This Halloween Let's Remember Christianity's Dark Side


A few hundred years ago, two Catholic Friars decided to save the world from witches. They wrote a manual on how to identify a person, mostly women, who is a witch. The book was used to kill thousands of women. This force, called Christianity, is a source of good against evil? Hardly.

There are estimates hundreds to maybe thousands of European women, and a few men, were named witches and died horrific deaths. This was especially popular in the 1400's. This practice traveled with Christians to the U.S. We all know the center of witchcraft persecution was Plymouth, MA. Several years ago I toured a museum devoted to it in Plymouth. Part of witchcraft's appeal was a profit motive. People inside the circle who identified witches would immediately enter the person's home and take all of her belongings. These would be sold and the loot divided among the devout Christians engaged in this business. I suppose they said Jesus was pleased with them. 

We can be glad of one thing in witchcraft, the number killed in the U.S. was far fewer than in Europe, maybe less than three dozen. 

So far as I know, the Christian enterprise has long put real live witches in the past like many of its other ridiculous notions. There is a remaining ridiculous notion that bothers me. The Pope himself has endorsed a belief there is a literal "Satan." I have no idea what the Pope believes about Satan. Is Satan ever a person among ordinary people, or, is Satan a demonic spiritual being humans never see in person?

If Satan lives on earth, that is as dangerous as Plymouth, MA. If clergy teach that Satan lives on earth and has certain characteristics what is to stop some deep Christian whacko from killing him/her. When I was a Mayor someone whispered to me there was discussion in the City that I might be Satan. It was not a reassuring thing to hear.

Maybe there are Christians today who will look at the traits in the manual of witches written by the Catholic Friars and decide they can identify a witch. If the witch is a Catholic maybe the Catholic hierarchy will reflect on it advocacy of the literal Satan.

Comments

  1. GrandmaOctober 30, 2021 at 4:51 PM

    Applause.

    ReplyDelete
  2. tsmOctober 31, 2021 at 11:23 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon LindgrenOctober 31, 2021 at 11:36 AM

      tsm The title of my blog said we should be reminded of Christianity's dark side. That two friars wrote a manual on how to identify, or of course ultimately kill, witches is part of the very dark side. Apparently you are happy with all of Christianity's dark history--all the better to ignore it and pretend it did not exist. That way we don't have to acknowledge its current dark sides.

      Delete
  3. tsmOctober 31, 2021 at 2:01 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. tsmOctober 31, 2021 at 6:11 PM

    there was an earlier time when witches were thought of as male, not female.


    ReplyDelete
  5. little helperNovember 1, 2021 at 12:15 PM

    I'm remembering the great Russian purge (1.2 million, gulags), The killing fields of Cambodia, and Viet Nam. All done on an industrial scale.

    ReplyDelete

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