Kill 'em all and let God sort them out!

"Kill 'em all and let God sort them out!"

This expression, that marines from protestant countries' seem to be quite fond of, is rarely understood within the context of its actual origin. Often attributed, especially on the internet, to some non-existent “Amal Ulric” whose name appears to be a distorted reference to the Abbot of Citeaux, Arnaud Amalric, the expression was inspired by the Bible's "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. ii. 19). It was uttered during the Albigensian Crusade of 1209, a crusade led by the French Knight Simon de Montfort and recorded in Latin by a German observer, Caesarius Von Heisterbach:

"Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius".

About Von Heisterbach's original quote
About De Monfort
About the Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian crusade, called by Pope Innocent III, was akin to the ones that had been going on against the Muslims. This time however, it was not meant to “liberate” towns and cities from Islam, but from a Christian heresy: That of the Cathari, a dualist Christian group who derived their name from the Greek 'Katharos', meaning 'pure'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathar

In 1207 the pope asked Philippe II Auguste, the King of France, to go to war against any nobles who permitted the Cathari to openly practice their faith. The French King did not comply however, as he had to first deal with an alliance of the English, the Flemish and the Germans … who had all joined in an attack against him. It is only after 1214, after he defeated them that he turned his attention to the unfortunate Cathari.

In the meantime, Simon de Montfort with pious liberation in mind ... and thirty thousand French knights and soldiers ... went to Gothia at the foothills of the Pyrenees to “save souls". Tough he had previously distinguished himself by refusing to attack fellow Christians in Constantinople, here ... well ... the extermination that he engendered was apparently so terrible that it is sometimes referred to as the first case of "genocide":

On July 22, 1209, as they broke through to Beziers (where between 10 000 and 20 000 Catholics had all courageously refused to surrender the about 200 to 500 Catharis in their midsts), the Crusaders asked Arnaud Amalric how to differentiate between the heretics and the good Catholics located in the city. He is said to have replied:"Tuez-les tous; Dieu reconnaîtra les siens!"

“Kill them all. God will know his own!”

"Cognoscentes ex confessionibus illorum catholicos cum haereticis esse permixtos, dixerunt Abbati: Quid faciemus, domine? Non possumus discernere inter bonos et malos. Timens tam Abbas quam reliqui, ne tantum timore mortis se catholicos simularent, et post ipsorum abcessum iterum ad perfidiam redirent, fertur dixisse: Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." "When they discovered, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics they said to the abbot "Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics." The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be Catholics, and after their departure, would return to their heresy, and is said to have replied "Kill them all for the Lord knoweth them that are His"

Such an act may have been somewhat natural in the Middle Ages, when Christians felt that life on earth was simply a preparation for the hereafter. If all were killed, the Catholics would ascend to Heaven and the heretics would go to Hell. In their minds, these knights were doing God's work.

But today? This could make sense ... but only if we were to fall back into medieval mentalities ... distinguished by the superstition, ignorance and violence that were characteristic during the dark ages. And sometimes it seems that religious fundamentalists in Muslim countries, in Israel and in the usA are doing a pretty good job doing just that. Way to go!

Anyway, the Cathari were the initial targets, but eventually the Waldensians, Fraticelli, Knights Templar, and (much later) Protestants all perished by this medieval mentality

And many of those who like to think that they are emulating the "Kill them all and let God sort it out!" ... might be surprised to know that, unless they are Catholic, they themselves would have promptly been put to the sword as despicable heretics by the French Crusader knights who originated the expression.

PS) In France the royal guard was instructed one day in 1572 to kill every group of Protestants that they found. The King, justifying it on reasons of national security, had 10 000 Protestants slaughtered in Paris alone. Many Catholics were only too happy to do away with them.

When news of this holocaust reached Pope Gregory XIII, his joy was so great that he had Giorgio Vasari paint pictures in the Vatican of "the glorious triumph over a perfidious race."

The anniversary of the event was celebrated in France as a great Christian victory against heresy for centuries thereafter.
On the Massacre

These celebrations would so disgust Voltaire that he would become physically ill.