The Tension Between Desire to Burn Out, to Root Out and to Extirpate Elements Within the Christian People That Seem to Threaten It

There is an intriguing tension within Christianity between the desire to burn out and extirpate those elements that seem to threaten it. The inquisition and indeed, the Crusades are always held up as examples of the savagery and the brutality of which religion is capable. Of course, the standards by which we condemn them are themselves Christian. As of course, in due course, they will be gone as well when the communists launch their campaigns of persecution.