Awhile back I did a series of entries based upon the fantastic book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe which examines how Christ has affected culture in so many different ways. We often take for granted the changes that came about in western civilization since the founding of the early church and today's article that appears in Real Clear Science highlights how Chrisianity affected the prevailing mindset of the world before Christ in regard to forcible rape.
"Helle Møller Sigh, a researcher at the Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, has studied the Danish versions of the Norse Laws, which were written down between the 1170s and the 1240s.
“We’re seeing a change in the legislation, in which rape goes from being a violation against the household – the woman’s husband or her father – to being listed as a separate crime which violates the woman,” she says.
“This is in no small way due to the influence of the Catholic Church, which wanted to create a peaceful and civilised society and help the weak, including women.”...
The reason the church was interested in changing the perception of rape was that this enabled it to point out that the crime was a violation against the woman. In this way the church could ensure that the rapist was convicted of the violation, something which made society more civilised.
The church had a ‘peace ideology’. This meant, for instance, that there was a wish to replace the right to take the law into your own hands with a fine system, and that the weak people in society should be helped.
“And of all people, it’s fair to say that women back then were among ‘the weak’,” says Sigh."
“We’re seeing a change in the legislation, in which rape goes from being a violation against the household – the woman’s husband or her father – to being listed as a separate crime which violates the woman,” she says.
“This is in no small way due to the influence of the Catholic Church, which wanted to create a peaceful and civilised society and help the weak, including women.”...
The reason the church was interested in changing the perception of rape was that this enabled it to point out that the crime was a violation against the woman. In this way the church could ensure that the rapist was convicted of the violation, something which made society more civilised.
The church had a ‘peace ideology’. This meant, for instance, that there was a wish to replace the right to take the law into your own hands with a fine system, and that the weak people in society should be helped.
“And of all people, it’s fair to say that women back then were among ‘the weak’,” says Sigh."
How far we have fallen as a society when we take the institution that is historically responsible for elevating the status of women to a level much higher than we typically see in the non-Christian world and accuse it of waging a 'War on Women'© simply for wishing to protect the unborn. Kennedy and Newcombe's book is filled with many other examples of these types of changes that Christianity brought to the world and is a great read if this subject matter interests you.
1 comment:
Hey, pretty good stuff on your blog.
I shall visit often. c:
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