If you want to throw blame on the Catholic Church, it would be good if it at least guilty. If the Catholic CHurch never supported these things, I don't see how you can assert that it did indirectly by refusing to do something about it (as if it could to begin with).
When Christian authorities take matters into their own hands, the Church has an obligation to condemn, and I think that for the most part, Christianity has an excellent record on that. No minister, bishop, priest, etc., is going to get away with anything anti-Christian, without rebuke from Christians everywhere.
Your statement here, Kevin, seems almost naïve, certainly defensive of the Church. While the Church may not have "officially" supported the violence, perhaps they were sympathetic to it, like Muslims were to bin Laden?
Well, if you think so, then provide some evidence. Otherwise you're just guessing.
And Muslims in the Middle-East are not only sympathetic to bin Ladin, they fully support him. He receives support from clerics in every country. There is nothing parallel to this in Christianity with any comparable Christain authority who went bad.
I attended a Church-sponsored seminar where we were actively encouraged to join the IRA.
Joining a national army and condoning terrorist attacks are two different things. The IRA is not all about terrorism, and is nearly a century old.
Sorry Ray, but you're grasping at straw here.
Just cut to the chase and show me something in Christian doctrine from any denomination, that encourages or condones murder or terror on any level. I can point this out in Islamic doctrine. scripture, the traditions, the biography of their prophet, and 14 centuries of clear-cut examples of religiously sponsored terror in the name of Islam. There is no such parallel in CHristianity, which is actually six centuries older than Islam. I find that remarkable.
Telling me some Christian renegade in Ireland used Church premises for his own political purposes, simply isn't going to cut it.
And no, I don't condemn the LDS church over MMM, so you're barking up the wrong tree on that.