and his generous giving while on a hajj to Mecca. During his hajj, Mansa Musa came in contact with important architects that would establish a construction tradition that would last for centuries. …

While most of the inhabitants of Mali were not Muslim, and although he allowed them to maintain their religious diversity, Mansa Musa remained distinctly Muslim. His pilgrimage to Mecca was a clear illustration of his devotion, but he showed his religious beliefs in several other ways. His grandfather before him had converted to Islam, and Mansa Musa established Islam as the national religion. He also built mosques and important Islamic centers of learning. Under his rule Timbuktu rose to become not only an important city in the trans-Saharan trade route but also the center of Islamic scholarship. Muslims came from distant countries to receive an education at the SankoreUniversity that he built in Timbuktu. And it was because of his fulfillment of the hajj and his wealth of gold that these important sites were constructed.

Al-Omari, an ancient Muslim historian, described Mansa Musa as "the most powerful, the richest, the most fortunate, the most feared by his enemies and the most able to do good for those around him" in all of West Africa. … Some of this wealth and power directly relates to the unique position of his empire along the NigerRiver basin and the crossroads of many major trans-Saharan trade routes. Two of these traded commodities were salt and gold; they were so important that in the fourteenth century they were used as currency. The salt trade originated from the North of Mali in the mines of Taghaza. The gold mines of Bambuk, on the other hand, laid within Mali territory. This gold was the source of half of the world's supply and greatly contributed to Mansa Musa's wealth. …

While returning from Mecca, Mansa Musa brought back many Arab scholars and architects. Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-es-Saheli, one of these architects, introduced new ideas into Mali architecture. With his help Mansa Musa constructed a royal palace, libraries, and mosques, and brought his trade city into international acclaim. This architect introduced to Mali a new mud construction technique that would establish a building tradition for centuries. With this technique he built the great Djingareyber Mosque at Timbuktu that stands to this day. He also built the great mosque at Jenne and a mosque in Gao that remained important for four centuries.

Mansa Musa died around 1337, leaving the throne to his son Maghan I. About this time the empire began to unravel; Songhai, a province in the east, left the empire. Mansa Maghan spent excessive amounts of Mali's wealth, leaving a weakened empire at his death around 1341 to his uncle Mansa Sulayman. While several of Mansa Musa's famous mosques remain to this day, the empire of Mali lasted no longer than two centuries following his death. By 1400 Timbuktu had been conquered by the Tuaregs, and war had broken out between the emerging Songhai empire and Mali. Following the reign of several weak kings and civil wars, the empire of Mali fell to the Songhai empire in 1546. By the 18th century Mali had completely disappeared.

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Judaism

Persecution of the Jews in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages in Europe were a difficult time for the Jews. Many Jews lived in Western Europe between about 1000 and 1500 AD, but all the rulers were Christians, and almost all the people who had any power were Christians. Jews were thought of as being different, strange, and possibly sympathizing with the Islamic arch-enemies of the Christians, so possibly traitors too. In many places, Jews were forbidden to own land, and so they could not be farmers (or not very successful farmers). Jews also often had to live in special Jewish sections of towns, called ghettos (GET-toes).

Because Christian laws said that Christian people could not lend money out at interest, and yet most kings and queens need to borrow money, the Jews played a big role in the medieval economy as moneylenders. But lending money to kings is risky. Sometimes the king paid the money back, and the Jews made some money. Other times the king found it easier to just throw the Jews out of his kingdom, or to make a new law saying that Christians didn't have to pay Jews back the money they had borrowed. King Edward I of England, for instance, solved some of his money problems by throwing all the Jews out of England in 1290 - and they were not allowed back for more than 300 years. Some of them moved to the Netherlands. Other English Jews tried to move to France, but King Philippe threw them out of France in 1291.

In other parts of Europe, though, some kings welcomed the Jews. Many Jews moved to Poland from England, France, and Germany after the First Crusade, when many Crusaders killed Jews at home as well as Muslims in Jerusalem. After the Mongol invasions in the 1200s, the Polish kings encouraged thousands of German Jews to move to Poland, bringing money and education to rebuild their ruined country. The Polish kings gave these Jews special privileges to encourage them to move to Poland. Then when the Black Death came to Europe in the 1300s, many Christians in Germany blamed the disease on the Jews, and again they were killing Jews, so many more Jews chose to move to Poland for safety.

In 1492, when the Christian king and queen Ferdinand and Isabella finally finished reconquering Spain from its Muslim rulers, one of the first things they did was to force all of the Jews in Spain to leave. Some of these Jews moved to the Netherlands, but most of them sailed to North Africa, to the Hafsids there, or across the Mediterranean to the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed the Jews enthusiastically.

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Christianity, Islam, Judaism

The Crusades

Three major religious groups all claimed Jerusalem in the land of Palestine as their holy city.

• To Christians, it was the place where Jesus was crucified and ascended to heaven
• To Muslims, it was the place where Muhammad ascended to heaven
• To Jews, it was the site of the ancient temple built by Solomon

In 600 CE, Arabs entered the city and took control.

The Arabs allowed Christian and Jewish pilgrims to visit Jerusalem. In fact, Jews and Christians could live in Palestine as long as they paid their taxes like everyone else.

The First Crusade:

The Problem: Around 1095, a new group of Arabs took control of Jerusalem. They closed the city to Jewish and Christian pilgrims.

The Solution: The Pope acted. He called for a crusade - a volunteer army whose goal was to retake Jerusalem. Many people volunteered. About 30,000 men left Western Europe to fight in Jerusalem.

• For knights, this was a chance to use their fighting skills, something they enjoyed and did well. They were delighted to have such a worthy battle to fight.
• For peasants, this was a chance to escape from their dreary life in the feudal system. The pope promised that if they died while fighting a holy crusade, they would automatically be welcomed into heaven.
• For others, it was a chance to have an adventure, and perhaps even to get rich.

Sign of the Crusade - The Red Cross: Each crusader had a huge red cross, made out of fabric, stitched onto their shirts or armor. It made all crusaders, irrespective of rank or background, appear to be a unified army. It reminded the crusaders that they were fighting a holy cause. The red cross was added to flags and banners

The Results: After about two years of harsh traveling, hunger, disease, freezing weather, and quarrels amongst themselves, the crusaders finally arrived in Jerusalem. After a two-month siege of the city, the city fell. The crusaders had won back Jerusalem. Some men stayed. Some headed home. Those who returned brought back new foods and new forms of culture.

More Crusades:It was a short victory. Less than 50 years later, Muslims once again conquered Jerusalem. Again the pope called for a crusade to take back the city.

• The Second Crusade lasted from 1147-1149. It was not successful.
• The Third Crusade lasted from 1189-1192. It was not successful.
• The Fourth Crusade lasted from 1202-1204. Instead of attacking Jerusalem, the crusaders attacked Constantinople. They stole statues, money, paintings and jewelry. They burned libraries. They destroyed churches. Their ridiculous excuse was that they needed money to defend Constantinople from the same fate as Jerusalem, as well as to fund the rescue of Jerusalem. The people of Constantinople did not find this excuse acceptable, and they were filled with hatred for the west.
• The Children's Crusade in 1212 was a terrible tragedy. Many thousands of French and German children died trying to reach Jerusalem. They believed God would help them because they were children. Many died of hunger. Other froze to death. When the survivors reached the Mediterranean Sea, they expected the waters to part and let them pass. When this did not happen, those who were left returned dismally home.
• Over the next 70 years, there were several other crusade attempts, but they were motivated more by personal gain than by religious purpose. None succeeded. By 1291, 200 years after the first crusade, European leaders lost interest. Western Europe never admitted defeat. They simplystopped asking for new crusaders.

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Buddhism

Buddhism in China

Being brought into China 2,000 years ago, it was gradually widely accepted by most Chinese people and developed into three sections, namely the Han, Tibetan and Southern Buddhism. Buddhism not only brought a different religion, but also brought a different culture. It influences the local culture on three main aspects: literature, art and ideology. Many famous poems have ideas from Buddhism and many Buddhist stone statues can be found, which show its huge influence. It also promotes the countries’ intercultural communications with foreign countries. In Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), Jianzhen traveled to Japan to spread Buddhism as well as Chinese culture. Xuanzang, who traveled to India to learn Buddhist doctrines, brought a plenty information on the language of the countries he had been to.

Now, Buddhism has developed into the most important religion in the country. The latest survey shows that 31% of the people who do not believe inthis religionhave participated in some Buddhist activities and about 17 million people have already become converts. Now more of those followers come from different walks of life such as the intellectuals, business elites and the common people. Recently, there is a new report, The Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper 2012, jointly published by the Industrial Bank and Hurun Report, which shows that 39% of the intellectuals and businessmen have faith in Buddhism. Not only the number of the followers is increasing, and the education of Buddhism obtains more attention from the society. Under the Buddhist Association of China, 34 different levels of Buddhist academies as well as almost 50 magazines can be found. Now in mainland China, there are about 13 thousand temples and 180 thousand monks and nuns.

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Hinduism

Hinduism in India

Although many other nations are characterized by social inequality, perhaps nowhere else in the world has inequality been so elaborately constructed as in the Indian institution of caste. Caste has long existed in India, but in the modern period it has been severely criticized by both Indian and foreign observers. Although some educated Indians tell non-Indians that caste has been abolished or that "no one pays attention to caste anymore," such statements do not reflect reality.