Through the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was constantly inventing new holidays as a way to decrease the number of days in the year when it was possible for Catholics to fight other Catholics.
The decrease in certain types of violence that the Church played a role in is a big reason why there are still so many theocrats and Western-European chauvinists. To them the Church was a civilizing force that discouraged war and put many incentives and norms in place that put together what we would call "civilized society".
They're not wrong, but the Umayyad Caliphate accomplished many of the same things, with less xenophobia.
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Through the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was constantly inventing new holidays as a way to decrease the number of days in the year when it was possible for Catholics to fight other Catholics.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_and_Truce_of_God
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The decrease in certain types of violence that the Church played a role in is a big reason why there are still so many theocrats and Western-European chauvinists. To them the Church was a civilizing force that discouraged war and put many incentives and norms in place that put together what we would call "civilized society".
They're not wrong, but the Umayyad Caliphate accomplished many of the same things, with less xenophobia.