Roman+Catholic+Church


 * Intro:** The Roman Catholic Church is one of the Foundations and greatest influences of European Existence from Ancient Rome to modern times. In many ways it ruled Europe and it's Kings/Emperers during various times in history, eventually however, it's power became to addictive and the Church (a large amount of people who worked in the Roman Catholic Church) became Highly Corrupt. This will give you a quick (and very basic) break down into Church hierarchy, corruption, and its eventual split.


 * Beginnings: **
 * Romans were very different from other ancient cultures as when they conquered a place they practiced something called Tolerance. Meaning they allowed the conquered people to Keep their own religion. In fact when Greece was conquered many Romans adopted the Greek Mythology as their religion although they changed the names. Most ancient cultures force people to Convert.
 * The only time the government took issue with Religions are when they became problematic. In Fact the Romans made it a point not to insult religions as they were not sure which Gods were real or not. Basically they bet on them all just in case.

**__Jews:__** **Monotheism vs Polytheism. break down the words.** //Mono=single or one--Poly=more than one or many Theism=Belief in the existence of a god or gods// The Romans felt the Jews insulted their Gods, and the Jews resented having to answer to Roman Rule after the Romans conquered Judea in 63 BC. This lead to numerous conflicts that the Jews always lost. The Romans became more hostile and began to persecute the Jews and tax them heavily.
 * One of the problematic Religions were the Jews. Judaism is the first major Monotheistic Religion.
 * Emperer Hadrian Banned part of their Religion in an attempt to get them to leave Judaism.
 * The Jews Revolted and were crushed.
 * //Result of insurrection:// Jerusalem, one of the holiest cities in Judaism was destroyed, Jews were banned from the city, and a new city was built on top of it.
 * Jews were forced into other parts of the Roman empire.

**Why is this important?**
 * Jews believe that by following the teachings of Moses, a new leader would emerge to return Israel to it's greatness, a "Son of King David”. The Person was referred to in the Hebrew Language as the Messiah which means "God's anointed one"(or savior). In the Greek language the word is Christos.
 * When the Romans took over the Jews felt this was a signal that the time was right and the Messiah would soon appear.

**A Change:**
 * Around 0 A.D. according to legend, a man was born in the city of Bethlehem to his father, a carpenter named Joseph, and his Mother Mary, both devout Jews. He grew up in the city of Nazareth, and he is commonly known as Jesus of Nazareth.
 * He taught old tenets of the old Judaic Religion (The Torah), primarily that people should love God and love other people. People should be generous to the poor, and the concepts of Salvation (or the rescue of people from sin)
 * Today people interpret his teachings very differently resulting in many different denominations or different kinds of Christian Church’s, yet share the same core belief(s).
 * Unfortunately Jesus's teachings upset many Orthodox Jews, and cause problems within the Roman Empire. As such he was arrested in Jerusalem around 30 AD by the Romans. He was tried and found guilty, and Crucified, a common form of punishment in the Roman Empire in which a person is nailed to a cross.
 * Christian Belief says that Jesus rose from the dead three days later, causing people to claim he was the Messiah, and people began to call him Jesus Christ (from the Greek word Christos meaning ).

**Following his death:**
 * The Apostles or 12 Disciples spread out and began teaching people about Jesus and his teachings. Some wrote about it in books called Gospels (written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Also important was Paul of Tarsus, who wrote many letters (which we still have) and taught people they didn't have to follow all Jewish Laws and Rituals.

**The Split:**
 * Orthodox Jews don't recognize Jesus as the Messiah and don't like the fact that jews aren't following the proper rituals. This leads to strong infighting and bickering amonst Judaism and leads to a group of people splitting off from Judaism and forming a New Religion based upon the belief of resurrection and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christos. A new Religion called Christianity.

**Spread of Christianity:**
 * Early Christians only passed it on to other Jews, but the disciples and Paul passed it on to anyone. Within 100 years, thousands of Christians existed in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately Roman beliefs and Christian Beliefs do not go well together.

**Roman and Christian Strife:**
 * Like Jews, Christians didn't worship Roman Gods, upsetting them.
 * Romans also felt Christians would cause large unrest in the empire so didn't trust them.
 * Christians also refused to kill making them poor soldiers.
 * Lastly, During this period of time The Roman Emperers began to think of themselves as God like and demanded to be worshipped as such. Christians Refused, adding more fuel to the fire.
 * Romans began a system of Large scale Persecution (punishment of a group because of it's beliefs or race).
 * Emperor Diocletian banned the religion,
 * Emperor Nero blamed them for a fire and had them arrested and were placed in the Coliseum with hungry wild animals (lions). Christians were given the option to renounce their faith and live.
 * However most refused and as such early Christians were forced to go underground and worship in secret.

**Romans and Christians come together:**
 * In the 300's Emperor Constantine saw a Sign in the sky from the Christian God promising victory in battle. They won andin return he legalizes Christianity (supposedly he converts to Christianity on his death bed but it is a source of debate). Following Constantine’s death, around 379, Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
 * Constantine holds the council of Nicea which organizes Christianity into a formal Church. It is now the **//__Roman Catholic__//** **//__Church__//**, and in addition sets in motion the writing of the bible.
 * The bible will be written in two parts, The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old is from the Jewish Torah, and
 * the New is Jesus's life and teachings.
 * Christianity makes its home in Rome and quickly becomes a powerful influence in the world as they teach that Jesus/God Loves them and those who achieve salvation will go to heaven at death. According to Christians, Heaven is a place of joyousness and love. When Rome Collapses this becomes even more important.
 * Peter, one of Jesus's Disciples, becomes known as the **//Bishop of Rome,//**
 * later the position is called **//Pope//** a word from Latin meaning Papa or father.
 * The Pope is considered the Holiest person on earth and as such is the closest person to God, therefore making him the de-facto Ruler of the __//**Roman Catholic Church.**//__


 * What Next:**
 * The Roman Catholic Church becomes the ONLY Christian religion in the land, if you are Christian during this time in Europe you belong to a Roman Catholic Church, and since it is the only Christian Religion it is commonly referred to as the Church.


 * Why important?**
 * If you are Christian during this time AND you want to go to Heaven, you must abide by the rules and teachings of the Church, because thats what all educated people who can read the bible say.
 * The bible is written in Latin and Greek only, 90% of the people are illiterate or can only read in their language, NOT latin or Greek. Only the clergy (people who work for the church) can read it.
 * Only the Church is allowed to interpret the Bible.
 * This gives the Church immense power that is uncontestable.


 * "Absolute power is Absolutely Corrupting."**
 * When any entity or person is given such a huge amount of power, it eventually becomes corrupt, and Greedy. The __people__ in the church are no different.
 * The Pope is supposed to be the holiest person in the world and promote the word of Jesus, instead they build huge mansions, have lots of girlfriends, eat lavish meals (32 courses) while people are starving, fight and encourage wars, and have people put to death or put contracts on their head.
 * People recognize the hypocracy of this, but again, if they want to go to heaven...
 * Eventually the Church begins to bully kings and emperors to do their bidding, if you didn't they EXCOMMUNICATED you (kicked you out of the church, thus kicking you out of heaven), once that was done Christians stopped listening to you and you lost power.
 * they began to do all kinds of things to bring MONEY into the church
 * They sold Indulgences to get out of Purgatory earlier. (a piece of paper)
 * Purgatory is a waiting room of sorts for people to pay of any sins in life before they are able to go to heaven.
 * Promoted the use, purchase, and selling of Relics (things of the saints) to help people get out of purgatory.
 * Promoted the donations of large sums of money to help people get into heaven.
 * Promoted the building of huge cathedrals to help people get into heaven.
 * Banned marriage of Clergy to keep money in the Church
 * Had anyone who challenged the church arrested and condemned for Heresy (promotion of any belief that might seperate the church)
 * these people were often turtured until they confessed or recanted (took back what they said) and they they were not respected or burned alive at the stake.
 * Supported the Crusades a dramatic failure
 * Failed to adequately explain the Plague or Black Death, as well as failing in their duties.
 * There is more, but this covers the big ones.

REFORMATION