Originally posted by Swazo: When I brought up Latin American, the time I was speaking of was when Cortez made his sweep through Mexico and other Spanish pushes to spread the word of Christ through Central/South America. Christianity is as truly a religion of the sword as Islam can be. In the 1500's when the Spanish invaded the Americas they brought the Spanish Inquisition with them. Demanding conversion to Catholicism from all the native inhabitants, backsliders were naturally common. And they were then killed by the Inquisition.
Sure it was to gain power and wealth for the Spanish Empire, but they were only able to justify what they did because they were dealing with "heathens".
That is ONE example of oh-so many. Too many people have been killed "in the name of god" because others didn't share their views, or wouldn't convert. Usually that was an excuse to rob them of their land and worldly goods. That set the stage for what Latin America is now.
I thought you were referring to modern history. And if you consider this modern history I'm off by about 300 years. No problem. I do stil have a problem with that last statement. ..what Latin America is now. Still too simplistic. As I said, there are countless many reasons that Latin America has the problems it does and the role of the church is but one example of many others. Oh well, this is yet another tangent.
