Why James Holmes' Rampage is the Result of the Teachings of Christianity

[DetlefK]

6. Exactly this kind of murders was a huge problem in medieval Denmark.

The church-doctrine was: You get into heaven if you truly repent after a sin.

The result?

There was a famous case of a maiden who killed the child of her employer, just so she could repent afterwards and get a guaranteed admission to heaven.
The people loved her and she even lead several mass-prayers right before her execution.

The rulers of Denmark changed the laws and procedures: The executions got ever more brutal and later even torture was added, as an additional punishment before the execution. To no avail. Being chopped into pieces paled against an eternity of happiness in heaven.



I don't remember how the problem was finally solved. My best guess is, the rulers forced their bishops to declare something along the lines of "You can't cheat your way into heaven."