History Main / ArtisticLicenseTraditionalChristianity

* Dionysus' religion is often framed as being reminiscent of early Christianity, due to superficial similarities between some Dionysus myths and Christian practice, particularly an affinity for bread and wine and that Dionysus was worshiped as a death and rebirth deity (in some versions), dying annually and resurrecting annually in accordance with the seasons. While some of the various Dionysus cults do have some very vague reassembles to Christianity, in that they are both religions, this doesn't mean one is based off of the other. The cults of Dionysus may have valued wine and bread very highly... but they valued it because they were hedonists. The bread and wine in Christianity are a re-enactment of the Last Supper and are symbolic of Christ's body (bread) and blood (wine). The significance and timing of Christ's death and rebirth is the exclusive province of the Jewish Passover, which takes place in spring and was celebrated by Jesus and the apostles at the Last Supper, just before he died. To understand symbolism in Christ's death one would have to look at the story of the first Passover (many historians believe the fact that Christ's death and resurrection centers around Passover isn't a coincidence). During the first Passover, the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb (a sacrificial lamb) and use its blood to cover the tops of their doors to protect their firstborns from the angel of death that God sent down on Egypt. Accordingly, Christ is called "the lamb of God" in several of the canonical Gospels, implying his death was sacrificial. So many assume that Christ's death was in some ways meant to symbolize the lambs that were sacrificed during Passover, whose blood was then used to protect the Israelites from God's final plague, and whose bodies were used in the Passover feast. More to the point, Dionysus myths, like all Geek Mythology, vary wildly depending on region, time period and author. The supposed correspondences are the result of cherry-picking certain myths that have superficial similarities with Christianity and supposing some significance comes from that.

** With that said, it is impossible to deny that sympathies for fascism did exist within the Catholic Church. Two of the Three major fascists of the time (UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco ) did pay lip service to Catholicism (although it was certainly nothing more than lip service in the case of Mussolini, who had spent much of his life a firm atheist and started off as a communist.
Canonically the Catholic Church considers Franco to be in Heaven (although in the case of Spain, Catholics more went with Franco out of circumstance due to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Spain) Red Terror]] during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar than anything else).
Hilter was born and raised a Catholic but left the Catholic Church for the German Christians (A protestant group) and had been excommunicated along with the Nazi Leadership in 1931. He worked to eliminate Catholicism as a political force in Germany but was also fine with German Catholics existing as long as they did not challange the Reich and the Nazi party had both Catholics and Anti-Catholic wings. However, the popular idea that the bigwigs in the Church, especially the Pope of the time, were active supporters of fascism has little historical basis.

* ''The Catholic Herald'' has been under attack for several years now for publishing an article claiming that the books of Philip Pullman should be piled up and burnt. Pullman has even put (what we are told is) the offending Herald quote in his book and the controversy is such that it has actually become a long-standing part of Pullman's introduction and featured on the BBC's Big Read. The truth? ''The Catholic Herald never said anything of the sort!''. While book burning is ''mentioned'' in the text, it is done so in the context of ridiculing the furor of MoralGuardians over the alleged anti-Christian nature of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' at a time when there are children's fantasy books such as ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' which are rather explicitly anti-Christian; the woman who wrote this wasn't saying that Pullman's works ''should'' actually be burnt. [[http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/29th-october-1999/7/the-stuff-of-nightmares Here's the actual article]] (apologies for a few minor typos, the CH recently digitized their entire archive and the speed-typing shows somewhat). In short, what the Herald actually said was:

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler called himself a Catholic during his speeches, as well as in ''Literature/MeinKampf'', but actions both public and private suggest that he was strongly anti-Christian, or even anti-religion entirely. He ''was'' raised Catholic by his devout mother, but in his adult life his attitude towards the Church became more "the rituals are cool, but all this religious stuff is stupid." He later tried to unify and Nazi-fy all of the Protestant churches in Germany into worshiping him as a messiah, which the majority of German Protestants did not take kindly to.

* Dionysus' religion is often framed as being reminiscent of early Christianity, due to superficial similarities between some Dionysus myths and Christian practice, particularly an affinity for bread and wine and that Dionysus was worshiped as a death and rebirth deity (in some versions), dying annually and resurrecting annually in accordance with the seasons. While some of the various Dionysus cults do have some very vague reassembles to Christianity, in that they are both religions, this doesn't mean one is based off of the other. The cults of Dionysus may have valued wine and bread very highly... but they valued it because they were hedonists. The bread and wine in Christianity are a re-enactment of the last supper and symbolic of Christ's body (bread) and blood (wine). The significance and timing of Christ's death and rebirth is the exclusive province of the Jewish Passover, which takes place in spring and was celebrated by Jesus and the apostles at the Last Supper, just before he died. To understand symbolism in Christ's death one would have to look at the story of the first Passover (many historians believe the fact that Christ's death and resurrection centers around Passover isn't a coincidence). During the first Passover, the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb (a sacrificial lamb) and use its blood to cover the tops of their doors to protect their firstborns from the angel of death that God sent down on Egypt. Accordingly, Christ is called "the lamb of God" in several of the canonical Gospels, implying his death was sacrificial. So many assume that Christ's death was in some ways meant to symbolize the lambs that were sacrificed during Passover, whose blood was then used to protect the Israelites from God's final plague, and whose bodies were used in the Passover feast. More to the point, Dionysus myths, like all Geek Mythology, vary wildly depending on region, time period and author. The supposed correspondences are the result of cherry-picking certain myths that have superficial similarities with Christianity and supposing some significance comes from that.

** The main point of a mission is humanitarian aid, missionaries become missionaries for the same reason people volunteer for other charities -- they want to help. It's also some of the hardest and most dangerous work on the planet, the fact that missionaries protect the communities they join and are often praised by them, and the fact that the mission brings things like sustainable water, food, [[http://theologicalscribbles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/catholic-church-and-healthcare-in.html health care (including medicines for people with AIDS)]], education, in addition to moral teachings they ''genuinely consider good for those communities’’ (which in early times - like with the Franks and the Frisians, two people who didn’t like what they heard and, in the latter case, violently objected when a missionary cut down a priceless tree to prove that it wasn’t sacred or that his God could take on theirs. And by violently objected I mean they ran him through with a sword right there. - came at risk for their own ‘’’lives’’’), and hope to billions is entirely lost on most people.

* The notion that TheMiddleAges, particularly the '[[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]]' (now referred to as the 'Early Middle-Ages') were a time of darkness where religious leaders suppressed scientific advancement has in fact been widely discredited and is now considered untrue by most historians. Many inventions were actually promoted by the Church, which also worked to preserve Pagan writings and built scientific experiments ''into the very fabric of the Vatican''. And don't forget that many priests were also scientists, or rather, ''most scientists were also priests'' (or clericals at least). [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science Here is a list that just shows the notable ones]], including Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest, astrophysicist, and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Leuven ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lemaître and the guy who originally proposed Big Bang theory]]'', one of the most important theories in modern physics. There's also the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_Academy_of_Sciences Pontifical Academy of Sciences]], the [[http://vaticanobservatory.org/ Vatican Observatory]], ''one of the oldest scientific institutions in the world'', the former priest and famous evolutionary biologist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_J._Ayala Francisco Ayala]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel Gregor Mendel]]. You know, that guy with peas who pretty much figured out genetics and was also a monk. The irony here is that the people who regularly claim that Christianity stifles research and the acquisition of knowledge are failing to do any research themselves.

** The main point of a mission is humanitarian aid, missionaries become missionaries for the same reason people volunteer for other charities -- they want to help. It's also some of the hardest and most dangerous work on the planet, the fact that missionaries protect the communities they join and are often praised by them, and the fact that the mission brings things like sustainable water, food, [[http://theologicalscribbles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/catholic-church-and-healthcare-in.html health care (including medicines for people with AIDS)]], education, in addition to moral teachings they ‘’genuinely consider good for those communities’’ (which in early times came at risk for their own ‘’’lives’’’), and hope to billions is entirely lost on most people.