I have just completed my first assignment for my SEITE course. I looked at how the church had treated people throughout history, and it does not make nice reading.

I have heard people talk of the ‘good old days’ when things were better, when churches were fuller, when Sunday schools were bursting at the seams and when society had greater morals. I don’t know of this was true, but it is certainly true that during that era women were not allowed to exercise their God given ministries, churches had congregations of all one class and colour, people with different opinions were feared and steered clear of.

Looking back in history, the crusades, the treatment of the Jews, the treatment of ‘the heathen’ shows untold torture and mistreatment of, sometimes, whole people groups. During the medieval period Augustine of Hippo sanctioned incredibly violent means and methods as a ‘tool’ for mission. I find it incredible that people were given a choice of death or baptism; and in fact they were quite fortunate, many others underwent torture until they agreed to ‘believe and be baptised’.

In addition the Christians ‘in the majority ‘persecuted’ other Christians who might have different interpretations and practices to them. People were excommunicated and tortured for stating what we would see as clear truths today.

How could all this happen when our message is one of love, of acceptance, of individuality, of grace and of freewill. Jesus never compelled, he never forced, he never threatened; he simply said ‘Come follow me’ – some did and some didn’t. He wept over those that walked away.

In light of an example like that how could such atrocities happen in the name of Jesus? Sadly I think there is one clear answer. This was the result of individuals, and groups of individuals, believing so much that they and their interpretations were right, coupled with a great fear of allowing heresy and wrong to occur under their noses that they simply lost the plot. They wished to protect their standpoint so much, that they were prepared to go to extreme lengths to do so.

A horrible thought struck me as I got onto the modern era of church for my assignment. The methods have changed; we no longer excommunicate, or imprison, or torture – or do we?

It seems to me that there are still people in our churches that do. Methods are now methods of words and letters of hate. Jeffrey John is just one recent example which still quite angers me. We have seen similar actions in the past to women’s ordination, racial equality, style of music; we are seeing it now over women bishops, homosexual clergy, towards liberals, towards evangelicals, towards traditionalists, towards modernists, towards post modernists, towards para church, towards emergent church …. towards anything that does not quite fit with how I see things.

No wonder we are experiencing the decline of Christendom – which branch do you pick which would result in the least line of resistance and attack?

Why do we criticise that to which we do not subscribe – is it as simple as fear of the unknown, or is there a lot more to it?