It is related:
I mean my own criticism of the Church comes from its dealings with my own people, so take that as you will...
I'm just trying to prod Super Dude into explaining more. Since he's generally a much more thoughtful poster than, say, me, I'd like to hear more before I dismiss what he's saying as just being uncalled-for resentment and the like.
If you want to have a more elaborate explanation of the atrocities against the Jews and other peoples, re-examine those periods j mentioned, the Crusades and the Inquisition in particular. As for the harm placed upon the Church's
own people, the Catholic European population, the Crusades again offer an example (diverting the populace's attention away from the corruption of European monarchies and the Church by inciting hatred against Islam), the Galileo incident and other such conflicts between science and faith, the exorbitant amounts of money made by clergy off their followers by methods such as indulgences, pilgrimages and the like...the list goes on, and if I had my book on medieval England with me (it's at home on the other side of the country
) I may might have been able to elaborate some other deeds of the Church I found most distasteful.
Also Pope Benedict attempted a year or two ago to reinstate a Catholic prayer from the period of the Crusades, which was a prayer to save the Jews from Hell. I know it sounds nice but it's really not.
And I know this isn't the sound basis for an argument either, but what
good has the Church done for humanity? Saying that it has given structure or power to a faith or saying that it's given hope or some other intangible satisfaction to its followers is not a satisfactory answer; what quantifiable/qualitative benefit has been accrued by humanity on the Church's behalf?