On the Death of Rodney Stark, "Defender of History Against Centuries of anti-Catholic Lies"

The sociologist of religion Rodney Stark became one of the strongest and most unconventional defenders of the Church, and thus of the history of the West, against a large number of anti-Catholic falsifications of history that were deliberately disseminated.

The American sociologist of religion and outstanding apologist for the role of the Catholic Church in Western history passed away a month ago, shortly after his 88th birthday. On this occasion, we publish an interview with him that he granted to the Italian monthly Tempi in 2016 for the publication of his book "Bearing False Witness" ("Bearing False Witness "), the accusation of "non-Catholics" against the "illustrious fanatics," who pass off certain lies about the Church as history. Here is the post from 2016:

This is how Rodney Stark defended the Church against historical falsification

Paradoxically, the man who is perhaps the most effective living apologist for the role of the Roman Church in Western history is not even a Catholic. On the contrary, as he himself explains in his most recent book, he “grew up in the splendor of the Reformation” and “like all Lutherans” was “enlightened about the perversion of Catholics” every Sunday in the service. If Rodney Stark chose to write Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History, it was not out of a partisan impulse to fly a flag defend that was never his.

"I wrote this book to defend history."

The Crusades in a New Light

The sociologist of religion and professor at Baylor University, a Baptist university in Texas, where he directs the Department of Religious Studies, is the author of dozens of titles that are successful in many countries around the world [only a few of which have been translated into German: Der Sieg des Abendlandes. Christianity and Capitalist Freedom and God's Warriors. The Crusades in a New Light ], is highly praised and dedicated to the "neglected history" that shows how it was despised Christianity that brought about the liberty, progress, and prosperity of our civilization. In Bearing False Witness' he has collected the ten 'anti-Catholic myths' that he has encountered most frequently in the course of his countless studies. Ten lies and false accusations which, according to Stark, "had and have too far-reaching consequences in popular thought to be left to isolated refutation."

• --Anti-Semitism, theologically motivated by the charge of deicide;
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• --the existence of "enlightened" gospels hushed up and falsified by narrow-minded clergy;
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• --the extermination of the pagans after the Christian "conquest" of Rome;
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• --the "dark ages" of the Middle Ages, finally broken through by the rational revolution of the Enlightenment;
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• --the Crusades as the first bloody act of European colonialism;
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• --the crimes of the Spanish Inquisition and the witch hunts;
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• --the case of Galileo as proof of the Church's anti-science;
• the justification of slavery;
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• --the support of dictatorships against democracy;
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• --the social and civilized superiority of the Protestant Reformation.

By naming names and quoting dozens of times, Stark in the book dissects in turn what he calls "illustrious fanatics" and fellow scholars who, rather than behaving as such, "eagerly" embraced anti-Catholic shenanigans, being "so convinced of the depravity and stupidity of the Roman Catholic Church that they need seek no further confirmation," let alone evidence, although some of them must have recognized that so many of these stories came "out of nowhere." 

See e.g., there is the legend that Christopher Columbus discovered America while trying to prove by seafaring that the earth is round and not flat, as the Spanish cardinals who opposed his project supposedly “still” believed. A pure fairy tale invented in 1828 by writer Washington Irving, best known for inventing the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Nonetheless, it "remained in textbooks and popular culture for decades, even after scientists uncovered its fraudulent origins" (in Austria and West Germany it could still be heard in schools in 2009).

The Pope who is no longer supposed to be Catholic

The animosity of the “illustrious fanatics” towards the Church, according to Stark, goes back a long way.

“The Reformation and the religious wars that followed produced bitter hatreds and false accusations that have persisted through the centuries. Too much of this remains in the collective memory of Protestant countries. In contrast, I am not aware of any comparable vicious anti-Protestant myths in Catholic countries. 

And if in ancient Rome, according to E. Mary Smallwood's thesis taken up in the book, the alleged "exclusivity" of Jews and Christians led to unpopularity and persecution, in past centuries "the antagonism of polytheism to monotheism, which anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity has been replaced by a secular antagonism against all religions, which contain traditional teachings and a claim to truth". Hence the demand that the Pope should stop being Catholic in every respect.

According to Stark, "Voltaire and his colleagues invented the Dark Ages in order to proclaim that they were ridding civilization of religious backwardness."

 

In reality, however, there never was an obscurantist Middle Ages. On the contrary:

“The most important key to the rise of Western civilization has been the devotion of so many brilliant minds to the pursuit of knowledge. Not after illumination. Not after enlightenment. Not for wisdom. For knowledge!”

The Victory of the Occident

For Stark, it makes perfect sense that many of these "brilliant minds" were medieval Christians, because, "Christianity is a theological religion (founded in thinking about God) that is not concerned solely with the scientific endeavors to explain the world agrees but also gave birth to science: Science did not develop elsewhere because religions, which viewed the universe as an impenetrable mystery, made any scientific endeavor seem absurd". However, over time, Voltaire's and Enlightenment views were "converted by some intellectuals who rejected all religions and by many others who mistakenly believed."

There's a reason why "even popular encyclopedias today acknowledge that the Dark Ages were a myth." This means that, at least in the case of this myth, historical science has triumphed over ideology. It happens all the time, but no one notices. In order to debunk the ten anti-Catholic falsifications of history, Stark draws on the "prevailing opinions among qualified experts". It is a pity that these "only ever write for each other and do not make an effort to share their knowledge with the general public", while conversely, the "illustrious fanatics" continue to enjoy amazing credibility, at least in the media. Even if their dishonest theses have already been refuted and they themselves have admitted their hostility to the Church. This is the case reconstructed in the book by John Cornwell, the famous author of "Hitler's Pope " (German edition: " Pius XII - The Pope who has been silent "), a milestone in propaganda against Pius XII, which has been refuted many times and yet has been reprinted by the press or used in other texts, all errors included. The fact is, bitterly, that "the press always likes scandals and bad news."

And: “The media is really biased towards religion”.

If it is true that the "illustrious fanatics" are fomenting an "'informed' anti-Catholicism" that enjoys undeserved media coverage, then how can truth triumph in the clash of ideas? Stark has no doubts:

"Why should I trust 'my' experts more than those with anti-Catholic views? Quite simply: because my opinion is based on the consensus of authoritative and qualified historians, whom I quote carefully, while the anti-Catholic nonsense has no qualified advocates."

Stark's books are very well received by experts and find an exceptionally positive response among readers. Obviously, they will not find their way into the mainstream. This would require a rethink. He wants to contribute to this rethinking with his books.

It certainly requires courage to defend the theses of “Bearing False Witness”. In the very first chapter, the author endeavors to refute the notion that "the persecution of the Jews was justified for centuries in the name of God." A prejudice so ingrained in the collective imagination that even Catholics hardly seem to question it. The Baylor University professoron the other hand, on the basis of historical documents and non-preconceived "papist" positions, states that he found long ago that in reality "Christians who blamed the Jews for the crucifixion also tended to accept secular forms of anti-Semitism,’ from which it follows that hatred of Jews is by no means a Catholic ‘invention’. On the contrary, according to Stark, "what I learned later, in a next step, was the broad extent to which the Church had protected the Jews from violence".

Views like Obama's will be discredited

Even when it comes to current events, Stark has little trouble defying the mainstream. In his book, he writes that the first armed offensives by Catholic civilization (not the Church) against other religions and heresies took place in the 11th century when Christian supremacy was threatened by the spread of Islam. However, it is wrong to conclude that something similar is happening in the West today. 

“The 'Clash of Civilizations' is not the rotten fruit of our 'Islamophobia'. I don't believe that the Christian West is about to become intolerant. Rather, I believe that the non-Christian West is becoming intolerant.”

Also included in the book is a polemical reference to Barack Obama, who in 2015 helped propagate the anti-Catholic reading of the Crusades (Stark's main theme) by declaring that not all religious violence in history has come from Islam and that Christians also "have done terrible deeds in the name of Christ." Stark's comment is dry:

"If terrorism continues, and it will, views like Obama's will be discredited: I am sure we will see a resurgence of support for Christian action."

 And what does Stark, who is not Catholic, not Baptist and no longer Lutheran, believe in?

"I lost my Lutheran faith when I was in my twenties and remained a non-believer until my sixties, but was never an atheist until, after years of writing about religion, I concluded that Christianity was the most plausible explanation for it life offers.”

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Youtube (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope's Speech in Quito Contaminated by Masonic Propaganda

Pope Francis in Parque del Bicentenario in Quito: "Which
Liturgical Color is that?"  Asks Secretum meum mihi

(Quito) The Spanish writer and former chief editor of the daily newspaper La Gaceta , Eduardo García Serrano, views  the preaching of Argentine Pope Francis in Quito as a "victim" of the  "black legend".   In German-speaking lands, one would speak of historical falsification, which sometimes has legal repercussions.

Pope Francis spoke in Parque del Bicentenario of Quito on the independence of America. "Although Pope Francis is Argentine he is  Latin American,"  in Quito he is said to have "forgotten or ignored" that "Catholic Spain freed the Indians of Latin America with the Gospel and not the Masonic-oligarchic  independence movement of the 19th century,"  wrote Eduardo García Serrano. "It was the Catholic Spain, which struggled to establish laws for the Indies' against the enslavement of the Indians and  recognized them as equals among equals."

"It is thanks to Spain, if the church today has an Argentine pope," said the well-known journalist.

Through his address, the Pope had shown "that he is a victim of the black legend with his understanding of Spain and the discovery and evangelization of America." Moreover, he had also shown that his "view of historical development which led to the independence of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, has been contaminated by Masonic propaganda."

Masonic Creoles Wanted Independence From Spain Against the Will of the Indigenous Peoples 

Simon Bolivar and San Martín (right) Agreed on 26 July 1822 in Guayaquil, to take  military action against Spain in South America

"It was precisely the Masonic Creoles who were at the head of the anti-Spanish independence movement that was against the will of the indigenous peoples, because the indigenous people saw with good reason the best guarantee of their liberties against the Creole elite in belonging to Spain. This centuries-old paradox has been found in the heretical theology of liberation in its most recent   expression that praises  indigenism as an engine of the  independence of Hispanic America by Christ  in the appearance of Che Guevara and   priests of the  leisure and adventure outfit brand of Coronel Tapiocca,"  said Eduardo García Serrano ,

Pope Francis began his sermon in the Parque del Bicentenario with the words:

"I imagine those modest words of Jesus at the Last Supper as a loud cry before this Mass - we face the common front! - In this Mass, which we celebrate in the Bicentenario Park, the Park of the bicentenary of that declaration of the Independence of Latin America. That was a declaration which emerged from the consciousness of the lack of freedom, oppression and plunder, the subjection to, 'the accidental  utility of those in power '( Evangelii Gaudium 213). "

In these few sentences is included the "whole cultural and historical gibberish" of the last 200 years,  said Eduardo García Serrano. The Pope emphasized the defense of indigenous people against the oligarchs, but also the falsification of history according to the oligarchs. The first Masonic Lodge was founded in 1812 in Buenos Aires and immediately looked towards "independence" from Spain.

"The Argentine Pope seems to ignore that Spain has evangelized the Americas and that it is thanks to this Catholic Spain, which was not only bleeding in the Netherlands and Germany, as his predecessor Benedict XVI. recognized, that the catholicity was not entirely supplanted by the Protestant Reformation of Northern Europe. Spain defended the territorial and spiritual universality of the Catholic Church as the only true religion," said Eduardo García Serrano.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana / Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Isabella I. "the Catholic" -- Cardinal Lustiger Blocked Her Beatification?

(Madrid) The emancipatory Zeitgeist has ignored the numerous and grand Catholic, female figures. Perhaps that is because while it is indeed feminist, but not very  female friendly? Among the women who are ignored by the liberal historiography, is Isabella I "the Catholic" of Castile. In Catholic Spain through the ages she has been venerated as the  "gran reina de la madre patria"  (Great  Queen of the Fatherland), while  political opponents and later Protestant anti-Catholics caricatured her.

It was the anti-Spanish Leyenda Negra (black legend), that has  darkened her memory since the 16th century by insinuations and untruths in Europe. A blackout that until now prevented her beatification, although she "deserves far more than others," this, as the Argentine priest, Javier Olivera-Ravasi, founded the order in Argentina beginning in 1984,  Institutum verb Incarnatum (Institute of the Incarnate Word, IVE) as InfoCatolica writes. Currently Father Olivera is working his way on his dissertation in history about the counter-revolution of the Mexican Cristeros .

Why this aversion to the Catholic queen?

"Why this angry aversion," asks Olivera Father. Because the Queen in the eyes "of those who rule the world today, is guilty of  four unforgivable deeds":

1. She united Spain
2. She ordered the expulsion of the Jews
3. She conquered Granada back from the Muslims
4. She evangelized America

Is the ideological and pseudo-historical veil beginning  to lift, which has been placed over this queen? Is her public perception corrected? "We hope so, even though she does not need it. But we need it to be able to  hope to one day say: Sancta Isabella, ora pro nobis"  says Father Olivera.

Religion en Libertad  conducted an interview of   the non-fiction author José Maria Zavala, a proven expert in this historical figure of world renown. Zavala, who studied Communication Sciences at the University of Navarra and made ​​a name as a business journalist, is interested in  Spanish history, on which he published more than 30 books. He has just released his new book Isabel intima. Las Armas de la mujer mas y reina de la historia de España celebre (Isabella. The Armory of the Most Famous Wife and Queen of Spanish History, Planeta Publishing 2014, 352 pages). Zavala evaluated the records of the blocked beatification process for the Queen of Spain and presented a book that "smashed" the "Black Legend" against the Catholic Queen ( InfoCatolica ).

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"John Paul II. Wanted to Beatify Isabella, but Lustiger Was Definitively Against"

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Isabel intima: The destruction of the "Schwazen Legend" against a Catholic Queen

Are you ready for the controversy?

Yes, if one understands by controversy dismantling of an unjustified "black legend" against the most famous woman and queen of Spanish history. Yes, I think, yes I'm ready. Even though this should basically not be necessary if the files of the beatification process are subjected to an unprejudiced examination. I can assure you that the abundance of documents that support the most important decisions of her rule, is overwhelming.

They contradict not only the leyenda negra, but are in favor that the Church recognizes the virtues of the queen.

I hope that this book is turned into an effective tool to revive the beatification process of Isabella again. We remember that Cardinal Rouco Varela ¹ gave a new impetus to the process in  2002, as he described  the queen as a "great Christian" and as a precursor for the defense of human rights in a meeting at the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See.

Was there a real  intention to perform this beatification?

Pope John Paul II was prepared to beatify Isabella. He was convinced of the sanctity of this woman and queen who led a life of heroic virtues. A conviction which is confirmed by more than 100,000 documents examined, of which 3,160 were selected and grouped into 27 volumes, of which the first volume consists of two double volumes. They form the Positio of the beatification process.  I had access to them for  my book.

Why was the beatification  then shelved?

As the beatification process should have been completed positive, the French Cardinal, Jean Marie Lustiger, a friend of Pope Wojtyla and as a Jewish convert, a proponent of Jewish-Christian dialogue was decidedly against it.

Who was Isabella the Catholic?

Above all else, she was an exemplary woman as a daughter, wife and mother. A woman and queen with a transcendent understanding of life. The Catholicity was not just lip service, as we experience it often today, but deep conviction for them. She was convinced that God in life always comes first and everything else must be subordinated to the supreme will.

Including the expulsion of the Jews?

A Catholic queen of the 15th century as  she was, was of the firm conviction that the Christian religion is the absolute truth and therefore had to be protected at all costs: including this decision and  above all  the unrelated phenomenon of the question of false Jewish converts to the Christian faith who procured a harmful proselytism. And do not forget: The Church thought then just like her. By today's criteria, the expulsion of the Jews was a serious mistake.

What exactly do you mean?

Well, the expulsion, in contrast as it is today claimed by some, had neither a racist nor an anti-Semitic motive, simply because racism as such at that time did not exist. It is a recent phenomenon. Nor was the greed for wealth a reason, since the measure led to significant revenue losses for the Crown.  In addition, the legal situation of the Jews of Castile was that of "tolerated foreigners", who can not speak of an expulsion in the true sense.

If there was no expulsion, what was it?

To be precise, in the language of today, the non-renewal of the permit to continue residence in Spain, without this being   connected to any defamation and without, in legal terms, representing an injustice as the postulator of the beatification process, Anastasio Gutierrez noted. The decree of the king is the only thing mentioned as a "great harm, detriment and disgrace to our holy Catholic faith." It should also be remembered that Isabella, at the time of her proclamation as queen, made an oath in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio to govern her subjects, "as God gave her best to understand it"  Soon after, she consecrated their kingdom to God in the church of San Miguel de Segovia, so that she did nothing with the expulsion decree but as her duty and the fulfillment of her oath. Now we could talk at length about the details of this question, but I invite the reader to solve their issues and insecurities with my book.

What do you say to those who condemn the Inquisition condemned as a repressive and cruel instrument against non-Christians?

Historians have often focused on this issue on secondary and rather inconsequential aspects. The real reason, however, as to why  the establishment of the Inquisition in the Kingdom of Castile came to be, was ignored. The real reason was the religious phenomenon of "converts". I am referring to the Jews who outwardly took off their Jewish faith and were even baptized as  Christians, but remained secret Jews as before, including attempts to win others for the Mosaic rites. Apart from the establishment of the Holy Office was in Castile was not an invention of the Catholic Monarchs.The most important precedent goes back to a delegation of Pope Nicholas V to King John II of Castile in 1451. I must again refer the reader to   my book, because it is impossible to cover this topic so briefly.

Some even want to expropriate the Cathedral of Cordoba today. What do you say about the much-maligned Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada?

The reconquest of Granada was first, primarily, the culmination of a long process of restoration of Christian Iberia. A process that has already taken place at that time on the basis of the ideal of the Renaissance of national unity under the rule of a modern state. With the recovery of Granada, Isabella  and her husband Ferdinand of Austria were crowned, an undertaking that had begun in the year 718 in Covadonga and lasted eight centuries: the liberation of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim conquerors. The Reconquista was already agreed on the initiative of Isabella in the marriage capitulations and was  concluded in 1480 by the Cortes of Toledo.

The "Black Legend" against Isabella also relates to the discovery and Christianization of America. How do you answer those who say that the real motive for the expedition of Columbus was to increase the wealth of the crown?

From the wealth of documents that were collected for the Positio, it is clear that the main motivation was the spread of the Christian faith. Nothing in this expedition indicates a calculus with any future financial gains, as it is assumed. More, the Queen presented her own jewels as collateral to make a loan available to finance the expedition. We can therefore say with the postulator for the beatification process, that the inclusion of America in the Western culture and the evangelization of the New World is of such importance that they can only be compared with two other outstanding missionary events: the Christianization of the Mediterranean peoples and the Christianization of the Germanic peoples in Europe.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: InfoCatolica / Planeta
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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