A
4th century power struggle that played out across the Mediterranean
world
brought
a minor sect of religious extremists to centre stage.
Finding themselves on the winning side in a civil war and rewarded by cosseting within
imperial residences, bishops of the Christian Church were
able to
impose their
faith
upon a demoralised population using all the sanctions
of the State. And as the empire fragmented and fell,
ambitious clerics of Christ disseminated a cancer of superstition,
fear and brutality far beyond the old imperial frontiers.
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Herculaneum, 1st century
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The First Christians – "Haters of the human race"?
From Judaism, the enthusiasts of Christ derived
the notion that the body was a source of shame and that women
were an inferior breed. But the early Christians were also
influenced by Hellenic ideas that the passions were inherently
suspect and that sex was harmful to the soul. Mortification
of the flesh and abstinence
became the path to spiritual purity.
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Randy Romans? |
Primitive Christianity compromises with reality
The Roman world, for all its pleasure
seeking, was not unfamiliar with notions of stoical restraint
and self-denial. Into this cosmopolitan world intruded
a bunch of fanatics for whom sex was not merely tainted
by "uncleanliness" but was itself a "pollution of the
spirit". Yet in Catholicism, this morbid, sociopathic death cult happily compromised
the fierce strictures of the founders for worldly advantage.
Predators replaced the puritans.
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Callistus – Embezzler,
Extortionist, Friend of Emperor’s Whore, Makes Pope,
Dies with Transvestite!
As it waited in the wings of pagan Rome, the Catholic Church was already marked by corruption, violence and the kind of sexual scandal.
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Constantine Pagan
Thug Makes Christian Emperor
The fanatics
of Christ proved useful to the ambitious prince who set
his sights on absolute and undivided power.
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Rome's new masters – The Bishops Control the Minds of Juvenile Emperors
Orchestrated by scheming bishops, "Christian
piety" corrupted Roman leadership and vigour. While an
indolent army of clerics lived on the state, the
impoverished legions degenerated into a peasant
militia leaving the empire vulnerable to incursions.
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Theodosius The
Assault upon Paganism
Once a particular Christianity hierarchical
and authoritarian became wedded
to the Roman state, it became a force of brutal
repression. The first Christian
fanatic on the throne of the Caesars criminalized and punished
a large part of the population of the whole empire.
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Pope
Damasus – The
Gangster who hired a Pimp to write the Bible!
A young emperor's
preoccupation with the Gothic threat set loose the limitless
ambition of the Bishop of Rome.
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The
Struggle for Orthodoxy – Christianity's "civil
war"
Catholicism's
struggle for power with a rival Christianity: Arianism. Arianism was trounced and a Catholic trinitarian nonsense triumphed. This so-called 'orthodoxy' suppressed
and persecuted all 'heretical' opposition.
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The
Closing Mind – The
Insanity Begins
With the Church triumphant Europe sank into ignorance
and superstition.
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End
of Classic Scholarship in Egypt – Death on the Nile
Assassination of Hypatia. The intellectual
centres of the empire
were ruined by murder
and prohibition.
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A Timeline of Catastrophe – Darkness Descends on the Greco-Roman World
Romano-Hellenic
culture was transformed by the "Church
Fathers" of Bigotry, Anti-Semitism,
Prudery, Censorship & Intolerance. Directed
by ambitious Christian clerics, a cancer of superstition,
fear and brutality was imposed across Europe.
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Civilization
Erased by Piety and Fanaticism – Part
1
The civilization that
had stretched from the deserts of Arabia to the highlands
of Scotland reverted to a primitive village subsistence.
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Civilization
Erased by Piety and Fanaticism – Part
2
Humanity reverted
to a primitive village subsistence in a post-Roman world.
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Dwarfs
on the Bones of Giants – The
Withering of Culture
Emperors Hadrian and Charlemagne compared
Miniscule – The
'Carolingian Renaissance'
contribution to civilization
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Bringing the ungodly
to Christ |
'Privilegia
Ecclesiastica' – The Decline
of Law and Liberty
In the Christianized world, women, fortunate
to be domestic slaves, might find themselves in
enforced celibacy, joyless marriage or burnt as a witch. The rule of law
was replaced by the Divine
Right of kings, despots like the God that chooses them, and a privileged clergy, placed beyond the law of mere mortals.
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The Death of Science
In the gathering darkness of Christendom, scientific method and speculation were criminalized. The Mediterranean world sank into a sterile "piety" in which knowledge, art and technology atrophied,
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The Ruin
of Public Health
With the rise
of Christian tyranny, medical knowledge was lost
for a millennium.
Picture
Essay: Ancient medical knowledge destroyed
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Men in frocks –
God's curious fashion foibles
Pontificalia is an essential element of the religious circus. Without the fancy dress would Jesus-magic still enthrall the gullible, enthuse the pious and comfort the desolate? The showman needs his ensemble of silk and satin, his purple and gold livery, his dashing headgear, his rings, sashes and baubles.
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Some fifty articles are now available as a book.
For your copy order:
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Copyright © 2005
by Kenneth Humphreys.
Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no
material herein is sold for profit. |