Apologizing to the Pagans

 

Miss Persephone, can you identify the rapist from this lineup?

A recent HuffPo article calls for a Catholic apology for “the destruction and desecration of Greco-Roman polytheistic culture.”

Here are a few reasons why this is absurd:

1. Catholicism did not destroy Greco-Roman culture. Catholicism is Greco-Roman culture as it has evolved. The only thing missing is the polytheism.

2. Accepting the premise that polytheism should have been left alone, none of the polytheists who might have been harmed are still alive.

3. There are not even any remaining Greco-Roman pagans. Who then does one apologize to? Should the Israeli government apologize to the Canaanites and the Philistines? The Italian government to the Etruscans? The Irish government to the Firbolgs? How would this be meaningful?

4. Any actual suppression of paganism was an act by the civil, not the religious, authorities. It may have been done by them on grounds other than religious ones. Constantine and his successors believed in the value of consensus on values, to promote imperial unity, and saw Christianity as most likely to achieve it. All Catholicism did was win an intellectual argument.

5. Worshipping the pagan gods was not a matter of devotion or conscience. The pagan gods were rapists and murderers. They had no love for mankind. “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.” Ancient Greeks and Romans sacrificed to their gods out of fear. Conversion to Christianity would not have been a hard sell. It was like being released from bondage.

Accordingly, the modern Catholic Church apologizing for ending Greco-Roman polytheism would be like Britain apologizing for ending the slave trade. Apologizing, that is, to the slaves.