Christianity

One of three major religious groups that worship the god of Abraham, also known as Yahweh, Jehovah, and Allah. The others are Judaism and Islam. Held complete domination of Europe through most of the middle ages and erradicated almost all other belief systems in that territory. Early on there was a break between Roman Catholics in the west and Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople. The Catholic church had several Protestant churches break off in the early Rennaisance, in a period called the Reformation. Shortly after the Church began the Counter-Reformation which changed many policies and has continued to evolve. The crusades, medieval witchhunts, and innumerable wars between Christian sects have all spilled enourmous amounts of blood in the name of this religion that professes universal love and brotherhood. In general, modern Catholics do not believe the Bible is to be taken literally and is open to interpretation (on Oct. 12, 1996, Pope John Paul II announced that he believed the theory of evolution is correct and not in competition with religion). Protestants consist of dozens or hundreds of faiths, and it is from their number that some groups who believe every word in the Bible must be taken literaly and therefore evolution, along with most science, is wrong.