The Dark Side of Christian History

People came to attribute their sense of powerlessness, not so much to their sinful human nature as to their insignificance in such a world. The theories of scientists and philosophers such as Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes and Charles Darwin reinforced orthodox Christian beliefs such as the inevitability of struggle and the necessity for domination. Such beliefs, however, are now proving not only to have serious drawbacks, but also to be scientifically limited. Orthodox Christianity has also had devastating impact upon humanity's relationship with nature.

As people began to believe that God was removed from and disdainful of the physical world, they lost their reverence for nature. Holidays, which had helped people integrate the seasons with their lives, were changed into solemn commemorations of biblical events bearing no connection to the earth's cycles. The perception of time changed so that it no longer seemed related to seasonal cycles. Newtonian science seemed to confirm that the earth was no more than the inevitable result of the mechanistic operation of inanimate components; it confirmed that the earth lacked sanctity.

The dark side of Christian history can help us understand the severing of our connection with the sacred. It can teach us of the most insidious and damaging slavery of all: This ignored side of history can illuminate the ideas and beliefs which foster the denigration of human rights, the intolerance of difference, and the desecration of the natural environment. Once recognized, we can prevent such beliefs from ever wreaking such destruction again. When we understand how we have come to be separated from the divine, we can begin to heal not only the scars, but the very alienation itself.

Chapter One Seeds of Tyranny - C. Those who sought to control spirituality, to restrict personal relationships with God, gained prominence within the first centuries of the Christian era. Their beliefs formed the ideologi- cal foundation for much of the dark side of the Christian church's history. Committed to the belief in singular supremacy, these orthodox Christians thought that fear and submission to hierarchical authority were imperative. Not all Christians agreed. In fact, contrary to the conventional depiction of the first centuries of Christianity as a time of harmony and unity, early Christians disagreed about everything from the nature of God and the roles of men and women to the way one finds enlighten- ment.

The belief in a singular God differed radically from the widespread belief that divinity could be manifest in a multiplicity of forms and images. Different genders, races, classes, or beliefs are all ordered as better-than or less- than one another. Even the notion of two differing opinions existing harmoniously becomes foreign; one must prevail and be superior to the other.

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Within such a belief structure, God is understood to reign singularly from the pinnacle of a hierarchy based not upon love and support, but upon fear. The Bible repeatedly exhorts people to fear God: But how are you going to love, without some fear that you do not love? Surely [such a God] is neither your Father, towards whom your love for duty's sake should be consistent with fear because of His power; nor your proper Lord, whom you should love for His humanity and fear as your teacher.

As the Lord's Prayer states, God's will should "be done on earth as it is in heaven. The fourth century St. John Chrysostom describes the absolute necessity for fear: Christians, such as the second century Marcion, who stressed the merciful, forgiving and loving nature of God, found them- selves at odds with the orthodox. In orthodox Christian eyes, God must be prone to anger and demand discipline and punish- ment.

Now, if [Marcion 's God] is susceptible of no feeling of rivalry, or anger, or damage, or injury, as one who refrains from exercising judicial power, I cannot tell how any system of discipline — and that, too, a plenary one — can be consistent in him. As there is only one God in heaven, declared the first century bishop, Ignatius of Antioch, so there can be only one bishop in the Church.

The orthodox emphasized rank to such an extent that one Gnostic Christian wrote of them: Some Gnostic Christians understood God to be multi-faceted, having both masculine and feminine aspects. In contrast to the orthodox Ignatius of Antioch who believed that the rankings of bishop, priest and deacon mirrored the heavenly hierarchy, 15 some Gnostic Chris- tians did not even differentiate between clergy and laity, much less between stations of the clergy.

Tertullian described the Gnostics: So today one man is bishop and tomorrow another; the person who is a deacon today, tomorrow is a reader; the one who is a priest today is a layman tomorrow; for even on the laity they impose the functions of priesthood! They also share the kiss of peace with all who come Perceiving the singular face of God to be male, orthodox Christians considered male supremacy an extension of heavenly order. Augustine wrote in the early fifth century, "we must conclude, that a husband is meant to rule over his wife as the spirit rules over the flesh.

Paul tried to explain the reason for male supremacy: For a man did not originally spring from woman, but woman was made out of man; and was not created for woman's sake, but woman for the sake of man. In the first letter to Timothy, St. Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness, I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent?

Cyril explained that it was because she was an iniquitous female who had presumed, against God's commandments, to teach men. An early group known as the Essenes, many of whose writings have been discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls, thought of divinity as having a feminine aspect. Rise up on the earth! For when Adam rose up, immediately he opened his eyes.

When he saw her, he said, 'You will be called "the mother of the living" because you are the one who gave me life. Some believed that she was the first to see Jesus Christ resurrected and that she challenged Peter's authority as part of the emerging Church hierarchy. Tertullian was appalled at the role of women among Gnostics: For they are bold enough to teach, to dispute, to enact exorcisms, to undertake cures — it may be even to baptize!

Much of this argument centered around the resurrection of Christ, around whether it was Christ's physical body or his spirit that had been resurrected. Orthodox Christians insisted that it had been Christ's physical body, to use Tertullian's words, his "flesh suffused with blood, built up with bones, interwoven with nerves, entwined with veins The orthodox insisted that one could learn of Christ only through those who had experienced this resurrection, the Apostles, or those men appointed as their successors.

This confined power and authority to a small few and established a specific chain of command. Orthodox, catholic "universal" Christians claimed to be those appointed successors of the Apostles and thus the only ones who could enlighten others. It is incumbent to obey the priests who are in the Church Believing Christ's spirit to have been resurrected suggests that anyone, regardless of his or her rank, could experience or "see the Lord" in dreams or visions.

Anyone could become empowered with the same authority as the Apostles. Christians disagreed about the very nature of truth. To the orthodox, who believed that truth could come only through the successors of the Apostles, truth was static and never-changing. It had been revealed only once at the resurrection. Consequently, they thought that one should learn of God only through the Church, not from personal inquiry and not from one's own experience.

Blind faith was considered more important than personal understanding. Bishop Irenaeus cautioned not to seek answers "such as every one discovers for himself," but rather to accept in faith that which the Church teaches and which "can be clearly, unambiguously and harmoniously understood by all. We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition after enjoying the gospel!

With our faith, we desire no further belief 36 One should unquestioningly accept and submit to whatever the Church teaches. Indeed, orthodox Christians deemed rigorous personal pursuit of truth and understanding an indication of heresy. But on what ground are heretics strangers and enemies to the apostles, if it be not from the difference of their teaching, which each individual of his own mere will has either advanced or received?

Others, however, believing that Christ's spirit and presence could be experienced by anyone at any time, considered truth to be dynamic and ever-increasing. Some Gnostics believed that truth and Gnosis or "knowledge" was found, not by looking to the Church, but by looking within oneself. Self-knowledge would lead to knowing God. A Gnostic teacher named Monoimus wrote: Look for God by taking yourself as the starting point Learn the sources of sorrow, joy, love, hate If you carefully investigate these matters you will find him in yourself.

A Gnostic text reads " If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. And the anguish grew solid like a fog, so that no one was able to see.

They believed that Jesus had encouraged self -exploration. Jesus said, "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" and "the Kingdom of God is within you. Early Christians differed sharply about the role of the Church. Gnostic Christians who valued personal exploration believed that the structure of the Church should remain flexible, while orthodox Christians insisted upon strict adherence to a singular Church. Clement went as far as to say that whoever disobeys these divinely ordained authorities has disobeyed God Himself and should receive the death penalty.

Their belief in singular supremacy limited the way one could understand God and it eliminated any representation of shared supremacy. It encouraged a fear-based authoritarian structure that segregates people into positions of superiority or inferiority, restricts personal empowerment, and demands unquestioning obedience.

Although orthodox Christians represented only one of many early branches, within a few centuries they had effectively suppressed the diversity of early beliefs and ideas. Orthodox Christian beliefs became synonymous with Christianity itself. Chapter Two Political Maneuvering: Making Christianity Palatable to the Romans - C. Christianity owes its large membership to the political maneuvering of orthodox Christians. They succeeded in turning Christianity from an abhorred minor cult into the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Their goal was to create what Bishop Irenaeus called "the catholic church dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth. They revised Christian writings and adapted their principles to make Christianity more acceptable. They pandered to Roman authorities. They incorporated elements of paganism. Orthodox Christianity appealed to the government, not as a religion that would encourage enlightenment or spiritual- ity, but rather as one that would bring order and conformity to the faltering empire.

The Roman government in turn granted orthodox Christians unprecedented privilege, enabling the Christian church to become the very sort of authoritarian power that Jesus had resisted. Winning acceptance for Christianity was no small feat; Christians were not well-liked within the Roman Empire. Edict of Milan, for example, granted everyone religious freedom so "whatever divinity is enthroned in heaven may be well-disposed and propitious towards us and all those under our authority.

When they refused to profess loyalty to the Roman pantheon of gods, Christians were seen as likely traitors to the Roman state. For once Roman emperors began to represent themselves as divine, loyalty to the Roman gods also symbolized loyalty to the Roman state. Christians held attitudes that did little to endear them to Romans.

Bishop Irenaeus, for example, declared, "We have no need of the law for we are already far above it in our godly behavior. The orthodox used politically expedient means to accomplish such ends. They designed an organization not to encourage spirituality, but to manage large numbers of people.

They simplified the criteria for membership. As one historian writes, such criteria suggest that "to achieve salvation, an ignoramus need only believe without understanding and obey the authorities Some Gnostic Christians, for example, insisted that Jesus had said, "By their fruits ye shall know them Orthodox Christians assembled the Bible not to bring all the gospels together, but rather to encourage uniformity.

From the plethora of Christian gospels, Bishop Ixenaeus compiled the first list of biblical writings that resemble today's New Testament around C. By and , Bishop Athanasius had a similar list ratified by the Church councils of Hippo and Carthage. And yet, as late as , Theodore of Cyrrhus said that there were at least different gospels circulating in his own diocese. Attempts at uniformity did not entirely succeed. Even the four canonized Gospels contradict one another.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus was an aristocrat descended from David via Solomon, whereas the Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was from much more humble stock, and the Gospel of Mark says that Jesus was born to a poor carpenter. At his birth, Jesus was visited by kings according to Matthew, but according to Luke, he was visited by shepherds. Constantine, a man who had his own son executed and his wife boiled alive, 17 saw in Christianity a pragmatic means of bolstering his own military power and uniting the vast and troubled Roman Empire.

The story is told of Constantine's dream which led to his acceptance of Christianity in which he saw a cross in the sky inscribed with the words, "In this sign thou shalt conquer. Orthodox Christians dissociated Christianity from political insurgence. In all likelihood, they compromised the truth of Jesus's political involvement, holding Jews rather than Romans accountable for his death. The canonized Gospels conspicuously ignore the tension of increasing Jewish resistance to the Roman occupation of Judea during Jesus's lifetime. One exception is in the Gospel of Luke when it recounts how authorities "found this man [Jesus] perverting our nation, and forbidding [Jews] to give tribute to Caesar.

Jesus was probably engaged in the concerns of his time as both a political and spiritual leader. The term Christ, both in Hebrew and in Greek, was a functional title for a king or a leader. Crucifixion had been the standard Roman punishment for sedition and the cross a symbol of Jewish resistance to Roman occupation.

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Blaming Jews for Jesus's death was most likely a convenient means of obscuring Jesus's political involve- ment and dissociating Christianity from political rebellion. To settle ideological disputes in the Church, Constantine introduced and presided over the first ecumenical council at Nicea in In his book The Heretics, Walter Nigg describes the means of 2.

This illustration depicts him on the eve of an important battle when he is said to have seen a cross in the sky with the words, "In this sign thou shalt conquer. Constantine, who treated religious questions solely from a political point of view, assured unanimity by banishing all the bishops who would not sign the new profession of faith.

In this way unity was achieved. It was altogether unheard-of that a universal creed should be instituted solely on the authority of the emperor, who as a catechumen was not even admitted to the mystery of the Eucharist and was totally unempowered to rule on the highest mysteries of the faith. Not a single bishop said a single word against this monstrous thing.

Jesus was not to be considered mortal; he was an aspect of God which could be understood as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This new Holy Trinity mim- icked a much older portrait of divinity that embodied the value of difference. For instance, the vision of God in the Gnostic Secret Book of John, "I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Child," 23 illustrates the concept of synergy where the whole created is greater than the sum of the parts.

Another text called The Sophia of Jesus Christ tells how masculine and feminine energies together created a His male name is called 'First-Begettress Sophia, Mother 2. It took the older concept of trinity illustrating the value of difference, in which a man and a woman together create a synergy, something that is greater than them both, and replaced it with a trinity that exalted sameness.

All reference to a synergy, an energy, a magic, that could result from two different people coming together was lost. The council eliminated the image of father, mother and child, replacing the Hebrew feminine term for spirit, ruah, with the Greek neuter term, pneuma. Christians depicted it as three young men of identical shape and appearance.

Yet, it was their belief in the many faces of God that helped Romans accommodate Christianity, not the uniqueness of Christian theology. Christianity resembled certain elements of Roman belief, particularly the worship of Mithra, or Mithraism. Mithra's birthday on December 25, close to the winter solstice, became Jesus's birthday. Shepherds were to have witnessed Mithra's birth and were to have partaken in a last supper with Mithra before he returned to heaven. Christians took over a cave -temple dedicated to Mithra in Rome on the Vatican Hill, making it the seat of the Catholic Church. Mary was perceived to be a more accessi- ble, approachable and humane figure than the judgmental, almighty God.

She was more gentle and forgiving and much more likely to help one in everyday affairs. The fifth century historian Sozomen describes Mary's character in his writing of the Anastasia in Constantinople: A divine power was there manifested, and was helpful both in waking visions and in dreams, often for the relief of many diseases and for those afflicted by some sudden transmutation in their affairs.

The power was attributed to Mary, the Mother of God, the holy Virgin, for she does manifest herself in this way. In doing so, it allowed pre-Christian veneration of feminine divinity to continue as Marian worship. Chrysostom in the fourth century accused Mary of trying to domineer and "make herself illustrious through her son.

God came down from heaven, the Word clothed himself in flesh from a holy Virgin, not, assur- edly, that the Virgin should be adored, nor to make a goddess of her, nor that we should offer sacrifice in her name, nor that, now after so many generations, women should once again be appointed priests God gave her no charge to minister baptism or bless disciples, nor did he bid her rule over the earth.

Nevertheless, Marian worship persisted. When a council at Ephesus in implied that Mary could be safely worshipped, crowds burst into delirious celebrations, accompanied by torchlight processions and shouts of "Praised be the Theotokos Mother of God! Near the Pantheon a church dedicated to Mary adjoined Isis's sanctuary while another was built on a site which had been dedicated to Minerva.

Like Cybele [Mary] guarded Rome. Like Athene she protected various other cities. Like Isis she watched over seafarers, becoming and remaining the 'Star of the Sea'. Like Juno she cared for pregnant women She wore a crown recalling Cybele' s. Enthroned with her child she resembled Isis with Horus. She even had touches of Neith about her. Interestingly, the Christian version of feminine divinity excluded any portrayal of one of the most powerful aspects of the Goddess, the face of the old, wise crone.

Three faces of feminine divinity were common throughout pre-Christian traditions, that of the Virgin or Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. Mary embodied the first two as both Virgin and Mother. The third face of the Crone, representing the culmination of feminine power and wisdom, was excluded from the Christian canon of saints. The Church's rejection of the Crone is significant in that it is precisely the Crone figure who later came to symbolize the ultimate enemy of the Church — the witch.

The Church reaped enormous gains by compromising its ideology and adapting to prevalent beliefs. In Constantine passed a law excusing the clergy from paying taxes or serving in the army 43 and in bishops were exempted from ever being tried in secular courts. We shall believe in the single Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of equal majesty and of the Holy Trinity.

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 judgement. And a prohibition forbade any public discussions of religious topics. The ancient, multidimensional Pagan worship was prohibited in and considered a criminal activity. In the 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 punish- able by exile and blood, should they again be tempted to assemble at such places for criminal activities A written protest to the Roman government of Christian pillaging remains: 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: Judaism remained the only other legally recognized religion.

Yet, Jews were isolated as much as possible, with intermarriage between Jew and Christian carrying the same penalty as adultery: The belief in but one face of God had led to the legal enforcement of but one religion. Orthodox Christians acted on their belief about God. As they perceived God to control in an authoritarian manner, so they set about finding a way in which they, in God's name, could exercise similar authoritarian control.

To that end, they built an organization that appealed to the government of the Roman Empire by promoting uniformity and obedience. In all likeli- hood, these Christians altered the story of Jesus's death in order to dissociate Christianity from rebellion against Roman authority.

They established criteria that made it easy to recruit large numbers of people. The early Church compromised its ideology to accommodate contemporary beliefs. It was through political maneuvering that the Church won its standing as the official religion of the Roman Empire and the accompanying secular power and privilege.

Chapter Three Deciding upon Doctrine: The Church formulated its doctrine regarding sex, free will and reincarnation in response to early heretics. In each case, it chose ideological positions which best justified Church control over the individual and over society. The Church also developed a doctrine which justified its use of force in order to compel obedience. It was not long before the Church needed that doctrine to defend its violent suppression of heresy. The heresies surrounding Pelagius, Origen, and the Donatists led to particularly significant new doctrine. The Mannichaean heresy, while not leading to specific doctrine, set a precedent for the Church's denial of unpopular aspects of its own ideology.

Pelagius, an Irish monk who arrived in Rome at the beginning of the fifth century, believed that a person had freedom of will and responsibility for his or her actions. He believed that a person's own efforts play a part in determining whether or not he or she will be saved. In Pelagius's eyes, reliance upon redemption by Christ should be accompanied by individual responsibility and efforts to do good.

As one historian writes: Pelagius fought for the immeasurably precious good of man's freedom. That freedom cannot be surrendered without loss of human dignity Unless man's freedom to make his own decisions is recognized, he is reduced to a mere marionette. According to Pelagius, the Creator conferred moral authority upon man, and to detract from that authority is to cast doubt upon man's likeness to God.

Augustine, the celebrated Doctor of the Church and Bishop of Hippo. Salvation, as Augustine saw it, is entirely in God's hands; there is nothing an individual can do. God has chosen but a few people to whom He will give bliss and salvation. It is for these few that Christ came into the world. All others are damned for all eternity. In Augustine's eyes, it is only God's grace and not any action or willingness on the part of the individual that leads to salvation.

Augustine believed that our freedom of will to choose good over evil was lost with the sin of Adam. Adam's sin, that, in Augustine's words, is in the "nature of the semen from which we were propagated," brought suffering and death into the world, took away our free will, and left us with an inherently evil nature. Human sexuality, to Augustine, clearly demonstrates a human inability to choose good over evil. Augustine based this belief upon his own experience. Having himself led a promiscuous life in his youth during which he fathered and then abandoned an illegitimate child, he thought that sex was intrinsically evil.

He complained of sexual desire: Who can control this when its appetite is aroused? In the very movement of this appetite, then, it has no 'mode' that responds to the decisions of the will Yet what he wishes he cannot accomplish In the very movement of the appetite, it has no mode corresponding to the decision of the will. But even those who delight in this pleasure are not moved to it at their own will, whether they confine themselves to lawful or transgress to unlawful pleasures; but sometimes this lust importunes them in spite of themselves, and sometimes fails them when they desire to feel it, so that though lust rages in the mind, it stirs not in the body.

Thus, strangely enough, this emotion not only fails to obey the legitimate desire to beget offspring, but also refuses to serve lascivious lust; and though it often opposes its whole combined energy to the soul that resists it, sometimes also it is divided against itself, and while it moves the soul, leaves the body unmoved. His views did, however, represent those of many Christians. With the exception of minor heretical groups such as the Gnostic Carpocratians who exalted sex "as a bond between all created things," 9 nearly all Christians thought that sex should be avoided except for purposes of procreation.

Jerome warns, "Regard everything as poison which bears within it the seed of sensual pleasure. Clement of Alexandria excludes oral and anal intercourse, and intercourse with a menstru- ating, pregnant, barren, or menopausal wife and for that matter, with one's wife 'in the morning', 'in the daytime', or 'after dinner'. Clement warns, indeed, that 'not even at night, although in darkness, is it fitting to carry on immodestly or indecently, but with modesty, so that whatever happens, happens in the light of reason As Clement said, "lust is not easy to restrain, being devoid of fear In April of the pope excommunicated Pelagius.

Ever since, the Catholic Church has officially embraced the doctrine of hereditary transmission of original sin. Origen, a Christian scholar, thought that the human soul exists before it is incarnated into a physical body and then passes from one body to another until it is reunited with God, after which it no longer takes on a physical form. He believed that all souls eventually return to God. He thought that while Christ could greatly speed the reconciliation with God, such reconciliation would not take place without effort by the individual.

Since humankind had fallen from God by its own free will, he argued, so humankind must also reunite with God through its own volition. The orthodox opposed Origen's theories, insisting that they depended too heavily upon individual self-determination. Augustine, the much celebrated Father of the Church.

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His ideas and arguments gave the Church doctrines which denied human free will, condemned sex, and justified the use of force in order to compel obedience to the Church. A person's salvation, in orthodox eyes, depends not upon self-determination and free will, as Origen's theories suggest, but only upon embracing Jesus Christ. Furthermore, if a person could choose to reunite with God in any one of many lifetimes, then there would be little fear of eternal damnation — and fear was deemed essential by the orthodox.

Origen's idea that the soul is separable from the body also seemed to diminish the extraordinary nature of Christ's resurrection. The miracle of Christ's resurrection was understood to offer the possibility of overcoming physical death. If, however, each soul periodically overcomes death by separating from one body and entering into another, then Jesus's feat would not have been unique. Origen's work also challenged the Church's control of intellectual and spiritual pursuit. Although he meticulously cited scripture to support his beliefs, Origen found that the scriptures provided limited direction in certain areas.

Having received the education of a learned Greek, Origen continued to seek answers both in Platonic philosophy and in his own imagination when scripture was unavailing. Augustine asked, for example: For this I have none to tell me, neither father nor mother, nor experiences of others, nor mine own 19 memory. Whereas Origen continued to contemplate and explore such questions, Augustine retreated from inquiry outside the scripture.

And yet, what if this is one of those things of which we are told: In condemning Origen, the Church indirectly dealt with the issue of reincarnation. Christians were not to believe in the pre-existence of souls, the existence of discarnate consciousness, or that a person has any more than this one lifetime to turn to the Christian God without being subject to eternal damnation. Furthermore, the anathemas against Origen served as another reminder that, regardless of the sincerity of one's faith, one should always remain within the ideological confines of scripture.

In dealing with the Donatist heresy, the Church set a precedent for using violence to suppress dissent. When the Donatists demanded higher standards of the clergy than the Catholic Church, their movement spread like wildfire, with Donatists outnumbering Catholics in Africa by the middle of the fourth century. The Church followed his advice and brutally crushed the Donatist movement. The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. To love with sternness is better than to deceive with gentleness The death sentence is a necessary and efficacious means for the Church to attain its end when rebels act against it and disturbers of the 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.

Begun by the Persian Mani in the third century, Mannichaean theology is the logical consequence of the belief in singular supremacy. Why does an almighty God, who creates everything, create human suffering?

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The most common answer is that there must be a conflicting force, power, or god creating the evil; there must be a devil. A dualistic theology arises which understands life to be a struggle between God and satan, between good and evil, and between spirit and matter. The concept of a devil is exclusive to monotheism; evil is easier to understand and does not pose the need for a devil when there are many faces of God.

The early Hebrews had no need to personify the principle of evil; they could attribute it to the influence of other rival deities. It was only the triumph of monotheism which made it necessary to explain why there should be evil in the world if God was good. The Devil thus helped to sustain the notion of an all-perfect divinity.

They took the idea seriously that spirituality and godliness are detached from the physical world. The belief in a singular supremacy creates a hierarchy that separates its components, creating a division between heaven and earth, between spirit and matter. The components higher up on the hierarchy are considered good; the components lower down are considered evil.

Accordingly, Mannichaeans advocated stringent asceticism and withdrawal from the world. Women, seen to tempt men with the earthly pleasures of sex and family, were considered to be part of satan's forces. To be closer to God, Mannichaeans believed that one must avoid anything that would bind one to earthly life.

The Church was struggling to incorporate vast numbers of people who still understood the world in a pagan, pantheistic and polytheistic context. Most people thought that everything within the physical world was imbued with a sense of the divine, that there was little separation between spirit and matter, and that divinity was personified in many different faces. To advocate a complete renunciation of the physical world as satan's realm and to abolish all but one divine persona would have led to certain failure in the Church's efforts to spread Christianity.

So, although it still maintained the belief in a singular supremacy and in its implicit hierarchy, the Church also allowed worship of not only the Holy Virgin Mary, but also a multitude of angels and saints. Mannichaeanism may have been more consistent with orthodox ideology, but it was politically imprudent.

Mannichaeans and all others who promoted similar ideas in the centuries that followed were labelled heretics. The tenets formulated in response to early heretics lent doctrinal validation to the Church's control of the individual and society. By opposing Pelagius, the Church adopted Augustine's idea that people are inherently evil, incapable of choice, and thus in need of strong authority.

Human sexuality is seen as evidence of their sinful nature. By castigating Origen's theories of reincarnation, the Church upheld its belief in the unique physical resurrection of Christ as well as the belief that a person has but one life in which to obey the Church or risk eternal damnation.

With the Donatists, it established the precedent of using force to compel obedience. And with the Mannichaeans, the Church demonstrated its willingness to abandon its own beliefs for political expediency. The Dark Ages - C. The Church had devastating impact upon society. As the Church assumed leadership, activity in the fields of medicine, technology, science, education, history, art and commerce all but collapsed. Europe entered the Dark Ages. Although the Church amassed immense wealth during these centuries, most of what defines civilization disappeared.

The western Roman Empire fell during the fifth century under repeated attacks by the Germanic Goths and the Huns while the Roman province of Africa fell to the Vandals. In when the Christian Visigoths sacked Rome, "the eternal city" which had held strong for years, criticism of the new religion intensified. Augustine's most famous works, The City of God, was written as a defense of Christianity against such accusations. However, the eastern Roman Empire, also called the Byzan- tine Empire, fared better.

Especially under Emperor Justinian's rule , it recovered much of its power, regained control of Italy from the Ostrogoths and recovered Africa from the Vandals. But this flourishing Byzantine culture was cut short when the bubonic plague, beginning in , struck with a virulence unknown at any time in human history either before or since. In Byzantium alone, the plague was said to have claimed 10, people a day. The severity of this plague is difficult to fathom. The later Black Death of the 's, which some think killed one-third of Europe's population, claimed an estimated 27 million lives.

In contrast, the sixth century plague is thought to have taken million lives. The plague had quite different impact upon Christianity.



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People flocked to the Church in terror. The Church explained that the plague was an act of God, and disease a punishment for the sin of not obeying Church authority. The Church branded Justinian a heretic. It declared the field of Greek and Roman medicine, useless in fighting the plague, to be heresy. After the plague, the Church dominated the formal discipline of medicine. The most common medical practice between the sixth and sixteenth centuries used for every malady became "bleeding. By the sixteenth century this practice would kill tens of thousands each year. Yet, when a person died during blood-letting, it was only lamented that treatment had not been started sooner and performed more aggressively.

The extensive aqueduct and plumbing systems vanished. Orthodox Christians taught that all aspects of the flesh should be reviled and therefore discouraged washing as much as possible. Toilets and indoor plumbing disappeared. This engraving published in illustrates the points from which blood was to be let.

For hundreds of years, towns and villages were decimated by epidemics. To be indoors was luxury enough. Nor was it distasteful to sleep huddled closely together in company, for warmth was valued above privacy. In some cases the Christian church's burning of books and repression of intellectual pursuit set humanity back as much as two millennia in its scientific understanding.

Already in the sixth century B. By the third century B. By the second century B. And when Galileo attempted to promote the heliocentric theory in the seventeenth century, he was tried by the Inquisition in Rome. Only in did the Roman Catholic Church revoke its condemnation of Galileo. Augustine echoed the Church's scientific understanding of the world: It is impossible there should be inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since no such race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam.

Orthodox Christians thought history necessary only in order to place the events of the past into Biblical context. In Daniel Boorstin's words, "History became a footnote to ortho- doxy. The Christian test was a willingness to believe in the one Jesus Christ and His Message of salva- tion. What was demanded was not criticism but credulity. The Church Fathers observed that in the realm of thought only heresy had a history.

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 Blind faith replaced the spirit of historical investigation. One should trust, as Eusebius said, "the incontrovertible words of the Master to his disciples: It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Twentieth century archeology is beginning to reveal a very different picture of human history than may have been told even in pre-Christian Rome.

The idea that history began only 5, years ago is terribly inaccurate. During the neolithic age after people had turned from hunting and gathering to agriculture, particularly between B. The first ideas of democracy originally date back not to the Greeks but far earlier to this neolithic age. Perhaps most remarkable is that these cultures show no evidence of hierarchy as we know it; they knew no war, organized oppres- sion or slavery. Portraying human society as having steadily evolved rather than having experienced major setbacks gives the impression that, however ugly and violent society may be now, it was even more savage in the past.

Augustine's disciple, Orosius, for instance, in his Seven Books of Histories against the Pagans, demonstrated that the evils of the time could not be blamed on Christianity because earlier times had experienced even worse calamities. The Christian church had similar impact upon education and learning. The Church burned enormous amounts of literature. In Christians burned down one of the world's greatest libraries in Alexandria, said to have housed , rolls. Education for anyone outside of the Church came to an end.

And what little education there was during the Dark Ages, while still limited to the clergy, was advocated by powerful kings as a means of providing themselves with capable administrators. This engraving depicts converts to St. Pope Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, a man thought to have been one of the greatest architects of the medieval order, 20 objected to grammatical study.

I despise the proper constructions and cases, because I think it very unfitting that the words of the celestial oracle should be restricted by the rules ofDonatus [a well-known grammarian]. Gregory the Great also 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. And his younger monastic contemporaries were known to boast of their ignorance of everything except Christian literature.

John Chrysostom, the preeminent Greek Father of the Church, proudly declared, "Every trace of the old philosophy and literature of the ancient world has vanished from the face of the earth. Even the most significant monastic libraries carried little aside from books about Christian theology. Gregory the Great, Pope from While best known for strengthening the Pope's independence from the Byzantine Emperor, he also burned books and restricted reading and education to the clergy.

An historian notes that the order of Cluni followed customs that implied a lack of respect for classical works. According to orthodox Christianity, art should enhance and promote Christian values; it should not serve simply 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.

Architectural marbles and mosaics were either 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 inscriptions still found in many churches today. The Church did little to encourage trade. The canons of Gratian include a sixth century document which states, "Whoever buys a thing in order to re-sell it intact, no matter what it is, is like the merchant driven from the Temple.

Commercial contracts of the time indicate that the Church would sometimes intervene and free a debtor from liabilities, undermining even further the likelihood of anyone wanting to lend money. As such, it provided a potentially lucrative occupation for many men. At least forty different Popes are known to have bought their way into the papacy. In a particular one hundred year period, more than forty Popes came to office. In the twelve year period from to alone, no less than ten different Popes held power. Patrimonial properties, the Church-held lands that were free and clear of taxes or military obligation to the king, made up between one-quarter and one-third of western Europe.

The Church made money by collect- ing revenues from imperial rulers, by confiscating property as the result of court judgments, by selling the remission of sins called "indulgences" , by selling ecclesiastical offices called "simony" , and sometimes by simply taking land by force. However, unlike during the Roman Empire, several imperial forces now held power. By the year , for example, the West was divided into four political realms. Spain was ruled by the Christian Visigoths and would fall in to the Islamic Moors.

The Franks mled Gaul. Italy was held primarily by the Lombards with a few regions still in the hands of the Byzantine Empire. Both Church and state profited from their alliance. Imperial rulers provided not only military resources but also lucrative positions for the clergy.

They came to be as powerful and as influential as the greatest of feudal lords. The historian Jeffrey Burton Russell writes: The system was self-perpetuating: It is no wonder that the bishops kept their eyes more attentively upon the throne than upon the cross. The Church also brought a semblance of unity to an imperial realm by converting its people to Christianity. These widespread conversions, however, were usually little more than a facade. Pope Gregory I in a letter to his emissary to Britain, St. Augustine of Canterbury, illustrates his concern with the appearance that people had converted to Christianity: The Church's continual admonishments against pagan practices indicate how insubstantial most conversions to Christianity were.

Sacred springs were renamed in honor of saints and churches built over the sites of pagan temples, yet the nature of reverence and worship remained unchanged. The Church played a critical role in taking Europe into the Dark Ages. Its devastating impact was felt in nearly every sphere of human endeavor. Ironically, the one area where the medieval Church had little profound impact was in changing the spiritual- ity of common people.

While most people adopted a Christian veneer, they did not significantly change their understanding or perception of God. The Middle Ages - C. The spirit of the Middle Ages challenged the Church's now- established authority. The Church responded by bolstering its authoritarian structure, asserting the Pope's supremacy over all imperial powers, and rallying Europe against Muslims, Jews and Eastern Orthodox Christians. When the crusades failed to unify Europe under its control, the Church attacked whomever it perceived as an enemy: Dramatic changes after the turn of the millennium ushered in the high Middle Ages.

An agricultural society began to give way to rapidly growing towns as the population exploded in a surge unparalleled in the Western world until the 19th and 20th centuries. These merchants often served as examples that through wit, activity and industry one could change one's lot in life. Latin classics, largely lost under Christian rule, were translated from Arabic back into Latin. When Aristotle's work was reintroduced to the West, its example of systematic thought spawned scholasticism, a discipline that challenged the Church's demand that one accept its assertions on blind faith.

The twelfth century Peter Abelard, for example, used the scholastic method to encourage individual decision-making, to question authoritar- ian assertions, and to point out contradictions in Church doctrine and scripture. The Church's confinement of all education and creativity to monasteries began to break down. Not only were lay schools created to provide elementary education to merchant and artisan classes, but universities were formed in urban areas such as Paris, Oxford, Toulouse, Montpellier, Cambridge, Salerno, Bologna and Salamanca.

Renewed interest in architecture produced the culmination of the Romanesque style and the beginning of Gothic artistic and engineering feats. Even within twelfth century monasteries, the art of illumination and ornamentation of manuscripts came alive. Having prospered and thrived while society remained subdued and quiescent, the Church now resisted the many changes taking place. Papal prohibitions in and restricted the teaching of Aristotle's works in Paris. By discussion of any purely theological matter was forbidden.

Bernard of Clairvaux gave voice to Church sentiment when he said of Abelard's scholasti- cism, "everything is treated contrary to custom and tradition. Human reason is snatching everything to itself, leaving nothing for faith. As the twelfth century Christian Honorius of Autun asked: How is the soul profited by the strife of Hector, the arguments of Plato, the poems of Virgil, or the elegies of Ovid, who, with others like them, are now gnashing their teeth in the prison of the infernal Babylon, under the cruel tyranny of Plutof The Church regarded poetry with particular disfavor, sometimes classifying poets with magicians whom the Church despised.

The illustrations in the twelfth century Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg, for example, depict four "poets or magicians," each with an evil spirit prompting him. The outspoken fifteenth century Dominican prophet Girolamo Savonarola believed that classical poets should be banished and that science, culture and education should return entirely to the hands of monks. The only good thing that we owe to Plato and Aristotle is that they brought forward many arguments which we can use against the here- tics.

Yet they and other philosophers are now in hell When there were not so many books and not so many arguments and disputes, religion grew more quickly than it has since. Books, particularly those of Latin and Italian poets, illuminated manuscripts, women's ornaments, musical instruments, and paintings were burned in a huge bonfire in , destroying much of the work of Renaissance Florence.

Yet medieval society abounded with dissent. Many began to seek a relationship with God outside of the Church. Common people in the Middle Ages found little in the Church to which they could relate. Churches had become grander and more formal, sharply emphasizing the difference between the clergy and laity.

The Dark Side of Christian History

In some churches, a choir screen would even segregate the congregation from the altar. The language of the Mass, which in the fourth century had been changed from Greek to Latin so as to be more easily understood, was by the end of the seventh century totally incomprehensible to most people, including many priests. Big gifts in small packages. Ellerbe condenses years of church history into small pages but covers the ground solidly and completely, citing dozens of references in each chapter.

As the title suggest, this is no fair-and-balanced treatment… she leaves the up side to others. Being reasonably well read in history, I was surprised at how much I learned. The story of the Dark Ages, Middles Ages, Inquisition and Reformation atrocities including witch hunts is laid out with power, if not gr Big gifts in small packages.

The story of the Dark Ages, Middles Ages, Inquisition and Reformation atrocities including witch hunts is laid out with power, if not great style. A large percentage of the text are actual historical quotations, thoroughly footnoted. The included artwork brings a richness to the story being told. Ellerbe shows the history of the western church to be not lacking in morality, but hideously immoral in thought and deed. Ellerbe does a credible job of linking evolving orthodoxy with the institution's behavior. This book did nothing to change my long held belief that all religion has been and continues to be a source of evil in our world.

Oct 25, David Corbet rated it really liked it. I would not say this book is a must read, but it is an interesting read. She does set out from the beginning with the clear agenda to find and support all the bad things the church did over the ages. And she certainly found what she was looking for. But if it happened with the intention and cruelty that she depicts is another question all together. There is no doubt that religions of any sort have been used to control people and populations. And the reason it is that way is because religions a I would not say this book is a must read, but it is an interesting read.

And the reason it is that way is because religions are made up of humans, humans seek security and power. And then they learn to abuse that power to maintain control. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus, or the church, that dictates the kind of violence and hate portrayed in this book unless twisted to do so. And we have seen much twisting over the ages. I think a more balanced approach, that is striving to understand the historical and cultural contexts in which much of this history takes place, will help to better understand why things came about the way they did.

Much of that history is overlooked in this book in order to find the conclusions she is looking for. May 05, Zweegas rated it really liked it. This book does does not bash Christianity. It merely discusses a lot of the mental and societal outcomes that have been a consequence of the Christian idea of God -- omniscient, singular rather than plural, male instead of female, etc..

Aug 22, Brett rated it it was amazing. Excellent overview of some of the more devastating results of Christianity throughout history. Excellent read for those who think Christianity has done more harm than good throughout history. Jul 23, USS rated it it was amazing. Ellerbe presents statements of fact rather than opinion with citations galore, and by far the most compelling of these is the fact that monotheism and Christianity have fostered and forced misogyny, racism, slavery, and intolerance of diversity.

Having one "God" with only one face, that of a male and in most cases European in heritage, has created millenniums and a legacy of intolerance where all other faces of the divine in pre-Christian and pre-Abrahamic history are shut out fema A must read. Having one "God" with only one face, that of a male and in most cases European in heritage, has created millenniums and a legacy of intolerance where all other faces of the divine in pre-Christian and pre-Abrahamic history are shut out female deities, non-European deities, homosexual deities.

Most scathing was the church also going after other Christians that they deemed "heretics," such as the Albigensian Crusade and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, bloodbaths of murder among so many others they sponsored and carried out. Any group that was perceived as a threat to the monopoly of power and money that the "church" held was suppressed and destroyed i.

Ellerbe collects here the long history of abuses, frauds, holocausts, forced hierarchies, inquisitions, destruction of pre-Christian art, and the extermination of natives of the New World for the cross that most Christians ignore with a smile or try to justify. The legacy still pervades the Western world's consciousness today even among non-Christians. A page turner that also details the suppression of science that the church has been responsible for turning back the clock on science and empirical evidence and findings for an estimated years , and should be read by anyone in comparative religious studies courses and any Christian who wants to know the censored history of their religion.

The book also tactfully acknowledges the good Christians in the world, of course, but also implores that the history and grave legacy of their faith should be known. Oct 01, Elizabeth Sulzby rated it it was amazing Shelves: I found this book by following links on the history of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. That coincided with my curiosity about torture, burning at the stake, stoning, etc. I see I never posted more about this book but it is now and I will comment about the cases of sexual abuse during the 20thst century.

Pope Francis, in spite of his generally positive this is an amazingly succinct history of the parts of Xity that had been so hidden. Pope Francis, in spite of his generally positive leading from within Vatican politics, is under heavy fire for not moving against and in some cases actually protecting abusive priests. In Chile he was protested against in the streets and in some articles in the press. A court case in which a priest was accussed of years of abuse in Pennsylvania has ended in a conviction.

Since the high visibility of cases brought for sexual abuse, there have been lots of cases, public outcry, and some convictions. I keep watching, reading, speaking out for victims. Feb 20, Ragy Nekhela rated it really liked it. I think it's very important to know that Christianity has been misunderstood and misused over the past twenty one centuries. Many concepts that have no any biblical references have been added by the Christian leaders to take control of the people's lives. Quoiting a passage of the conclusion on the last chapter: There have been Christians throughout its history who have foug I think it's very important to know that Christianity has been misunderstood and misused over the past twenty one centuries.

There have been Christians throughout its history who have fought against the tyranny of orthodox beliefs and behavior. There have been countless Christians who valued love and forgiveness over fear and punishment, who encouraged personal empowerment and understanding over submission and blind faith. View all 5 comments. Mar 21, Rebecca rated it really liked it Shelves: This book confirmed all the things I have known deep down inside for years. As we have ignored the horror of Christian history, so we have ignored scrutiny of Christian beliefs and their pervasiveness in our seeminglt godless modern world.

Without scrutiny, the destructive patters have continued to alienate people from God, the natural environment, This book confirmed all the things I have known deep down inside for years. Without scrutiny, the destructive patters have continued to alienate people from God, the natural environment, and each other. Sep 12, Rick Reitzug rated it really liked it. A bit difficult to wade through in parts, but a thought-provoking discussion of Christian history, especially its negative impact on our society.

The author concludes the book as follows: Sep 26, Julie rated it it was amazing. This is must read for every Christian. It shows how the religion we practice today has evolved from good to horrific practices and is continuing to evolve back to the true teachings of Jesus. It explains how powerful men corrupted Christian beliefs to meet their own agendas with devastating results to humankind.

The last chapter helped me tremendously to understand why racism became the norm. It left me with hope that we will continue to grow and become the people Jesus wanted us to be. Jul 25, Onyx rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: At the time I first read it, it was late in the year of I felt it was a good book back then. I would have to read it again to see if my feelings have changed since then.

But for now, I give it five stars. And I would also like to say that this is the side of Christian history that most ministers would rather play down, if they talk about it at all. Jul 17, Trish Remley rated it liked it. May 06, Rui Coelho rated it liked it. Short ant clear text about the crimes of the Christian church es. It covers questions as discipline, sexuality, terror, holy wars, inquisition, witch hunts and colonialism.

It is written from a pro-pagan perspective and is not always consistently anti-autoritharian. Jul 13, Lee Harmon rated it liked it. This is a rather discouraging look at Christianity through the last 20 centuries. While historical atrocities such as the crusades and the Inquisition are indeed embarrassing to the Christian side of the ledger, on This is a rather discouraging look at Christianity through the last 20 centuries.

While historical atrocities such as the crusades and the Inquisition are indeed embarrassing to the Christian side of the ledger, one gets the sense from this book that Christianity is at the root of racism, illiteracy, poverty, plague, violence, slavery, and everything else wrong with the world. We all know that the example Christ left was one of nonviolence. She does, however, make some intriguing points and provide some graphic examples, not least of which is the treatment of accused witches, whose emphasis within the book is probably no coincidence.

With the orthodox understanding that divinity had little or nothing to do with the physical world, sexual desire was perceived to be ungodly. When men persecuting the accused witches found themselves sexually aroused, they assumed that such desire emanated, not from themselves, but from the woman. They attacked breasts and genitals with pincers, pliers and red-hot irons.

Jul 05, Larry Cahoon rated it liked it. Be aware that Ellerbe starts by clearly stating that she is not trying to give a balanced view of Christianity in the world. Rather she intended to only deal with the "dark side. At times she seemed to go beyond what was what I would call and description of the normal bad behavior, deeds, etc. The behavior the church was bad enough, as Ellerbe amply descr An easy read. The behavior the church was bad enough, as Ellerbe amply describes, that bringing in the worst of the worst was unnecessary.

A major weakness of the book in my mind comes up in the final two chapters where Ellerbe brings science into the discussion. Her understanding of science seems weak and at times uninformed. She describes science in such a way as to assume it has a position on the existence, behavior, and character of god when it fact god is pretty much out of the equation.

Science does not deal with that for which there is no evidence. And at this point they have not seen evidence of any supernatural realm. One must first define the supernatural, whatever it is, and find a way to measure it. An definition which in essence says it is something we do not understand within nature is no different than the ancient Greeks blaming Zeus for thunder.

It is a god of the gaps argument that has no place in science. In this way Ellerbe is then assuming a god and then imposing that god on the science and what it reveals about the universe and its workings. It is a subtle assumption, and many in the religious community may well miss the assumption. But it has a profound impact on how she view science in those final two chapters.

The book would have been much better had Ellerbe not strayed from of stated goal of describing the dark side of Christianity. Jun 20, Stan Shelley rated it it was ok. This book is written from the point of view of someone who is into some kind of nature religion - call it metaphysical, call it pagan, call it New Age. So the criticisms of Christianity are not objective. In the first chapter she criticizes the result whereby what became orthodox Christianity won out over heresies.

The orthodox actually became dominant because of the exceptionally good scholarship of Christian leaders in the first few centuries. She then presents the ho-hum argument that Christia This book is written from the point of view of someone who is into some kind of nature religion - call it metaphysical, call it pagan, call it New Age. She then presents the ho-hum argument that Christians caused a period of dark ages. She is just regurgitating the claims of the Enlightenment which have been thoroughly refuted by Rodney Stark's Victory of Reason.

The author rightly criticizes Christianity for the inquisition. Also she improves the argument made so often about witches. Most critics focus on the Salem Witch Trials where that actual loss of life was less than the average Islamic terrorist attack made several times per year every year. This author wisely spreads to critique to other accusations of witchery.

The real problem with the book is that the author is so prejudiced from the get go that she makes some really ridiculous charges. I wanted more than an introduction. To read the rest of this review go to https: Nov 03, Daria rated it it was ok. Jest na to za nudna. May 19, Michael Walker rated it did not like it Shelves: This book was written to expose the Christian religion, I assume. It fails miserably, chiefly because the author is woefully ignorant of her topic. I expected a more robust attack, but she resorted to the usual shibboleths, half-truths, and misunderstandings.

Jun 20, Chuck McGrady rated it did not like it. A disappointing book that I'm not sure why I picked up in the first place. While the analysis of the Inquisition rang true as did a lot of the history of the early Catholic Church, it was distracting when the author fell back on the use of the term, "orthodox Christian," when characterizing the beliefs of much of European and early American religious belief.

I did learn one bit of interesting history. Senate ratified a treaty that stated: Oct 02, Dennis Fernandes rated it it was amazing. After reading this excellent book, I've realised that the US lead coalition against terrorism should leave Iraq alone and focus their cross-hairs at the vatican and flatten it and, I highly recommend every female to read this to discover where the sexist male superior complex towards them evolved from.

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