[Apologetics] Sordid history

[Art Kelly]

Stuart,
 
According to the Crusades Encyclopedia at
http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com/arnaudamaury.html
 
There is little to authenticate Arnaud's reportedly infamous command to the crusaders at Beziers in July of 1209 to "Kill them all. God will know his own." No source of the time actually records his saying this. The first time the quote is attributed to Arnaud is decades later by the German Cistercian monk Cesar d' Heisterbach in his Dialogus Miraculorum, or Of the Miracles.
 
It adds:
 
A paraphrased version of the quote attributed to Arnaud has remained popular into the modern era, especially with military units that have a reputation for fierceness such as the U.S. Marines, Army Rangers, or Special Forces. The paraphrased version is as follows. "Kill'em all and let God sort'em out." This phrase is found posted above doorways, printed on T-shirts sold on military bases, and serves as a sort of unofficial motto for these organizations. 

Art Kelly

Turris Fortis Mihi Deus
--- On Mon, 4/25/11, Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at gathman.org> wrote:


From: Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at gathman.org>
Subject: [Apologetics] Sordid history
To: apologetics at gathman.org
Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 5:51 PM


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.
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