The role of religion in the early history of modern Europe

The answer on the first floor embarrassed the Indian people.

Answer the landlord's question first: the role of religion in the early history of modern Europe is basically a negative example, such as the big devil boss. . . The most frequently mentioned historical facts are the Inquisition, a large number of "witch" unjust cases, burning Bruno, religious wars, selling atonement vouchers, persecuting Heliocentrism supporters such as Galileo, and fierce confrontation with the theory of evolution.

The influence of Christian church in modern times is within Europe: Western historiography generally regards the Renaissance as the beginning of modern history. "Renaissance" is to break through the shackles of religion and revive the spirit of respecting rationality, positivity, openness and tolerance in ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore, modern European history regarded Christianity as the opposite of the progress of the times from the beginning.

In terms of natural science, modern history can be said to be a struggle between rational science represented by Heliocentrism and evolution and religion that only believes in the Bible. In the field of humanities, it is the impact of various Protestant ideological trends and deism, agnosticism and even atheism in line with scientific development on orthodox Catholicism, and the collision between humanistic thought and deism; Politically, countries strengthen centralization, and the rights of monarchs erode the rights of churches. King Henry VIII of England even set up another church to openly deny the authority of Rome.

Due to the progress of science and the misconduct of the Catholic church, some of its stubborn views have been repeatedly denied by practice, resulting in a decline in credibility. As a result, science and humanism defeated religion and dominated, while pluralism defeated monism. Politically, the church either became a vassal of the ruler or was marginalized. In the Middle Ages, there was no longer a word, and even the power of the king was abolished.

In addition, the high proportion of Christianity in western countries today was formed after World War II because of the spiritual impact of two wars on people and the self-innovation of religion, which should be counted as modern history. The late period of modern history (the beginning of last century) is an era of unprecedented weakness of Christian forces.

Outside Europe, I personally think it should be 50-50. On the one hand, Christianity has promoted the spread of modern science, medicine and education in the West. Some local churches provide free relief, medical care and education for the local poor. Now many history schools in China used to be missionary schools. On the other hand, for some weak cultures, such as the United States, the spread of Christianity has undoubtedly hindered or even destroyed its original culture. Precious Mayan documents were burned by missionaries.

In China and India, where traditional culture is strong, the good effect of Christianity is far greater than the bad effect, because it can only spread civilization, but it is unable to destroy local culture. At this point, the example of India is very obvious. Although historically colonized by Britain, English is still the official language, but Christianity has almost no place.

The relationship between missionary work and colonization also changed with the strength of the church. During the early invasion of America, Christianity still had great authority, especially when the Spanish rulers were fanatics, so missionaries were not so much colonial tools as colonial leaders. In the later period, the influence of the church declined gradually, and the British Empire, the world's number one power, had its own national church. The monarch can directly appoint and remove bishops, so the influence of missionary work in colonial activities is getting smaller and smaller. Let's just say, let's rule primitive people with Christianity. In India and other places, the local religious forces are strong, and the British government is more willing to cooperate with Indian Brahmins than to forcibly promote Christianity to intensify contradictions. It should be said that at this time, Christianity has completely become a tool, a tool that you can use if you want, and throw it away if you don't want to use it. Therefore, in the late colonial period, due to political marginalization, all Christian factions focused on their social service functions, which played some good roles in all colonies and semi-colonies.

As for some religious plans in modern history, a careful understanding can distinguish right from wrong. For example, in the Tianjin religious case, ignorant people listened to rumors that welfare organizations under the church dug children's hearts to introduce drugs ... How much do Westerners know about "drug introduction"? People just accept and bury sick children who are abandoned in the streets. Because these children were dying or seriously ill when they were taken in, the mortality rate was high.