Proselytism, and the faith or the sword

Proselytism is not a second millenium phenomena. It began early in the first millenium, when St Paul of Tarsus attempted to spread Jewish Christianity to the Gentiles, much to the rancour of the insular Jewish Christian Church. It took on a global turn, when in 1505, Pope Julius I ratified the treaty of Tordellisas, dividing the newly discovered lands of Asia, the Americas and Africa between the Spanish and Portuguese empires, with the explicit hope that the world would be won over for Christianity.

The dictionary meaning of proselytism is: conversion of someone from one religion to another. Modern-day Christians prefer to use the term evangicalism, as the verb, to proselytize, has taken on a more extreme connotation, as to convert without respect for the convert’s freedom or dignity.

Christianity came into prominence in 313 AD, when Emperor Constantine gave it legal status, along with other religions, in the Roman Empire. In 380 AD, the Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which dictated that Christianity, specifically Nicene Christianity, was the official religion of the Roman Empire. Most other Christian sects were now considered heretical, forfeited their legal status, and had their properties confiscated by the Roman state. In 325, Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea, a convocation of Christian leaders that set about confirming the beliefs of Christianity in the Nicene Creed.

It is argued today that Emperor Constantine used this as a propaganda medium to unite the Roman Empire and establish his authority on the state. Prior to that, the official religion of the Roman Empire was that of Sol Invictus.

Constantine’s accession paved the way for Christianity to flourish. He funded the Church, built baslicas, granted privileges to clergy, promoted Christians to high-ranking offices, and bequeathed the church land and other wealth. Christianity’s first steps at intolerance began when Costantine began to order the pillaging and demolishing of Roman temples, towards the end of his reign.

As the powers and influence of Papal authority grew, Christianity began to suppress not only alternate religious traditions but also alternative voices within Christianity. Pagan religions were increasingly persecuted. Emperor Gratian, who acceded in 375 AD, abolished all privileges of the pagan leaders and the grants for the support of pagan worship. In the eastern part of the Roman Empire, Theodosius prohibited all forms of Pagan worship and permitted their temples to be plundered and destroyed. Pagan literature was burnt, and replicating copies was banned.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, early forms of apartheid were practised on Jews. They were segregated in ghettos and could not enjoy the privileges that Christians had. Pagan cults continued to be prohibited as works of the devil or witchcraft and their adherents burnt at the stake. Sects like the Cathars in France, a dualistic form of medieval Christianity, that challenged Christian belief, had to go into hiding, was pushed into its last enclave at Mount Segur, and its perfectii or priests were burnt at the stake for refusing to retract.

In the medieval ages, during inquisitions in France, Spain and Portugal, repentant heretics had to go through penance, while unrepentant heretics were executed or burnt at the stake. This spread later to various parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires…In Mexico and Peru, in Brazil, Cape Verde and Goa.

In 1532, in Peru, the last Incan emperor was captured amid a massacre, for flinging in disgust the Bible that was offered to him by a Spanish priest.

Proselytism in the New Worlds came with colonialism. It was easier to convert non-believers who had a pantheon of Gods, because they quickly assimilated Jesus into their pantheon. However, coercion, apart from missionary work, became the modus operandi. When it was not the word or the sword , converts were obtained through chicanery. In India, blessed bread was flung into wells of unsuspecting Hindus. Because Hindu priests simply excommunicated those that consumed water from the wells that the bread was thrown into. In contrast, the Indian sub-continent was home to many religions, like Buddism, Jainism, and Hinduism, that preached tolerance and co-habitabilty.

This is not as if to take away the immense work done by Christian missionaries in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. And it is not as if to say Christianity was the only religion guilty of chauvinism. Islam has been another religion that was indelibly spread by the sword. Even in its most enlightened era, Islam had zero-tolerance for religions that did not adhere to the Holy Book. This despite the Koran stating, “There is no (permission) to force (anyone into following this) way of life. The truth stands clear from error. Whoever rejects falsehood and believes in Allah has grasped a firm hand-hold that will never break, for Allah hears and knows (all things). 

There were forced conversions in the 12th century under the Al-Mohad dynasty, in northern Africa and al-Andalus, who suppressed the status of Jews and Christians and gave them the choice between conversion, exile, and being executed.

In the Ottoman Empire the practice of devsirme was followed, whereby, a human levy was placed on Christian families, in which adolescent boys were taken away, coercively converted to Islam, and then trained as elite military within the Ottoman army or to serve the sultan. From the mid to late 14th, through early 18th centuries, the devsirme-janissary system enslaved an estimated 500,000 to 1 million non-Muslim youth. There were also forced conversions in Yemen, Persia and the Indian sub-continent.

Today, religious freedom is prohibited in some Islamic nations. What is even more deplorable is that forced or threatened conversion is still undertaken in some Islamic nations.

As for Christianity, the final verses of the Gospel of Matthew state:”Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” That is perhaps why most self-described Christian groups indulge in a pathetic sheep-stealing from one another in the modern age.

Indeed, the Ten Commandments should have had an eleventh commandment that forbade coveting thy neighbour’s flock. The cross may have brought about religious changeover in the New Worlds but a voluminous expanse of religious knowledge, beliefs, tradition and customs were lost through religious trespassing. Organised religion has had the incendiary character of culminating a war of the worlds, as we have seen in the past millenium and the early current one. It is best for religion to lead by example rather than to spread its tentacles by proselytism, coercion or war.