The Western World, to a large extent, can be argued to have been shaped by Christianity. Virtually every aspect of Western society has been influenced by Christian thoughts to the extent that Christianity has generally been perceived as a European religion.

Prior to the Protestant Reformation, several cathedrals and church buildings had been constructed in Europe as people were expected to go to church regularly to worship God. It must be noted that not everyone attended Church service regularly in the medieval period, however, Christianity had dominated people’s socio-economic-political lives to the extent that the Church controlled virtually every aspect of people’s lives.

The word “cathedral” was derived from the Latin and Greek words cathedra meaning “a chair” or ‘throne”, as it was expected that all cathedrals should be places where the chair or office of the bishop or the principal man in the Church should be. Before the reign of Queen Victoria, the cathedrals, which were expected to be splendorous and appealing to the eye in every way, were the largest and greatest buildings in England. They were even bigger than castles.

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Financing these magnificent buildings therefore became an issue. In addition to raising money from the Church members, the bishops also personally contributed financially. However, because of the huge sizes of the cathedrals and their sheer elaborate designs and decorations, the numerous offerings given by Church members was woefully inadequate. The Church therefore had to devise other means to mobilize funds. As a result, the Church persuaded members to embark on pilgrimages to so-called “holy places of worship” where they were persuaded again to buy badges, holy water, and certificates to prove that they have undertaken the pilgrimage.

This became an avenue for corruption as some priests engaged in the selling of relics like the physical remains of a saint such as his bones, ashes, clothing, and personal effects. These were sold at exorbitant prices, as buyers were led to believe that these relics could ward off evil, bring good luck and guarantee financial success. Relics in the form of pieces of straw, hay, white feathers from a dove, pieces of the cross and other sacred objects that were projected to have been associated with Jesus were sold to the people who keenly bought them to show that they had honoured God by spending money on items associated with His Son.

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From the 12^th century, the Church started the practice of selling indulgences to raise funds. The indulgences were pre-signed certificates by the Pope. Those who purchased these indulgences and those who volunteered their time and skills to the construction of Church buildings or cathedrals were promised that they had been exempted from eternal punishment for some types of sins. With time, in order to raise more funds, the people could purchase indulgences for their dead relatives who were considered to be in purgatory or hell to relieve them of their sins. These religious machinations coupled with the practice of simony (the buying and selling of church positions), abuse of power and widespread ecclesiastical corruption eventually moved Martin Luther (1483-1546) to protest by nailing his 95 theses on Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517. This is what led to the Protestant Reformation, which lasted from 1517 to 1648.

Today the practice of Extortion is even more prevalent, especially in Africa. Interestingly, unlike those days where the proceeds from this extortion enterprise were re-invested into the church, the proceeds nowadays are used to fund the grand celebrity lifestyle of some of these so-called “men of God”. Sadly, it does not seem like this practice of extortion is going away anytime soon.  

Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com