morganh1066-blog

[morganh1066-blog]

why the historicity of the jesus character is poor

did the jesus character really exist?

keep in mind that i'm not saying that this character 100% didn't exist. i'm saying that it's extremely unlikely due to the lack of credible evidence. it is fallacious to say that because something is possible that it is therefore probable. i'll answer this in multiple posts, and they will be a bit long, but give it some patience, and i'll describe it in as much depth as i can.

historically the question on the historicity isn't anything new, there have been a number of people who have doubted the credibility of the proposed data. the scholarly research into the idea that the jesus character wasn't real goes back to the 1700s with Volney and Dupuis. There's also Bauer, Remsberg, W.B. Smith, Arthur Drews, Couchoud, Bolland, Allegro, GA Wells, Richard Carrier, Robert Price, Thomas Brodie, and Doherty

the main point is that *there is absolutely no direct evidence or primary sources for the character. * it never wrote anything, no one who met the character wrote anything about it, thus all of the proposed evidence is secondary at best and hearsay.

the people i have communicated with have brought up a number of people's writing as "proof." in particular:

Mara Bar Serapion (prisoner awaiting execution), Clement of Rome, 2 Clement4, Ignatius, Josephus  (Jewish historian), Polycarp, Martyrdom of Polycarp, Didache, Barnabas,  Shepherd of Hermas,  Fragments of Papias,  Tacitus (Roman historian),  Lucian  (Greek satirist), Justin Martyr,  Aristides,  Athenagoras,  Theophilus of Antioch,  Quadratus,  Aristo of Pella, Phlegon (freed slave who wrote histories), Melito of Sardis, Diognetus, Gospel of Peter, Apocalypse of Peter, Epistula Apostolorum, Celsus  (Roman philosopher), Pliny the Younger (Roman politician), Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Apocryphon of John, Treatise, Suetonius, Thallus, gospels: Matt, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and the reference to tiberius

first off, the gospels themselves are not valid forms of biography.

_"Paul did not write the letters to Timothy to Titus or several others published under his name; and it is unlikely that the apostles Matthew, James, Jude, Peter and John had anything to do with the canonical books ascribed to them."_ -- Michael D. Coogan, Professor of religious studies at Stonehill College (Bible Review, June 1994)

_"The Gospel authors were Jews writing within the midrashic tradition and intended their stories to be read as interpretive narratives, not historical accounts."_ -- Bishop Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels

_"Other scholars have concluded that the Bible is the product of a purely human endeavor, that the identity of the authors is forever lost and that their work has been largely obliterated by centuries of translation and editing."_ -- Jeffery L. Sheler, “Who Wrote the Bible,” (U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 10, 1990)

_"Yet today, there are few Biblical scholars– from liberal skeptics to conservative evangelicals- who believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John actually wrote the Gospels. Nowhere do the writers of the texts identify themselves by name or claim unambiguously to have known or traveled with Jesus."_ -- Jeffery L. Sheler, “The Four Gospels,” (U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 10, 1990)

_"The bottom line is we really don’t know for sure who wrote the Gospels."_ -- Jerome Neyrey, of the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Mass. in “The Four Gospels,” (U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 10, 1990)

_"So unreliable were the Gospel accounts that 'we can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus.' "_ -- Rudolf Bultmann, University of Marburg, the foremost Protestant scholar in the field in 1926

_"The gospels are very peculiar types of literature. They’re not biographies."_ -- Paula Fredriksen, Professor and historian of early Christianity, Boston University (in the PBS documentary, From Jesus to Christ, aired in 1998)

_"The gospels are not eyewitness accounts."_ -- Allen D. Callahan, Associate Professor of New Testament, Harvard Divinity School

the other very important fact is that there is no contemporaneous historical account of the jesus character. there are first century historians that never mention the jesus character at all:

*seneca*: 4bce-65ce *pliny the elder*: 23-79 *quintilian*: 39-96 *epictetus*: 55-135 *martial*: 38-103 *juvenal*: 55-127 *plutarch*: 46-119 *philo-judaeus*: 15bce-50ce

some of the dead sea scrolls were contemporaneous and they don't mention the character either.

next i’ll discuss the books of the new testament.

================================

here is the list of the books in the new testament:

_*writer       book*_ *matt*       matt *mark*      mark *luke*       luke                   acts *john*       john                   I john                   II john                   III john                   revelation *peter*     I peter                   II peter *james*    james *jude*       jude *paul*       romans                   philipians                   I timothy                   II timothy                   I corinthians                   II corinthians                   colossians                   titus                   I thessalonians                   II thessalonians                   philemon                   galatians                   ephesians *undetermined*    hebrews

note that paul appears to have written pretty much half of these books and according to *galatians 1:11-12* he clearly states that he didn't get this information from a man, but rather from revelation.

*matt*: not able to confirm author. _written in the 80s_. (ehrman, lost christianities: the battles for scripture and the faiths we never knew [oup2003], p235) no original manuscripts are in existence. could not have been an eyewitness as written far after the supposed death (einar thomassen, " 'forgery' in the new testament," in the invention of sacred tradition, ed. james r lewis and olav hammer [cambridge: cambridge university press, 2007], p141)

*mark*: not able to confirm author. _written 70-75._  no original manuscripts are in existence. not an eyewitness as per matt reference

*luke, acts*: not able to confirm author. _written in the 80s._ no original manuscripts are in existence.not an eyewitness as per matt reference

*john, I john, II john, III john, revelation*: not able to confirm author. however it is the only gospel that gives a clue that the actual author could have been john (john 21:20-24). _written in the 90s._ no original manuscripts are in existence. not an eyewitness as per matt reference.

*I peter, II peter*: not able to confirm author. _written about 80-90_ [Stanton, Graham. Eerdmans Commentary of the Bible. Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2003.]  considered to be "wisdom literature."  Many scholars are convinced that Peter was not the author. (Achtemeier, Paul. Peter 1 Hermeneia. Fortress Press. 1996)  authorship of 1 Peter remains contested. (Travis B. Williams (1 November 2012). Persecution in 1 Peter: Differentiating and Contextualizing Early Christian Suffering. BRILL. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-90-04-24189-3. Retrieved 1 April 2013.)

*james*: not able to confirm author, considered to be pseudonymous. considered to be written in the last 1st and first 2nd century ("Epistle of James". Early Christian Writings. Retrieved 16 May 2012.) _The earliest extant manuscripts of James usually date to the mid-to-late third century._ (McCartney, Dan G (2009). Robert W Yarbrough and Robert H Stein, ed. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: James. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.)

*jude*: _written at the end of the 1st century_. Although some scholars consider the letter a pseudonymous work written between the end of the 1st century and the first quarter of the 2nd century, arguing from the references to the apostles (jude 17&18), and tradition (jude 3). and the book's competent Greek style, conservative scholars date it between 66 to 90 (Norman Perrin, (1974) The New Testament: An Introduction, p. 260 and Bauckham,RJ (1986), Word Biblical Commentary, Vol.50, Word (UK) Ltd. p.16-17)

*attributed to paul*: romans, philipians,  I timothy,  II timothy, I corinthians, II corinthians, colossians, titus, I thessalonians, II thessalonians, philemon, galatians, ephesians. thessalonians is usually dated to 49 ce, but later ones are mid 60s. paul, by his own witness was not an eye-witness of the jesus character as stated in galatians 1:11-12. no originals are in existence. the earliest are some from 200 (Ehrman, Bart (2005) Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, Harper SanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-073817-0. page 60)

*hebrews*: author unknown. _written around 80_. no original manuscript is in existence.

bruze metzger wrote: *"none of the original documents is extant, and the existing copies differ from one another."* (Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 1992) the earliest manuscripts date back to 125 to 400, and none of those are originals.

incidentally, bart ehrman considers that  11 or more books out of the 27 books of the new testament were written as forgeries and that the "New Testament books attributed to Jesus’ disciples could not have been written by them because they were illiterate." the article continues to say that ehrman believes that _"Many of the New Testament’s forgeries were manufactured by early Christian leaders trying to settle theological feuds."_ (*"Half of New Testament forged, Bible scholar says".* CNN. 2011. retrieved 1 25 14)

ehrman continues to say that these are the forged books: Acts of the Apostles, First Epistle of Peter, Second Epistle of Peter, Epistle of James, Epistle of Jude, First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy, Epistle of Paul to Titus, Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, and the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians.

thus from this information, with no original documents in existence, none of the manuscripts is a primary source for the sole purpose of evaluating the historicity of the jesus character.

next, i'll show the "proofs" outside of the bible

==========================

now regarding the "proofs" outside of the bible that people have frequently presented to me:

1    Mara Bar Serapion (prisoner awaiting execution) 2    Clement of Rome 3    2 Clement4 4    Ignatius 5    Josephus  (Jewish historian) 6    Polycarp 7    Martyrdom of Polycarp 8    Didache 9    Barnabas 10    Shepherd of Hermas 11    Fragments of Papias 12    Tacitus (Roman historian) 13    Lucian  (Greek satirist) 14    Justin Martyr 15    Aristides 16    Athenagoras 17    Theophilus of Antioch 18    Quadratus 19    Aristo of Pella 20    Phlegon (freed slave who wrote histories) 21    Melito of Sardis 22    Diognetus 23    Gospel of Peter 24    Apocalypse of Peter 25    Epistula Apostolorum 26    Celsus  (Roman philosopher) 27    Pliny the Younger (Roman politician) 28    Gospel of Thomas 29    Gospel of Truth 30    Apocryphon of John 31    Treatise. 32    Suetonius 33    Thallus

gospels: 34    Matt 35    Mark 36    Luke 37    John 38    Paul

39    reference to tiberius

what's also important is to not fall into the fallacy of mistaking *quantity over quality.* this is akin to two wrongs making a right. it needs to be *quality over quantity.*

so let's start with #39, tiberius:

that someone says another person lived during the time of the supposed character but that the person never wrote about the character is not proof. you have to have the writing about the character for there to actually be contemporaneous evidence. until then it's just claimed contemporaneous _*existence.*_  NOT evidence.

and let's go to 34-38. the gospels. and paul.

These are a few of the quotes regarding the gospels as non-historical accounts like i had mentioned before:

_"The Gospel authors were Jews writing within the midrashic tradition and intended their stories to be read as interpretive narratives, not historical accounts."_ -- Bishop Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels

_"The gospels are very peculiar types of literature. They’re not biographies."_ -- Paula Fredriksen, Professor and historian of early Christianity, Boston University (in the PBS documentary, From Jesus to Christ, aired in 1998)

_"The gospels are not eyewitness accounts."_ -- Allen D. Callahan, Associate Professor of New Testament, Harvard Divinity School

_"the gospels are very peculiar types of literature. they're not biographies. I mean, there are all sorts of details about jesus that they're simply not interested in giving us. they are a kind of religious advertisement. what they do is proclaim their individual author's interpretation of the christian message through the device of using jesus of nazareth as a spokesperson for the evangelists's position"_ -- religious scholar and historian (paula fredriksen, pbs, "paula fredriksen: religious advertisements," accessed 2/4/12)

gospel "proof":

#34: *matt*: not able to confirm author. _written in the 80s_. (ehrman, lost christianities: the battles for scripture and the faiths we never knew [oup2003], p235) no original manuscripts are in existence. could not have been an eyewitness as written far after the supposed death (einar thomassen, " 'forgery' in the new testament," in the invention of sacred tradition, ed. james r lewis and olav hammer [cambridge: cambridge university press, 2007], p141)

#35: *mark*: not able to confirm author. _written 70-75._  no original manuscripts are in existence. not an eyewitness as per matt reference

#36: *luke, acts*: not able to confirm author. _written in the 80s._ no original manuscripts are in existence.not an eyewitness as per matt reference

#37: *john, I john, II john, III john, revelation*: not able to confirm author. however it is the only gospel that gives a clue that the actual author could have been john (john 21:20-24). _written in the 90s._ no original manuscripts are in existence. not an eyewitness as per matt reference.

#38: *attributed to paul*: romans, philipians,  I timothy,  II timothy, I corinthians, II corinthians, colossians, titus, I thessalonians, II thessalonians, philemon, galatians, ephesians. thessalonians is usually dated to 49 ce, but later ones are mid 60s. paul, by his own witness was not an eye-witness of the jesus character as stated in galatians 1:11-12. no originals are in existence. the earliest are some from 200 (Ehrman, Bart (2005) Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, Harper SanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-073817-0. page 60)

the gospels make no mention that the name of the gospel was written by that person. these are written far after the death of the jesus character, and thus is hearsay. none of these people ever met the jesus character.

hearsay is not credible evidence.

and now on to #1-#33 non-biblical "proofs:"

*#1:* Mara Bar Serapion (prisoner awaiting execution).  the reference to the "crucifixion" was written 73 AD does not show direct evidence but just proves that people talked about it. he could have been talking about santa claus, but that doesn't mean it would be true.

*#2:* Clement of Rome. his papacy was between 92-99. he never met the character.

*#3:* 2 Clement4. this character is in the new testament. modern scholars believe 2 clement is written around 95-140 by an anonymous author.

*#4:* Ignatius. never met the jesus character. (from 98 to 117)

*#5:* Josephus  (Jewish historian). born after the supposed death of the characer. never met the jesus character. this only confirms that christians existed. this is not direct evidence; it is hearsay

*#6:* Polycarp. was a 2nd-century Christian bishop of Smyrna. never met the character.

*#7:* Martyrdom of Polycarp. from 155-160. this is well outside the life of the supposed jesus character. it just proves that christians existed.

*#8:* Didache.  late first and early 2nd century.

*#9:* Barnabas. never anywhere does it say that barnabas met the jesus character. and amusingly, there's another book called, the "gospel of barnabas" which is a post-medieval manuscript that says that the jesus character wasn't even the son of god and that it never died on the cross. dating on it is disputed, but it's post-medieval

*#10:* Shepherd of Hermas.  first or second century. in the document it never states that the character ever met the jesus character.

*#11:* Fragments of Papias. who died in AD 155. never met the jesus character.

*#12:* Tacitus (Roman historian) 56-133. born after the supposed death of the characer. never met the jesus character. this only again confirms that christians existed. this is not direct evidence; it is hearsay. rafael lataster writes, _"it is interesting that the name 'jesus', 'jesus son of joseph' or 'jesus of nazareth' is never used, and that this is tacitus' only supposed reference to jesus."_  he continues, _"though 'Annals' covers the period of rome's history from around 14ce to 66ce no other mention is made of 'jesus christ'."_ ehrman references this as well in "did jesus exist, p54. lataster, p61.

Tacitus writes in annals, book 15, chapter 44, *written 116 ad:* _“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.”_

*most importantly tacitus was born 20 years after the supposed death of the character and lived 2000 miles away and wrote the passage in 116. So as for the two sentences attributed to tacitus' to be a source to without a doubt to clinch it for the jesus character to actually exist, it's not going to be with tacitus.*

notice also that it was *written 116 ad.* this is almost 100 years after the supposed death of the jesus character. We have no primary sources for Tacitus only *copies or copies* that were *written centuries later.* To suggest that these are word for word copies of the original are absurd considering the considerable christian forgeries during that time.

This passage is also not any different or a more credible source for the jesus character than for me writing in 2014 on Mormonism, "the great golden plates were delivered unto joseph smith as told by moroni" just because i went to school 23.5 miles away from palmyra new york doesn't make it any more plausible.

johannes weiss, the german theologian wrote, _*“Assuredly there were the general lines of even a purely fictitious Christian tradition already laid down about the year 100; Tacitus may therefore draw upon this tradition” *_

german theologian david strauss wrote that the earliest christian communities reworded the gospels to suit local prejudices. hegel noted that christian doctrine kept changing to suit power hierarchy. forgery in the early church was rampant and nothing new.

the contradictions are rampant with regard to the completely missing mention of christianity in book 5 chapters 8 through 10 of the annals that describe judea at the supposed time of the jesus character. *they make no mention of the crucifiction of the jesus character as described in the dubious book 15 chapter 44 two sentences.*

What's more is in the annals of chapters 8-10 makes not even a mention of christians, christianity or the jesus character at all.  and all of these references are from writings that are not primary sources as the originals are no longer extant and all we have are copies of copies.

In the tacitus' histories book 5.2-5 he rationalies the greek-roman myths by believing that zeus and kronos were kings. So we're not particularly dealing with someone who could separate fact from fiction.

and with these glaring contradictions, we can thoroughly question the credibility of the claim that the *mere two sentences* attributed to tacitus in any way corroborates anything about the life of a jesus figure's historicity.

We still have no contemporary sources for the existence of the jesus character, nothing written by the character, and especially nothing written about the tons of people that flocked to the character whether or not the character was miraculous or not.

*we want evidence; distinct, obvious, uncompromised evidence.* That is a reasonable request. we want evidence not based on hearsay accounts or ambiguous and slightly dubious sources. Evidence that is not just being argued to fit a narrative that is devoid of any contemporary evidence. then I will change my opinion. but until then, it doesn't matter at all how many times you bang the drum of an appeal to authority or populace or through abusive ad hom call those that require unabiguous evidence "delusional."

*#13:* Lucian  (Greek satirist). *lucian (Greek satirist)* -- 125-180. born after the supposed death of the characer. never met the jesus character. this once again only confirms that christians existed. this is not direct evidence; it is hearsay.

*#14:* Justin Martyr. 100 – 165 Ad. he never met the jesus character.

*#15:* Aristides. do you mean "aristides the athenian"  who was born in the 2nd century ad or do you mean aelius aristides (117-181)? neither of these people met the jesus character.

*#16:* Athenagoras.  born 133 ad in greece. never met the character.

*#17:* Theophilus of Antioch. died around 183-185. never met the jesus character.

*#18:* Quadratus. again, born way late in the first century, and died 129. never met the jesus character. *#19:* Aristo of Pella.  from 100-160, who is only known because of a mention by eusebius.

*#20:* Phlegon (freed slave who wrote histories).  who lived in the 2nd century AD. born after the supposed death of the characer. never met the jesus character.

*#21:* Melito of Sardis. mid 2nd century.

*#22:* Diognetus. late 2nd century.

*#23:* Gospel of Peter.  this is actually in the bible, so it's not, "outside the new testament." *I peter, II peter*: not able to confirm author. _written about 80-90_ [Stanton, Graham. Eerdmans Commentary of the Bible. Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2003.]  considered to be "wisdom literature."  Many scholars are convinced that Peter was not the author. (Achtemeier, Paul. Peter 1 Hermeneia. Fortress Press. 1996)  authorship of 1 Peter remains contested. (Travis B. Williams (1 November 2012). Persecution in 1 Peter: Differentiating and Contextualizing Early Christian Suffering. BRILL. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-90-04-24189-3. Retrieved 1 April 2013.)

*#24:* Apocalypse of Peter.  this is from the 2nd century. way after the death of the supposed character. this does not corroborate anything.

*#25:* Epistula Apostolorum. also from the 2nd century.

*#26:* Celsus  (Roman philosopher). 2nd-century Greek philosopher. born after the supposed death of the character. never met the jesus character. this is not direct evidence; it is hearsay

*#27:* Pliny the Younger (Roman politician). 61-112 born after the supposed death of the character. never met the jesus character. this is not direct evidence; it is hearsay.

*#28:* Gospel of Thomas. Heretical Writings Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Apocryphon of John, and Treatise on resurrection. this is very nice, but most scholars state that thomas was written in the second century.

*#29:* Gospel of Truth. Was written in greek probably between 140 and 180 by valentinian gnostics. (Attridge, Harold W. and MacRae, George W. "The Gospel of Truth (Introduction and Translation)". The Nag Hammadi Library, James M. Robinson (ed.), pp. 38-51.)  the text puts "error" in personified form. and says that the jesus character was sent down by god to remove ignorance. error grew angry that the jesus character confounded scribes and teachers and nailed the jesus character to a tree. bit of a different story there.

*#30:* Apocryphon of John. written in 185. it was referred to by irenaeus in "adversus haereses" and stated that teachers in the 2nd century were producing an "an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish people, who are ignorant of the true scriptures" (adversus haereses 1.20.1 and Pagels 2003:96)

*#31:* Treatise. not exactly sure what this is referring to. the book of acts refers to the gospel of luke as "the former treatise." if this is the case, it is not non-biblical. luke and acts do not have a confirmed author. _written in the 80s._ no original manuscripts are in existence.not an eyewitness as per matt reference.

*#32:* Suetonius.  aside from seutonius not being a contemporary of the jesus character, only wrote, "since the jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of chrestus, he expelled them from rome." (seutonius and jc rolfe, the lives of the caesars, vol 2[london: heinemann, 1914, life of claudius 25.4]) chrestus is a greek name, meaning "the good," so does not necessarily have to refer to the jesus character. note that christians are also not specified, though many early christians were undoubtedly jews. this passage offers little to no information about the jesus of nazareth character.

*#33:* Thallus. lived in the third century. born after the supposed death of the character. never met the jesus character. it's just a reference that 9th century christian chronologer george syncellus wrote, "Thallus calls this darkness an eclipse of the Sun in the third book of his Histories."  this is ultimately not non-christian reference as syncellus wrote it.

nothing in the dead sea scrolls, btw, which actually was contemporaneous!

and lastly the talmud which some christians reference:  there are a number of reference to various character called "jesus" (specifically from the "gemara") which may or may not reference the jesus character of nazareth. the gemara is actually from the 5th or 6th century which is 400-500 years after the death of the supposed character. there are other jesuses refered to in josephus as well, such as , "jesus ben pandira," jesus bar phabet,” and “jesus bar gamaliel." the name “jesus” was a very common name. nothing to directly connect to the jesus of nazareth character.

there is no additive truths here, that the more fractional truths add up to an actual truth. you can have a bunch of people pretending that santa claus was real and the more people saying it's true doesn't make it any more true due the the fallacy of appealing to populace.  don't mistake quantity over quality and make two wrongs make a right.

and that something must have been amazing to cause people to write so much after the fact is not evidence either. it just made it an ad hoc popular idea. and evidence from silence is still silence not evidence.

there's also a quote from historian robert wilken:

_"when christianity gained control of the roman empire it suppressed the writings of its critics and even cast them into flames."_ (robert louis wilken, the christians as the romans saw them, [new haven, ct: yale university press, 2003] p xvi)

so there's some censorship for ya of critics of christianity. what they complained about we'll never know either.

next i will discuss the problem of the jesus character not fullfilling the prophecies. these are not at all related to proofs for the historical existence of the jesus character but internal criticism (relating just within the bible itself).

=============================

this is the last post of why the evidence (or lack of evidence) suggest that the jesus character very likely didn't exist. these are not at all related to proofs for the historical existence of the jesus character but internal criticism (relating just within the bible itself).

as for if the character even fulfilled the prophecies that's another problem and let's go over that, too:

and according to the jews, the jesus character doesn't fulfill the prophecies. specifically, the bible says he will:    Build the Third Temple -- *Ezekiel 37:26-28*    Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel -- *Isaiah 43:5-6*    Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." -- *Isaiah 2:4*    Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world ― on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" -- *Zechariah 14:9*

If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be the Messiah. none of these has been fulfilled.

and that this deity which cannot support any burden of proof of itself either sends this message of a mortal son to illiterate bronze age idiots instead of people who could actually make written testimony of it like china for example.

Sin is an imaginary disease that was invented to sell you an imaginary cure. it's the essence of marketing. and the outlandish cures are snake oil cures.

even the old testament doesn't allow for the scapegoat: Deut 24:16 states "Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin."

Exodus 32:30-34 shows that the deity refuses to make a scapegoat of moses:  The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

ezekiel 18:1-4 shows that the deity refuses to make scapegoats, each shall take responsibility for their actions:  "guilty he word of the Lord came to me:  “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die."

and then of course there's the point that the jesus character was a total commie, " sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven." *luke 18:22, mark 10:21, matt 19:21. *

horrible family values of the jesus character: _"... i have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother in law and one's foes will be members of one's own household"_ -- matt 10:35-36; luke 12:52-53

more horrible family values of the jesus character: _"whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"_ -- matt 10:37

and even more bad family values of leaving one's own family: _"another said, 'i will follow you lord; but let me first say farewell to those at home.' jesus said to him 'no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of god"_ -- luke 9:61-62

we all are a better example of this so-called savior who wants people to abandon their family.

and great forgotten teachings that no one follows: _".. anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery"_ -- matt 5:32; 19:9; mark 10:11-12; luke 16:18

this immoral character is not only not likely to be real, but is an horrible example of any kind of idol one should ever follow.

and after all of that, 1 cor 15:14, _"... if christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."_

[morganh1066-blog]

Christian Atrocities Timeline

~150    St. Clement of Alexandria wrote: “Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman.” (The “Natural Inferiority” of Women compiled by Tama Starr (New York: Poseidon Press, 1991), p. 45)

~180 CE    Orthodox Christians around assembled the Bible not to bring all the gospels together, but rather to encourage uniformity. Bishop Irenaeus, from the Plethora of Christian gospels, compiled the first list of biblical writings that resemble today’s New Testament (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail (New York: Dell, 1982), p. 364, 318).

~300    The Church first began to kill heretics (Walter Nigg, The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages (New York: Dorset Press, 1962), p. 220).

~300    Christian monks in the fourth century hacked the great scholar Hypatia to death with oyster shells, St. Cyril explained that it was because she was an iniquitous female who had presumed, against God’s commandments, to teach men(Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), p. 132-133).

~300    St. Pachomius advised his monks in the religion of love and life, “Above all, let us always keep our last day before our eyes and let us always fear everlasting torment.” (Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear, translated by Eric Nicholson (New York : St. Martins Press, 1990), p. 54)

Early 300s    Jerome, a Church Father and early monastic, rejoiced that the classical authors were being forgotten. And his younger monastic contemporaries were known to boast of their ignorance of everything except Christian literature (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 223).

319    Constantine passed a law excusing the clergy from paying taxes or serving in the army (Charles Merrill Smith, The Pearly Gates Syndicate (New York: DoubleDay, 1971), p. 27-28)

355    Bishops were exempted from ever being tried in secular courts (J.N. Hillgarth, The Conversion of Western Europe (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969), p. 49).

380    Emperor Theodosius passed a decree that read:

We shall believe in the single Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of equal majesty and the Holy Trinity

1. We command that those persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest however, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative, which we shall assume in accordance with the divine judgment .  (J.N. Hillgarth, The Conversion of Western Europe (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969), p. 46)

386    A written protest to the roman government about Christians pillaging Pagan temples:

If they [the Christians] hear of a place with something worth raping away, they immediately claim that someone is making sacrifices there and committing abominations, and pay the place a visit -- you can see them scurrying there, these guardians of good order (for that is what they call themselves), these brigands, if brigands is not too mild a word; for brigands at least try to conceal what they have done: if you call them brigands, they are outraged, but these people, on the contrary, show pride in their exploits...they believe they deserve rewards!  (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 166-167; DC, p. 28)

388    A Theodosian prohibition forbade any public discussions of religious topics (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 218).

392    The ancient, multidemensional Pagan worship was prohibited in 392 and considered a criminal activity (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 218)

391    Christians burned down one of the world’s greatest libraries in Alexandria, said to have housed 700,000 rolls (The New Columbia Encyclopedia edited by William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1975), p. 61; Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987); DC, p. 46). All the books of the Gnostic Basilides, Porphyry’s 36 volumes, papyrus rolls of 27 schools of the Mysteries, and  270,000 ancient documents gathered by Ptolemy Philadelphus were burned  (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 444)

398    The Fourth Council of Carthage forbade bishops to even read the books of gentiles (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 223).

~400    Intermarriage between Jew and Christian carried the same penalty as adultery: the woman would be executed (J.N. Hillgarth, The Conversion of Western Europe (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969) p. 44-48)

410    Emperor Honorius decreed: “Let all who act contrary to the sacred laws know that their creeping in their heretical superstition to worship at the most remote oracle is punishment by exile and blood, should they again be tempted to assemble at such places for criminal activities...” (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 218)

416    Augustine wrote to the bishop of Rome warning him that Pelagian ideas undermined the basis of episcopal authority and that appeasing the Pelagians would threaten the Catholic Church’s new-found power (Elain Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988), p. 125; DC, p. 35). Augustine’s friend, the African bishop Alypius, brought 80 Numidian stallions to the imperial court as bribes to persuade the Church to side with Augustine against Pelagius. See 418 CE (Elain Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988), p. 129-130, 134). (Pelagianism is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid)

418    The bribe from Alypius for Augustine worked and the pope excommunicated Pelagius (Elain Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988), p. 129-130, 134).

~425    St. Augustine wrote, “we must  conclude, that a husband is meant to rule over his wife as the spirit rules over the flesh.” (Elain Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988), p. 113-114)

435    A law threatened any heretic in the Roman Empire with death. Judaism remained the only other legally recognized religion (J.N. Hillgarth, The Conversion of Western Europe (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969),  p. 44-48).

up to 450    Theodore of Cyrrhus states that there were at least 200 different gospels circulating in his own diocese (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 467). By prohibiting and burning any other writings, the Catholic Church eventually gave the impression that this Bible and its four canonized Gospels represented the only original Christian view. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia now admits that the “idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning... has no foundation in history.” (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 469)

~500    Christian philosopher, Boethius, wrote in the Consolation of Philosophy, “Women is a temple built upon a sewer.” (The “Natural Inferiority” of Women compiled by Tama Starr (New York: Poseidon Press, 1991), p. 45).

presupposionalism: ~500    Bishop Martin of Braga asked, “But what is the lighting of wax lights at rocks or trees or wells or crossroads if it is not worship of the devil?” (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), pp. 240-241)

From about A.D. 500 onward, it was thought no hardship to lie on the floor at night, or on a hard bench above low drafts, damp earth and rats. To be indoors was a luxury enough. Nor was it distasteful to sleep huddled closely together in company, for warmth was valued above privacy   (Walter Nigg, The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages (New York: Dorset Press, 1962), p. 169)

The vast network of roads that had enabled transportation and communication also fell into neglect and would remain so until almost the nineteenth century (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 96).

590-604    While best known for strengthening the Pope’s independence from the Byzantine Emperor, Gregory the Great condemned education for all but the clergy as folly and wickedness. He forbade laymen to read even the Bible. He had the library of the Palatine Apollo burned “lest its secular literature distract the faithful from the contemplation of heaven.” (WEMS, p. 208)

742    A church decree read: “...every pagan defilement should be rejected and spurned, whether it be sacrifices of the dead, or soothsaying and divining, or amulets and omens, or incantations, or the offering of sacrifices -- (all of) which ignorant people perform pagan rites alongside those of the church, under cover of the names of the sacred martyrs and confessors”  (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 246)

789    The General Capitularies of Charlemagne in 789 decreed:

With regard to trees, and rocks and springs, wherever ignorant people put lights or make other observances, we give notice to everyone that this is a most evil practice, execrable to God, and wherever they are found, they are to be taken away and destroyed  (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 246).

The church’s continual admonishments against pagan practices indicate how insubstantial most conversions to Christianity were. It constantly warned against customs relating to trees, nature and the belief in magic, occasionally going so far as to raze a church after discovering that people were actually worshiping older gods or goddesses there (Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976), p. 229).

891-903    Ten different Popes held power (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 464). At least forty different Popes are known to have bought their way into the papacy (Malachi Martin, Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), p. 141).

~900    Odo of Cluny declared, “To embrace a woman is to embrace a sack of manure...” (Joan Smith, Misogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989), p. 61).

906    The Canon Episcopi, a Church law which first appeared in 906, decreed that belief in witchcraft was heretical. (Julio Caro Baroja, The World of Witches (Chircago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), pp. 60-61; Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987), p. 45)

1000-1200    A Christian oath excluded Jews from working the land and sent them into commerce and crafts in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the consequent influx of people to the cities, artisan guilds were established, each with its own patron saint. Jews were again driven from the crafts into what fields remained: banking, money-changing and money-lending (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 155; ). Persecuting Jews therefore, also became a convenient means of getting rid of one’s creditors Religious arguments were taken up by indebted kings to justify their confiscation of Jewish property and their expulsion of Jews from their domains (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 157).

1095    Pope Urban II called for the knights of Europe to unite and march to Jerusalem to save the holy land from the Islamic infidel. The crusades provided an opportunity to vastly increase the influence of the Catholic Church. There were many imperial powers outside the Church: King of France, King of England, and the German Emperor The crusades were a means of uniting much of Europe in the name of Christianity (Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), p. 433, 435).

~1095    Pope Gregory VII said, “Cursed be the man who holds back his sword from shedding blood.” (Malachi Martin, Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), p. 134; Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), p. 276)

~1095    Nicetas Choniates, a Byzantine chronicler, wrote, “Even the Saracens (the Muslims) are merciful and kind compared to these men who bear the cross of Christ on their shoulders.” (Malachi Martin, Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), p. 134)

1096    The People’s Crusades. Belgrade, the chief imperial city after Constantinople, was sacked (Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), p. 439-441). A Greek Chronicler wrote of the Pope:

...he wished to compel us to recognize the Pope’s primacy among all prelates and to commemorate his name in public prayers, under pain of death against those who refuse. (G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), p. 165)

1099    The chronicler, Raymond of Aguilers, described the scene when a band of crusaders massacred both Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem in 1099:

Wonderful things were to be seen. Numbers of the Saracens were beheaded...Others were shot with arrows,  or forced to jump from the towers; others were tortured for several days, then burned with flames. In the streets were seen piles of heads and hands and feet. One rode about everywhere amid the corpses of men and horses. In the temple of Solomon, the horses waded in the blood up to their knees, nay up to the bridle. It was just and marvelous judgment of God, that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers.  (James A. Haught, Holy Horrors (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1990), p. 25-26)

~1100    Catharism began to thrive in southern France. The Cathars were a society that included different races lived harmoniously --  Jews, Muslims, Greeks, Phoenicians. There is evidence of a strong connection between Catharism, Moslem Sufi, and Jewish Kabbalist tradition (Timothy O’Neil, “Century of Marvels, Century of Light”, p. 14-18; Judith Mann, “The Legend of the Cathars” GNOSIS, NO. 4, p. 28). In this society women could serve as priests (Ian Bergg, The Cult of the Black Virgin (London: Arkana, 1985), p. 136; Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 43). The Catharan society not only was free of Jewish persecution, but Jews held management and advisory position with lords and even prelates.  There was less class distinction, a milder form of serfdom, freer towns, and a judicial system based upon Roman law (G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), p. 59). Culture and commerce flourished, making it one of the most prosperous regions in Europe (Timothy O’Neil, “Century of Marvels, Century of Light”, p. 14-18; Judith Mann, “The Legend of the Cathars” GNOSIS, NO. 4, p. 28). Yet again, the church began to make up lies about a culture they hated and said they defiled the cross, renounced Jesus, and engaged in cannibalism and sexual orgies (Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 1972), p. 125).

The church did the same thing with the Templars: The Church incited people to kill the Templars who had been Knights that protected the Crusaders.  They had been believed to brought with them Gnostic, Kabalistic, and Islamic beliefs, the Church and kings planned to persecute them. Stories began to spread about them denying various aspects of Christianity and defiling the cross. After the Templars were murdered, their property was confiscated (WEMC, p. 510).

~1100 Christian Honorius of Autun wrote:

How is the soul profited by the strife of Hector, the arguments of Plato, the poems of Virgil, or the elegies of Ovid, who others like them, are now gnashing their teeth in the prison of the infernal Babylon, under the cruel tyranny of Pluto? (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 96)

~1100 The Church forbade clergy to marry in order to prevent property from passing out of the Church to the families of clergy. 15 (Henry C. Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, 4th edition revised (London: Watts & Co., 1932), pp. 264, 279)

~1100 In his letter to King Henry II of England, the twelfth century Pope Adrian IV sanctioned the English invasion of Ireland. He wrote: _It is not doubted, and you know it, that Ireland and all those islands which have received the faith, belong to the Church of Rome; if you wish to enter that Island, to drive vice out of it, to cause law to be obeyed and St. Peter’s Pense to be paid by every house, it will please us to assign it to you._  (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 252)

~1100 The Abbot, Ruppert of Deutz, tried to defend the somberness of a Christian holiday:

It is not a fast to make us sad or darken our hearts, but it rather brightens the solemnity of the Holy Spirit’s arrival; for the sweetness of the Spirit of God makes the faithful loathe the pleasures of earthly food  (Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, p. 35).

Such morbidity! This is quite deviant behavior.

~1100 To the orthodox, neither nature nor physical pleasure were imbued with God’s presence; both were of the devil. The church had long condemned sensual pleasure as ungodly. In the twelfth century Bishop of Chartres, Sir John of Salisbury, declared:

Who except one bereft of sense would approve sensual pleasure itself, which is illicit, wallows in filthiness, is something that men censure, and that God without doubt condemns? (The “Natural Inferiority” of Women compiled by Tama Starr (New York: Poseidon Press, 1991), p. 46)

1139 The Church began calling councils to condemn the Cathars and all who supported them (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 54).

1149 St. Bernard had realized the implicit threat of civil law to the Church and complained that the courts rang with Justinian’s laws rather than those of God (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 24).

[note that justinian law went out of favor long before this, but that the new roman law even went so far as to say that non-christians were not considered citizens. something bush senior said]

1179 Alexander III proclaimed a crusade against the Cathars and promising two years’ indulgence, or freedom from punishment for sins, to all who would take up arms, and eternal salvation for any who should die. This managed to provide the church with a militia to fight their quarrels it failed to insight people to fight against the popular Cathars 74. (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), pp. 57-59)

~1200 Catholics opposed the Magna Carta (John Dollison, Pope-Pourri (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994)C, pp. 135-140; “World Watch” The Rocky Mountain News, April 14, 1992; “Vatican denies helping Nazis flee after war”, The Associated Press, February 15, 1992)

~1200 St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that God had made a mistake in creating woman: “nothing [deficient] or defective should have been produced in the first establishment of things; so woman ought not to have been produced then.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (New York & London: Blackfriars, McGraw-Hill, Eyre & Spottiswoode), question 92, 35).

1204 Pope Innocent III sent a group of crusaders to Constantinople. The soldiers of Christ fell upon Constantinople with a vengeance, raping, pillaging and burning the city (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 159-160). According to the chronicler Geoffrey Villehardouin, never since the creation of the world had so much booty been taken from a city (Karen Armstrong, Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World (New York: Doubleday, 1988), p. 387). The Pope’s response to the Greek Emperor: “...we believe that the Greeks have been punished through (the Crusades) by the just judgment of God: these Greeks who have striven to rend the Seamless Robe of Jesus Christ... Those who would not join Noah in his ark perished justly in the deluge; and these have justly suffered famine and hunger who would not receive as their shepherd the blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles...” (G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 164-165)

1208-1238 When Innocent III added to the rewards for killing the Cathars their lands and property to anyone who would take up arms, the Albigensian Crusade to slaughter the Cathers finally began. 12,000 people were killed at the Cathedral of St. Nazair. Bishop Folque of Toulouse put to death 10,000 (Cl, p. 27). When the crusaders fell upon the town of Beziers and the commanding legate, Arnaud, was asked how to distinguish Cathlic from Cathar, he replied, “Kill them all, for God knows his own!” (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 75) Not a child was spared. One historian wrote that “even the dead were not safe from dishonor, and the worst humiliations were heaped upon women.” (Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World, translated by Janet Sondheimer, (New York: NAL, 1961), p. 214) The total slain at Beziers as reported by papal legates was 20,000, by other chroniclers the numbers killed were between 60,000 and 100,000 (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 75). The Albigensian crusade killed an estimated one million people, not only Cathars but much of the population of southern France (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 75).

1210&1215    Papal prohibitions restricted the teaching of Aristotle’s works in Paris (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 364).

1215    Pope Innocent III decreed that Jews were to wear a circular badge of yellow felt, said to represent money. Sometimes patches were green  or red and white. The patch was worn by both sexes starting between the ages of 7 and 14. This same badge later was imposed on Moslems and convicted heretics, and prostitutes (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 112)

1219 The Pope had forbidden priests to study Roman law and had altogether prohibited its teaching at the University of Paris (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), pp. 217-218).

1231 Papal statutes insisted that heretics suffer death by fire (Walter Nigg, The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages (New York: Dorset Press, 1962), p. 220). Burning people to death technically avoided spilling a drop of blood. The words of the Gospel of John were understood to sanction burning: “If a man abode not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:16)

1231 Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition as a separate tribunal, independent of bishops and prelates. Its administrators, the inquisitors, were to be answerable only to the Pope (Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), 155). Its inquisitional law replaced the common law tradition of “innocent until proven guilty” with “guilty until proven innocent.” (Rossell Hope Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (New York: Bonanza Books, 1981), p. 13) Despite an ostensible trial,  inquisitional procedure left no possibility for the suspected to prove his or her innocence; the process resulted in the condemnation of anyone even suspected of heresy (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 216). The accused was denied the right of counsel. (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 211)

1240 Christians went so far as to to try a book for heresy and blasphemy: in 1240 in Paris the Talmud was tried and convicted. The sentence was burning 24 cartloads of Talmudic works (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 112).

1244 The Council of Narbonne ordered that in the sentencing of heretics, no husband should be spared because of his wife, nor wife because of her husband, nor parent because of helpless children, and no sentence should be mitigated because of sickness or old age and each and every sentence included flagellation (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 232-233).  (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 232-233).

1245 Inquisitors were chosen on their zeal to persecute heretics (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 177). The Pope and his assistants, messengers and spies were allowed to carry arms. In 1245 the Pope granted the Inquisitor to absolve his assistants of any acts of violence (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 174).

1272 By this time discussion of any purely theological matter was forbidden (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 364).

1275 When Florence had disputes over tribute payments to the Pope he excommunicated the whole town (Malachi Martin, Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), p. 146).

1252 By far the cruelest aspect of the inquisitional system was the means by which confessions were wrought: the torture chamber. Torture remained a legal option for the Church from 1252 when it was sanctioned by Pope Innocent IV until 1917 when the New Codex Juris Canonici was put into effect.(G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 154-155) Innocent IV authorized indefinite delays to secure confessions, giving inquisitors as much time as they wanted to torture the accused (G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 154-155). Although the letter of law forbade repeating torture, inquisitors easily avoided this rule by simply “continuing” torture, calling any interval a suspension (Jean Plaidy, The Spanish Inquisition (New York: Citadel Press, 1967), p. 139).

1262 Now inquisitors and their assistants were granted the authority to quietly absolve each other from the crime of bloodshed (G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 154-155). They simply explained that the tortured had died because the devil broke their necks.

1291    The Archdeacon of Seville launched a “Holy War against the Jews.” in that year alone, some 50,000 jews were murdered in Castile. (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 472) and (Missett, Soul Theft: How Religions Seized Control of Humanity's Spiritual Nature, p. 26)

in the 14th century, The Bubonic plague claimed an estimated 27 million lives. The church claimed that the Jews were responsible for it (Charles Panati, Panati’s Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything (New York: Harper & Row, 1989), p. 225-228). there was a plethora of violence against the jews believing that they were responsible, and in particular with the valentine's day strasbourg massacre in 1349 when 900 jews were killed. (Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, «La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire» ("The greatest epidemic in history"), in L'Histoire magazine, n° 310, June 2006, p. 47 (French))

Eusebius of Caesarea set about during the time of Constantine to rewrite the history of the world into a history of Christianity: ‘ “Other writers of history,” Eusebius wrote recorded the fighting of wars waged “for the sake of children and country and other possessions. But our narrative of the government of God will record in ineffaceable letters the most peaceful wars waged in behalf of the peace of the soul...” ’  (Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: Random House, 1983), p. 573)

I have never known of a peaceful war.

The church had a devastating impact upon artistic expression. According to orthodox Christianity, art should enhance and promote Christian values; it should not serve simple as an individual’s creative exploration and expression. New works of art which did not concur with the Church’s ideology would not be created again until the Renaissance. Marble statues of ancient Rome were torn down, most notably by Gregory the Great, and made into lime or went to adorn cathedrals all over Europe and as far away as Westminster Abbey in London. The ravaging of marble works accounts for the thin ornate slabs with ancient inscription still found in many churches today (Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: Random House, 1983), p. 581).

~1300 Many heretics insisted upon a direct relationship with God. Despite the danger, they translated the Bible into common or vernacular languages which lay people could understand. Simple possession of such a bible was punishable by death (a law of the church, of course) (WEMS, p. 212)

~1300 When the bubonic plague struck, the Church explained that Jews were to blame and prompted attacks upon them (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 75). A whole folklore developed claiming that Jews kidnapped and ate Christian children in Jewish rituals of cannibalism, and that Jews stole and profaned the blessed Christian sacraments. These were the same tales that Romans once told of the hated Christians, the same tales that Christians would tell of witches, and the same tales Protestants would tell of Catholics. Pogroms, the raiding and destroying of Jewish synagogues and ghettos, became a common demonstration of Christian righteousness (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 156).

1302 Pope Boniface issued the bull Unam Sanctum: showing the current desire for popes to be viewed as superior to all other mortals: “Therefore, if the earthly power errs, it shall be judged by the spiritual power... but if the supreme spiritual power errs it can be judged only by God, and not by man... Therefore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff”  (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), pp. 168-169).

1315 The Church excommunicated the Fraticelli. The church regarded the Franciscan founder, Francis of Assisi, as a saint, the Church persecuted Francis’s followers who upheld his ideas of poverty (These were the Fraticelli). 22 (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 36)

1318 Twenty-seven members of a particularly stubborn group of Spiritual Franciscans of Province were tried by the Inquisition and four of them burned at the stake at Marseille (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), pp. 36-37).

1320 Pope John XII formalized the persecution of witchcraft when he authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcery (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 173). Thereafter papal bulls and declarations grew increasingly vehement in their condemnation of witchcraft and of all those who “made a pact with hell.” (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 173).

1326 The income of a wealthy bishop could range from 300 times to as much as 1000 times that of a vicar (Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), 246). The incongruity of an extravagantly wealthy organization representing the ideals of Jesus Christ prompted the papal bull or edict Cum inter nonnullos  which proclaimed it heresy to say that Jesus and his Apostles owned no property (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 438).

1354 Earliest extant documentation stating the existence of the Shroud of Turin

1375 When a group of smaller Italian city-states organized a revolt against papal control in 1375, the Pope’s legate in Italy, Robert of Geneva, hired a mercenary band to re-conquer the area. After failing to take the city of Bologna, this band set upon the smaller town of Cessna (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 321-322).

Swearing clemency by a solemn oath on his cardinal’s hat, Cardinal Robert persuade the men of Cessna to lay down their arms, and won their confidence by asking for 50 hostages and immediately releasing them as evidence of good will. Then summoning his mercenaries... he ordered a general massacre ‘to exercise justice.’...For three days and nights beginning February 3 1377, while the city gates were closed, the solders slaughtered. ‘All the squares were full of dead.’ Trying to escape, hundreds drowned in the moats, thrust back by relentless swords. Women were seized for rape, ransom was placed on children, plunder succeeded the killing, works of art were ruined, handicrafts laid waste, ‘and what could not be carried away, they burned, made unfit for use or spilled upon the ground.’ The toll of the dead was between 2,500-5,000. (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 322)

See 1378.

1377 See 1375.

1378 Robert of Geneva, the person who hired a mercenary band to slaughter whole towns because the towns revolted against papal control was appointed Pope and became Clement VII (The New Columbia Encyclopedia edited by William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1975), p. 2442).

1378-1417 The Great Schism: Two separate lines of Popes, one living in Rome and one in Avignon, reigned from 1378 to 1417. They disagreed, not over matters concerning Christian ideology or religious practices, but over politics and who should reign (Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957), p. 433-435).

~1400 Orthodox Christians expressed disdain for the flourishing creativity and declared supporters of the arts to be heathens and pagans. Dominican prophet Girolamo Savonarola believed that science, culture and education should return entirely to the hands of monks. He wrote: “The only good thing that we owe to Plato and Aristotle is that they brought forward many arguments which we can use against the heretics. Yet they and other philosophers are now in hell... It would be good for religion if many books that seem useful were destroyed. When there were not so many books and not so many arguments and disputes, religion grew more quickly than it has since (Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, edited by Irene Gordon (New York: Mentor Books, 1960), p. 336).

1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued the bull Summis desiderantes authorizing two inquisitors, Kramer and Sprenger, to systematize the persecution of witches (Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987), p. 49).

1484 The Inquisition spread the frightening belief in werewolves (Barry Holstun Lopez, Of Wolves and Men (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978), pp. 238-239; DC p. 142). And in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII officially ordered pet cats to be burned together with witches, a practice which continued throughout the centuries of witch-hunting (Lewis Regenstein, Replenish the Earth (New York: Crossroad, 1991), p. 73).

1487-1520 14 editions of the manual for the persecution of witches, Malleus Maleficarum were published (Joan Smith, Misogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989), p. 68).

1492 The Inquisition in Spain had become so virulent in its persecution of Jews that it demanded either their conversion to Christianity or their expulsion. (During this time, Islamic countries actually offered far safer sanctuaries to escaping Jews than Christian lands. (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 472)

1492 Columbus raped and killed. Referenced in James Lowen's Lies my Teacher Told me and Howard Zinn's a People's History of the United States

1493 A papal bull justified declaring war on any natives in South America who refused to adhere to Christianity (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 85). As the jurist Enisco claimed in 1509: “The king has every right to send his men to the Indies to demand their received it from the pope. If the Indians refuse, he may quite legally fight them, kill them and enslave them, just as Joshua enslaved the inhabitants of the country of Canaan”  (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 85).

1497 Books, particularly those of Latin and Italian poets, illuminated manuscripts, women’s ornaments, musical instruments, and paintings were burned in a huge bonfire, destroying much of the work of Renaissance Florence (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 97-98).

~1500 Guillaume Briçonnet warned “Holidays are not for the pleasure of the body, but for the salvation of the soul; not for laughter and frolic, but for weeping.” (Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear, translated by Eric Nicholson (New York : St. Martins Press, 1990), p. 457)

~1500 Copernicus reintroduced the theory that the earth revolves around the sun, a belief that was first found by Pythagoras in 600 BCE, 2100 years previously (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 448).

1500 Ancient letters that had been discovered and incorporated into canon law as evidence of the Pope’s supremacy over imperial powers had been exposed as total forgeries. One such letter, the “Donation of Constantine,” purported to be a letter from Emperor Constantine to Pope Sylvester in which Constantine  attributes his power to the Pope. It reads, “We give to Sylvester, the Universal Pope...the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts and cities of Italy and the Western regions...” (Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968), p. 75)

About ~200 years after the Crusades probably millions were killed. During each of these Crusades the Christians burned any books they found (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 282). The common belief that the crusaders returned from their exploits with literature and learning is mistaken. To quote Charles H. Haskins, “The Crusaders were men of action, not men of learning, and little can be traced in the way of translation in Palestine or Syria.” (Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927), p. 282)

1517 Martin Luther, an anti-Semite and an incredible male chauvinist (see 1533),  posted his 95 these on the door of his town’s church (DC, p. 93). Martin Luther wrote, “If [women] become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth -- that is why they are there.”103 (Karen Armstrong, The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity’s Creation of the Sex War in the West (New York: Doubleday, 1986), p. 69 )

Luther also wrote about the Jews:

"to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn... I advise that their houses be razed and destroyed... I advise that all their prayer books... in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them... that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb... that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews... that all their treasure of silver and gold be taken from them... But if the authorities are reluctant to use force and restrain the Jews' devilish wantonness, the latter should, as we said, be expelled from their country and be told to return to ... Jerusalem where they may lie, curse, blaspheme, defame, murder, steal, rob, practice usury, mock, and indulge in all those infamous abominations which they practice among us, and leave ... our Lord the Messiah, our faith, and our church undefiled and uncontaminated with their devilish tyranny and malice." (Luther, On the Jews and their Lies, 1543, cited in Stannard, American Holocaust, Oxford 1992, p. 248]

During the Reformation a man commented during the Reformation, “It was never merry England since we were impressed to come to the church.” (Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), p. 151)

1521 The senate of Venice refused to approve executions of heretics. However Pope Leo X wrote to the secular officials: “...to intervene no more in this kind of trial, but promptly, without changing or inspecting the sentences made by the ecclesiastical judges, to execute the sentences which they are enjoined to carry out. And if they neglect or refuse,   you (the Papal legate) are to compel them with the Church’s censure and other appropriate measures. From this order there is no appeal “ (WEBS, p. 443)

In practice, any secular authorities who refused to cooperate were excommunicated and subject to the same treatment as suspected heretics (Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961), p. 252).

1525 Luther supported the merciless suppression of the Peasants’ War, a rebellion that his own spirit of independence from the Roman Church had helped to ignite (The New Columbia Encyclopedia edited by William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1975), p. 1631).

1533 Luther wrote, “Girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than good crops.” (The “Natural Inferiority” of Women compiled by Tama Starr (New York: Poseidon Press, 1991), p. 36)

1535 "Upon arriving there, since what they found to eat was so meager, some of these Christians, seeing themselves in extreme hunger, killed an Indian they had captured, and roasted the entrails and ate them; and they put a good part of the Indian to stew in a large pot in order to bring along something to eat in the ship's boat in which those who did this were traveling." --Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano, 1535

1542 "The reason the Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed... Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds; the land is fertile and rich, the inhabitants simple, forbearing and submissive. The Spaniards have shown not the slightest consideration for these people, treating them (and I speak from first-hand experience, having been there from the outset) not as brute animals - indeed, I would to God they had done and had shown them the consideration they afford their animals - so much as piles of dung in the middle of the road." --Bartolome de Las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542

1545 The Catholic Church responded with its own Reformation, called the Counter Reformation, centered around the decisions and canons of the Council of Trent which met between 1545 and 1563. The animosity between Protestants and Catholics sparked a series of civil wars in France and England as well as the bloody Thirty Years War involving Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark, England, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire represented by the Hapsburgs. That both sides considered themselves Christian did not temper the bloodshed (Lloyd M. Graham, Deceptions and Myths of the Bible (New York: Citadel Press, 1975), p. 461).

1565 The confession-box was first introduced (John Bossy, Christianity in the West 1400-1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 134; Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), p. 155).

1572 August 24 The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, 10,000 Protestants were slaughtered in France. Pope Gregory XIII (The so-called “reformer” of the Calendar) wrote to France’s Charles IX, “We rejoice with you that with the help of God you have relieved the world of these wretched heretics” (Lloyd M. Graham, Deceptions and Myths of the Bible (New York: Citadel Press, 1975), p. 461)

1574-1669 Another 16 editions of the manual for the persecution of witches, Malleus Maleficarum were published (ellerbe, dark side of christianity, p. 121). Some members of the clergy proudly reported the number of witches they condemned, such as the bishop of Würtzburg who claimed 1900 lives in five years, or the Lutheran prelate Benedict Carpzov who claimed to have sentenced 20,000 devil worshipers (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983, p. 444)

~1575-1625 The Inquisition spread as far as Goe, India where it took no less than 3,800 lives (Roth, The Spanish Inquisition (W. W. Norton & Company, 1964), p. 221).

1578 Inquisitor Francisco Pena stated, “We must remember that the main purpose of the trail and execution is not to save the soul of the accused but to achieve the public good and put fear into others.” (Henry Kamen, Inquisition and Society in Spain (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), p. 161)

1586 Barbara Walker writes that _“the chronicler of Treves reported that in the year 1586, the entire female population of two villages was wiped out by the inquisitors, except for only two women left alive.”_ (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 444)

~1600 Galileo attempted to promote the heliocentric theory which had been first found in 300 BCE, some 1900 years previously, and Galileo, one of the foremost scientists in history,  was subsequently tried by the Inquisition on Rome. Only in 1965 did the Roman Catholic Church revoke its condemnation of Galileo (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 449).

[nofun] ~1600 In seventeenth century New England where Puritans controlled much of society, warnings or actual punishment befell any youths caught sledding or swimming and any adults caught simply enjoying themselves when they might be better employed (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 87).

1614 Iyeyazu, the Shogun of Japan, accused the missionaries of “wanting to change the government of the country and make themselves masters of the soil.” (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 79)

1624 In Protestant England Parliament passed an act prohibiting swearing and cursing (Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), p. 503).

1634 The Puritain General Court forbade garments: “...with any lace on it, silver, gold or thread... also all cutworks, embroidered or needlework caps, bands and rails... all gold and silver girdles, hatbands, belts, ruffs, beaver hats” (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 88)

1639 A law prohibited the custom of drinking toasts or health-drinking as an “abominable” pagan practice (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), pp. 86-87; DC, p. 152). One should not adjourn to the tavern after meetings, and nature-oriented occasions such as harvest huskings should not degenerate into merrymaking  (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 86).

1647 The English Parliament ordered that Christmas, along with other pagan holidays, should cease to be observed (Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, p. 64).

1650 Clothing which revealed the female body was illegal. A 1650 New England law prohibited “short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm may be discovered.” (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 87).

1652 A Parliamentary act repeated that “no observance shall be had on the five-and-twentieth of December, commonly called Christmas day; nor any solemnity used or exercised in churches in respect thereof.” (Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, p. 65)

1653 A Massachusetts law of 1653 prohibited Sunday walks and visits to the harbor as being a waste of time. Playing children or strolling young men and women were warned that they were engaging in “things tending much to the dishonor of God, the reproach of religion and the profanation of the holy Sabbath.” (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 31).

1670 John Lewis and Sarah Chapman were brought before the New London court in 1670 for “sitting together on the Lord’s Day, under an apple tree in Goodman Chapman’s orchard.” (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 31; DC, p. 104).

The 1683 Addendum to the constitution of the diocese of Annecy read: _"...we order the people, under excommunication, to suppress and abolish entirely the torches and fires customarily lit on the first Sunday of Lent... and the masquerades... which are merely shameful relics of Paganism "_ (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 177).

1684 Dancing was a sign of spiritual decay to New England’s Puritan ministers who in 1684 published a pamphlet entitled An Arrow against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing, drawn out of the Quiver of the Scriptures (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 92). See 1700s hymn entry.

~1700 An eighteenth century hymn warns that satan: “...slithers through the flesh//Of dancing men and dames//To hold them in the mesh//Of his hot and am’rous flames” (Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear, translated by Eric Nicholson (New York : St. Martins Press, 1990), p. 437).

[/nofun]

~1700 Protestants and Catholics competed with each other over how little they could care for their bodies, using little soap and water throughout a lifetime.  A Jesuit in the 1700s, explaining in the 1700s that “religious modesty” is enough to prevent anyone from bathing, told a story of one who violated the prohibition: “A youth who dared to bathe at one of our country houses did drown there, perhaps by God’s merciful judgment, for He may have wished this fearful example to serve as law.” (Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear, translated by Eric Nicholson (New York : St. Martins Press, 1990), p. 437).

1701 A city ordinance in New England prohibited making coffins, digging graves or holding funerals on the Sabbath as acts that profaned the holy day (Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 92).

in 1722 a group of villagers from Oster gronning in salling, denmark burned a woman to death for allegedly killing two children and a number of livestock by witch-craft. the courts tried and executed two of the ringleaders of this lynching for murder, outlawed one of their accomplices and forced another  five to do public penance (9) (henningsen, "witch persecution," pp. 110-19, 135)

[nofun] 1746 “Boring” and “pious” were thought to be synonymous (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 228). Diderot described the extremes of Christian “unhappiness”: “What cries! what shrieks! what groans! Who has imprisoned all these woeful corpses? What crimes have all these wretches committed? Some are beating their breasts with stones, others tearing bodies with hooks of are beating their breasts with iron; remorse, pain and death lurk in their eyes...” (Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977), p. 206) [/nofun] More evidence of behavior disorders. Disorders considered to be “moral.”

in 1751 at tring, hertfordshire, a group of villagers suspected ruth and john osborne, a poor elderly couple living in a work house, of being witches because they had become dependent upon the community for their living. when they were subjected to the "swimming test, ruth osborn drowned. The ringleader of the mob that attacked her, thomas colley, was tried and executed for the murder. Colley's neighbors did not think this was a just sentence for killing _"an old wicked woman that had done so much mischief by her witchcraft."_ (W.B. Carnochan, "Witch hunting and belief i 1751: The case of Thomas Colley and Ruth Osborne," _cournal of Social History_ 4 (1971) pp 389-403. Gaskill, Crime and Mantalities, p. 86)

1797 A treaty written during Washington’s administration and ratified by US Senate stated, “The government of the United States is not in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” (Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, edited by Hunter Miller, Volume 2 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1931), pp. 349-385)

~1800 Pope Gregory XVI wrote: “It is in no way lawful to demand, to defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing, or of religion, as if they were so many rights that nature has given to man”  (John Dollison, Pope-Pourri (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 9).

1805 A Seneca chief asked of a Moravian missionary, “If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?” (Forrest Wood, The Arrogance of Faith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), p. 13)

1807 The Dartmouth Gazette responded when Vermont passed a bill allowing religious liberty stating that it was a striking example “of the pernicious and direful, the infernal consequences to which the leveling spirit of democracy must inevitably tend.” (Peter McWilliams, Aint Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society (Los Angeles: Prelude Press, 1993), pp. 103-104)

up to 1834 The Inquisition continued even in some places up to 1834 (WEBS, p. 447).

[nofun] 1870 As late as 1870 in Boston, students who failed to attend public schools on Christmas were punished by public dismissal (Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, pp. 65-66). [/nofun]

in southern provinces of the netherlands, which later became belgium witch-lynchings occurred sporadically from the end of the seventeenth century until 1882. The attacks were almost always directed against women from rural areas, and were often thrown into fires (m. gijswijt-hofstra, "witchcraft after the witch-trials," in witchcraft and magic in europe: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pp 115-16; m.-S. Dupont-bouchat, "le diable apprivoisee: Le sourcellerie revisite; mague et sorcellerie au XIXe siecle," in R. Muchembled (ed.), magie et sorcellerie du moyen age a nos jours (paris, 1994), pp235-66)

good last one: Early 1900 Pope Leo XIII still argued that the ends justified the means: The death sentence is a necessary and efficacious means for the Church to attain its end when rebels act against it and disturbers of ecclesiastical unity, especially obstinate heretics and heresiarchs, cannot be restrained by any other penalty from continuing to derange the ecclesiastical order and impelling others to all sorts of crime... When the perversity of one or several is calculated to bring about the ruin of many of its children it is bound effectively to remove it, in such wise that if there be no other remedy for saving its people it can and must put these wicked men to death (Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), p. 468).

~1900 Doctors performed hysterectomies to Native American women without their consent after they had just given birth (Mary Crow Dog, “Lakota Woman”) you think these doctors were not christian?

in 1911, in the vicinity of perugia, italy, farmers seized an old woman reputed to be a witch and burned her to death in a lime kiln (W.G. Soldan and H. Heppe, _Geschichte der Hexenprozesse_, ed. M. Bauer (minich, 1912), II, p. 350)

1917 Torture remained a legal option for the Church from 1252 when it was sanctioned by Pope Innocent IV until 1917 when the New Codex Juris Canonici was put into effect.(G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 154-155)

1928 A family of Hungarian peasants was acquitted of beating an old woman to death whom they claimed was a witch. The court based its decision on the ground that the family had acted out of “irresistible compulsion.” (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 1087)

3/23/1933 "The Government, being resolved to undertake the political and moral purification of our public life, are creating and securing the conditions necessary for a really profound revival of religious life." -Adolf Hitler, in his speech to the Reichstag on 23 March 1933

~1940 Catholics refused to oppose the attempted extermination of Jews by Nazis during World War II, (Lawrence Lader, Politics, Power & the Church (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987), pp. 135-140; “World Watch” The Rocky Mountain News, April 14, 1992; “Vatican denies helping Nazis flee after war”, The Associated Press, February 15, 1992)

~1940 Hitler did the Lord's work according to many quotes of his

1965 The Catholic Church decided that Galileo wasn’t in hell, and reversed its condemnation of him for attempting to promote the heliocentric theory (Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 910).

1976 A poor spinster, Elizabeth Hahn, was suspected of witchcraft and of keeping familiars, or devil’s agents, in the form of dogs. The neighbors in her small German village ostracized her, threw rocks at her, and threatened to beat her to death before burning her house, badly burning her and killing her animals (Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987), p. 229).

1977 Pope John Paul VI still explained that women were barred from the priesthood “because our Lord was a man.”(Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), p. 131-132)

1977 In France, an old man was killed for ostensible sorcery (Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987), p. 229).

in 1977 two brothers in a village near alencon, france, were tried for murdering a "village sorcerer" who kept a cabin full of "magical potions" and who was known to throw salt on people's gardens. (agence france-press, may 13, 1977. This case is discussed in Henningsen, _witches' advocate,_ p 18)

~1980s Shroud of Turin is exposed as a fraud.

1981 A mob in Mexico stoned a woman to death for her apparent witchcraft which they believed had incited the attack upon Pope John Paul II (Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987), p. 110).

8/27/1988 President George Bush stated, "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." Boulder Daily Camera, Monday February 27, 1989; "Free Inquiry", Fall 1988 issue, Volume 8, Number 4, page 16.

1989 "A survey of hotel bills from last year's National Religious Broadcasters Association convention found that 80 percent of them watched an X-rated movie in the privacy of their rooms. Just doing a little research on the enemy, we suppose." _Reason_, October 1989

1992 "The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women ... It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become Lesbians." -- Pat Robertson

8/16/93 "I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism." --Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 8-16-93

1994 "I've been fighting against the Jews and niggers and for our Lord Jesus Christ and the white race ever since I was a child. And most of the time we've been losing ...We had lost the fight for the preservation of the white race until God himself intervened in earthly affairs with AIDS to rescue and preserve the white race that he had created. So AIDS is a great racial miracle. I praise God all the time for AIDS." -- J. B. Stoner at the Aryan Nations Congress at Hayden Lake Idaho in 1994.

1997 Catholic Bishops sent a letter to the Churches asking parents to accept their homosexual children’s sexual orientation, because it is not a choice. They want to stop the violence against homosexuals. They still, however, deny homosexuals the right to marry or even to have sex. (12:42 AM, 10/01/97, By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON [Reuter])

bibliography:

AES Elain Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988) AF Forrest Wood, The Arrogance of Faith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990) C&B Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987) C&C Henri Daniel-Rops, Cathedral and Crusade (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1957) CBV Ian Bergg, The Cult of the Black Virgin (London: Arkana, 1985) CITW Karen Armstrong, Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World (New York: Doubleday, 1988) CLV Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (London: Burns and Oats, 1977) CMCL Timothy O’Neil, “Century of Marvels, Century of Light” CRI Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, edited by Irene Gordon (New York: Mentor Books, 1960) CW    John Bossy, Christianity in the West 1400-1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985) CWE J.N. Hillgarth, The Conversion of Western Europe (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969) DB    Lloyd M. Graham, Deceptions and Myths of the Bible (New York: Citadel Press, 1975) DC    Helen Ellerbe, the Dark Side of Christianity (California: Morningstar Books, 1995) DCP    Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism (New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1976) DFRC Malachi Martin, Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981) DM Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978) EEPE Charles Panati, Panati’s Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything (New York: Harper & Row, 1989) EWD Rossell Hope Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (New York: Bonanza Books, 1981) GW    Karen Armstrong, The Gospel According to Woman: Christianity’s Creation of the Sex War in the West (New York: Doubleday, 1986) HA    Walter Nigg, The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages (New York: Dorset Press, 1962) HBG    Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail (New York: Dell, 1982) HCFC    Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs HH    James A. Haught, Holy Horrors (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1990) HM    Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, edited by Hunter Miller, Volume 2 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1931) HMC    Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (New York: Thomas Y Cromwell, 1968) HSC    Henry C. Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, 4th edition revised (London: Watts & Co., 1932) IL    G. G. Coulton, Inquisition and Liberty (Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1969) IMA    Henry Charles Lea, The Inquisition and the Middle Ages, Abridgment by Margaret Nicholson (New York: MacMillan, 1961) ISS    Henry Kamen, Inquisition and Society in Spain (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985) LC    Judith Mann, “The Legend of the Cathars” GNOSIS, NO. 4 X --  MC Geoffrey Ashe, The Virgin: Mary’s Cult and the Re-emergence of the Goddess (London: Arkana, 1976, 1988) MW    Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World, translated by Janet Sondheimer, (New York: NAL, 1961) NB    Peter McWilliams, Aint Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society (Los Angeles: Prelude Press, 1993) NCE    The New Columbia Encyclopedia edited by William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey (New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1975) NI    The “Natural Inferiority” of Women compiled by Tama Starr (New York: Poseidon Press, 1991) PGS    Charles Merrill Smith, The Pearly Gates Syndicate (New York: DoubleDay, 1971) PH    Joseph Gaer and Ben Siegel, The Puritan Heritage: America’s Roots in the Bible (New York: Mentor Books, 1964) PP    John Dollison, Pope-Pourri (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994) PPC    Lawrence Lader, Politics, Power & the Church (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987) RC    Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century (Cleveland & New York: Meridian Books, 1927) RDM    Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974) RE    Lewis Regenstein, Replenish the Earth (New York: Crossroad, 1991) RMM    Joan Smith, Misogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989) RMN    “World Watch” The Rocky Mountain News, April 14, 1992 RSI    Roth, The Spanish Inquisition (W. W. Norton & Company, 1964) SF    Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear, translated by Eric Nicholson (New York : St. Martins Press, 1990) SI    Jean Plaidy, The Spanish Inquisition (New York: Citadel Press, 1967) ST    Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (New York & London: Blackfriars, McGraw-Hill, Eyre & Spottiswoode) TD    Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: Random House, 1983) VD    “Vatican denies helping Nazis flee after war”, The Associated Press, February 15, 1992 WEBS    Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983) WHE    Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman, 1987) WM    Barry Holstun Lopez, Of Wolves and Men (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978) WMA    Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 1972) WW    Julio Caro Baroja, The World of Witches (Chircago: University of Chicago Press, 1961) Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman

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sassy!

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deforest on love and logic

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all aboard the captain kirk train!

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if it’s okay for deforest kelley it’s okay for the captain

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Kirk’s wisdom, flagellation