Quote:
Originally Posted by NY Jew
Jews didn't behave like Christians or European nobles.
Where does the church fit into your little equation?
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"Christianity sprang from Judaism. It has merged again in Judaism. From the outset, the Christian was the theorizing Jew, the Jew is, therefore, the practical Christian, and the practical Christian has become a Jew again. Christianity had only in semblance overcome real Judaism. It was too noble-minded, too spiritualistic to eliminate the crudity of practical need in any other way than by elevation to the skies." - Karl Marx
The European nobles saw the world in much the same way as the Jews, and their interests were the same, money. Plus the European nobles were themselves usurers, which is probably why they felt a kind of solidarity with the Jews, they were the same.
The problem with the church was that it had often become "state-like", and priests weren't always celibate. In fact, the reason the church required clergyman to be celibate was because they had become kind of like rockstars of the middle-ages. And getting your child into the clergy was like getting him into a scholarship at Harvard. So a lot of ambitious people, who weren't necessarily even believers, ended up in key positions in the church.
Eventually this led to the church doing things like selling indulgences. The Church even sold "prayer". Where monks and priests would literally pray to god to forgive you if you paid them. The assumption was that if enough people prayed for you, especially "good" people, then god would listen and forgive your sins.
So yeah, don't get me started on the "Church".