Of A Questionable Source

NextTurn's argument came with a list of sources some of which I am disputing. As always he is blue I am black. Links will be red.

I have some problems with some of your sources.

2. “The problem with taking action in the face of pestilence more specifically originated from the generally-held Old Testament interpretation of plague as God's rod of judgment inflicted upon the disobedient, Jew and gentile alike. Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and prophets Jeremiah, Hosea, and Zechariah unanimously decree that failing to acknowledge and uphold God's law leads directly to God's wrath delivered in the form of plague.”
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56061943.html3.

For some reason your link is not working for me and I am having an hard time finding the article that this belongs to. I would appreciate it if you would send me the article name and author.

7. Church officials urged those infected with plague to ask repentance and refrain from worldly pleasures. People were taught to reverently pray to their favorite saint at regular intervals. The body was seen as an unholy entity and although prayer services were held, not much was done to ease the suffering of plague victims. Herbal remedies were viewed by the church as methods of witchcraft—therefore, the church did not encourage physical remedies.
The Black Death. The History of Bubonic Plague. December 2, 2003:
http://cosmos.ucdavis.edu/2005/Cluster%207/Ramya%20Kandasamy.pdf

This is a high school term paper.

11. “In the early thirteenth century Pope Gregory IX declared that a sect in southern France had been caught worshipping the devil. He claimed the devil had appeared in the form of a black cat. Cats became the official symbol of heresy (or religious beliefs not advocated by the church). Anyone who showed any compassion or feeling for a cat came under the church's suspicion. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, Europe's cat population had been severely depleted. Only semi-wild cats survived in many areas.”

http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2149/History-
Human-Animal-Interaction-MEDIEVAL-PERIOD.html

I have no clue where this source comes from and if they are reliable. I doubt it is reliable though because it is unprofessionally written. Sources are supposed to be from people who are reliable and expert in the field they are discussing. A professor of history, theology or science is good (depending on what they are talking about). This is not good.

12. “Anyone who kept a cat, which kept rats at bay, might be accused of being in league with the devil, and put to death. A cat was often considered a witch’s familiar. Increasingly, women living alone, without the protection of a father or husband, were also vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft, for which the penalty was hanging.”
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/campaigns.stm

Not only is this not an academic source (these people are not more qualified to speak about this topic than you or me.) The United Church of Christ is a “church” of people with an ax to grind against religious people. Hardly an unbiased source. Anyway it is full of weasel words, like “often”and “increasingly”.

Also, I really don't think anyone really believes that the Europe was emptied of cats as you suggest. I suspect a Pope might have actually made an order about cats at one time but that hardly shows that for that Europe's cats had depopulated.

I am trying to be really flexible about allowing sources I did not dispute the Orthodox Church as a history source, an English Professor (source 6) as a history source, and the Dental Anthropologists (source 5) as a history source.

I appreciate the work you put into this. I do read all your sources and I am hoping to give you a through answer but I don’t feel obligated to refute or explain these sources. For most of your sources I feel not understanding the theology behind statements is your biggest misunderstanding.