[Apologetics] Sordid history

[Stuart D. Gathman]

An atheist offered the following summary of a historical incident as evidence 
of the depravity of all religion (queue questions of what basis he uses to 
determine what is "depraved"):

   The way I read it, the population contained both heretics and good old
   Roman Catholics. When the pope's troops were sent to kill the heretics,
   most were saying they were Roman Catholics.

   The Cathars (Albigensians) were a puritanical religion, and they were
   turning away from the corruption of the Papacy. The Pope, Innocent III,
   then ordered a crusade against these fellow Christians.

   The crusaders were told they could keep the lands and property of any
   Cathars that they killed. This was a great motivator.

   The crusade was under the direction of the papal legate, the Abbot of
   Cîteaux. He ordered the troops to kill all the Cathars.

   When asked how the crusaders were to know who was a Cathar heretic and who
   was a Roman Catholic, the abbot replied, "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus
   qui sunt eius."-"Kill them all, the Lord will know His own."

   So 7,000 people who had sought refuge in churches were killed with great
   cruelty. Finally the city itself was burned, and many more were killed.

   The abbot-commander wrote to the Pope: "Today your Holiness, twenty
   thousand heretics were put to the sword, regardless of rank, age, or sex."

Is there more to add or correct?  Or is this another sordid chapter in church
history?  I do notice that the Abbot, not the Pope, was directly responsible
for the primary injustice.

-- 
 	      Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at gathman.org>
"Confutatis maledictis, flamis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.