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Witches, Condoms and the Pope
Step into that small confessional,
There, the guy who’s got religion’ll
Tell you if your sin’s original. . . .
— Tom Lehrer, The Vatican Rag
He’s batting 50-50 which isn’t bad for most people. If you’re infallible, however, it’s not the sort of thing you’d brag about the next time you talk to your Father. The witches kept him from batting a zero.
While traveling through Africa recently Pope Benedict XVI came out firmly against witchcraft. Addressing the multitude of Catholics that were lining the Angolan streets on March 21, the Pope told his audience that if they had friends or neighbors who believed in witchcraft they should try to convert them. At a mass in Luanda at which two people who had already been saved were trampled to death in the mob’s eagerness to hear what the man from Rome had to say, the Pope said: “In today’s Angola Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits, of evil powers by whom they feel threatened.” The Pope imparted the same message to a group of clergymen and nuns earlier in the day when he said they should be missionaries to the Angolans who live in fear “of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they end up even condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers.” (It sounded remarkably like a description of the effects religion had on the early settlers in the United States.) It was not a particularly courageous stand for him to take since witchcraft has pretty much fallen out of favor in most parts of the world and a suggestion from him that it should be abandoned is not a suggestion that bespeaks great moral courage. Nonetheless, not everything that boosts your average is a great feat and so it was with the attack on witchcraft. It simply raised the Pope’s average to 50-50. It was his observations at the beginning of the trip that kept him from hitting 100% with his attack on witchcraft.
Joining the enlightened crowd that sits on the Texas Board of Education and would like to include in the Texas curriculum the fact (as they see it) that evolution is nothing more than a theory and there are other theories to be explored to explain the world) the Pope’s first pronouncements on his trip to Africa was that the use of condoms worsens the HIV problem. The Papal pronouncement came on the first day of his visit. Believing that the power of the word is more effective than the power of the prophylactic, he said that the proven most effective way to prevent the spread of AIDS is to just say no. He said to reporters on his plane that: “You can’t resolve it [AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary” said he “it increases the problem.”
Long before AIDS had become a prominent member of society, the Pope and his predecessors opposed any means of artificial contraception. Once AIDS made its appearance, the Senior Vatican officials adopted the position that the most effective way of preventing the spread of AIDS, aside from remaining faithful to one’s partner, was avoiding sex. Although the thousands of sexual abuse suits that have been brought against the Church and settled, conclusively prove that avoiding sex is easier said than done, the Vatican Officials are undeterred. The Church remains firmly opposed to condoms while nonetheless proclaiming itself a leader in the fight against AIDS.
Twenty-two million people are infected with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa according to UNAIDS. Two-thirds of all the deaths in the world from AIDS took place in that part of the world. The Church’s position distresses those who instead of contemplating the disease from the bubble of the Popemobile must work with its victims on a daily basis. Speaking to a reporter from the Washington Post, a teacher in Yaounde said: “Talking about the non-use of condoms is out of place. We need condoms to protect ourselves against diseases and AIDS.” Echoing those sentiments Rebecca Hodes with the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: “[H]is opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans.” She’s got that right. Even some of the Pope colleagues, if not equals, differ with the Pope. Monsignor Illidio Leandro, a Portuguese bishop has said that people with AIDS are “morally obliged to use them.” Acknowledging the fact that some folks can’t avoid sex he said such people are “morally obliged to avoid passing on the disease by using a condom.” The Bishop is a realist.
The Church and witchcraft have one thing in common. Neither believes condoms will prevent the spread of AIDS, the Pope because he doesn’t believe they work and followers of witchcraft because they know witches give AIDS to those they dislike. It will be hard to reduce the AIDS epidemic in Africa. That’s because it’s hard to teach those whose creed is ignorance.
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36 Comments so far
Show AllSioux Rose
Talk about who's calling the kettle black? The rituals of the Catholic Church SIMULATE witchcraft... they wear the robes, light the candles, make invocations, call upon (spirits of) the deceased saints, etc.
Can any intelligent mind really believe that it matters to Creator whether a man wears a condom? Note, too, the not so subtle misogyny as it's generally WOMEN (or passive party) who get Aids. I knew of active homosexuals in Puerto Rico where the "giver" never got Aids, but the recipient sure did!
That the Church rallies against population control when resources are growing scarcer, and a great many impoverished mothers can barely support these children. The church has always HATED women and WOMEN of power most. If it was an agency of LOVE it would see that children only come into this world when they are wanted, not out of some covert worship of the phallus that must never wear a sheath because its seed are so holy as to oblige them to go forth and multiply without any obstruction.
And when has the church EVER apologized for its massive SIN against women? Its burning females in utter abject cruelty, possibly acting as the first institutionally codified acts of torture, crafted behind the castigation of witchcraft? Even in today's 700 club circles, feminists are often called witches, a subtle sleight of terminology not too different from the loose language that barely separates the passionate political activist from the terrorist in today's version of Homeland Security parlance.
For all the true Masters teaching love, peace and tolerance, notice how often it is the religious who are quick to point the figure and demand the execution of Other.
Thank you Sioux Rose for your thoughtful post. I believe that there is a difference between religion and spirituality. Many of those that practice religion are definately not spiritual.
Sioux Rose
WINNING TICKET: Just as years ago (via Public Citizen) I read that the waste industry--notoriously run by organized crime in the "tri-state" area--wanted to co-opt the use of the word organic, religious publishing houses, primarily from the fundamentalist Christian sects have co-opted the USE of the word spirituality. "The Writer's Market" now lists all their publishing houses under the category of "spiritual." I find this VERY troubling, for as you related, often the religious person is one who follows orders from the strict patriarchal throne of a church, but has NO concept of any remotely spiritual or unifying truth or personal, holistic revelation.
Whenever I walk through Barnes and Noble, I always laugh when I see the section called "Christian Inspiration."
Isn't that an oxymoron?
good post Siouxrose
The article suggest that witchcraft is only ignorance. What is witchcraft really? It that what the ancient village shaman practiced? The man in the ice, Otzi, had marks that corresponded to those of acupuncture. Therefore the ancient village shamans of Europe once knew acupuncture. Clearly, one of their main activities was healing. Quite possibly, healing was in fact their main activity. Now if these "witches" knew acupuncture, how can they be said to be ignorant?
Also... How did this knowledge become lost in Europe? Could it be that Christian Romans deliberately eradicated so called witches across the continent, in the same way that they wiped out the so called "witchcraft", the religions of the ancient britons?
The witchcraft we never speak about is the witchcraft of Madison Avenue that fills the pockets of corporate America.
It is also likely that the ancients had a very good knowledge of herbs and their applications. It stands to reason, that if they had somehow learned acupuncture, they would have also learned about what the local herbs could do.
So, after the ancient healing arts had been eradicated by burning practitioners at the stake, what healing skills were people left with? This link to Tudor Medicine shows just how poor it became:-
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-medicine.htm
Just remember Siouxrose, according to the Inquisitor Ratzinger (aka Benedict), you and all "females" brought evil into the world and you were born to be the property of a male - and he can do anything to you that he wants - the Pope says so. You, ladies, are second class humans in their world, and like Malcolm X used to say, "There ain't no 2nd class anything. There are Citizens, and there are Slaves." And yes, your beloved Inquisitor would deny women ANY economic or biological self-determination. The mentally ill monsters want to live in the 12th century. Misogyny doesn't even begin to describe the hell on earth they would inflict on all "females" for their degraded genocidal deity from the ME.
By all means, give up YOUR spirits and believe in OUR spirit, which impregnates unmarried virgins.
How foolish of you to believe in evil, malign and threatening powers. Isn't it obvious that those trying to convert you to their way of thinking only have your best interests at heart?
And really, what difference does it make if you die an extended, agonizing death as long as you have the next life to look forward to?
This year a nine year old child in Brazil complained of abdominal pain and it was determined she was pregnant with twins that was the result of the rape of her father. The child received an abortion with the consent of the mother from a doctor. The mother and the doctor were excommunicated by the local Bishop but NOT THE RAPIST FATHER!!!!!!
In a documentary on Guatemala there was a discussion of the impunity of the police and the authorities who do little to catch murderers. Over a thousand women are tortured and mutilated and murdered every month and thrown into the riverbed or off the road to be eaten by vultures. The same is true in Mexico.
I have not heard of the Pope speaking out against femicide - the wantom murder of women. People in both Guatemala and Mexico are overwhelmingly Catholic.
Why does that Pope not speak up about that?
Pope Benedict is making a spectacle of his authority and he is a laughing stock although it is not funny with his pathetic comments about condoms.
I hope the Vatican reads Common Dreams and if not, somebody out there should forward it to them.
Can we take any conservative's opinion seriously?
An excellent and fair article by Christopher Braunchi, good comments as usual by Sioux Rose.
I am a Catholic acivist always preferring to work on the edge of the church with the saints, the heretics, "saint to be" Dorothy Day, the Berrigans and current day Sister Joan Chittister and Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr. It is a matter of coming to know the mind of Christ, just how like M Ghandi and Martin Luther King came to know the non-egoic, non-violent mind of Christ.
What I learned over the past 75 years is that the Catholic Church is merely an institution, and like all institutions of power and money, it is primarily concerned with its' own perpetuation of power. This is by no means to take away the profound teachings of Christ.
The institutional church after Constantine has failed miserably in conveying the true mind of Christ, because Christ was against all institutions of power and oppression, including the hypocracy of the religious leaders of that time. True Christianity is meant to be a counter-culture faith, a discerning and contemplative faith. With Constantine, the church no longer opposed the systems of power and greed but became a part of the system (the Gospel of prosperity).
The institutional group think of Rome is no different than that of the financial and commercial institutions of capitalism. It isn't just about the ignorance and stupidity of institutional religion, the same is also reflected in all institutions of power and money. These are the sins of the world Christ was preaching aginst, not about the sins of the flesh, the pelvic sins, which are are only used by the institutional church to control the minds of the timid sheep. What is happening now is that the sheep are becoming smarter. The church now duells in them.
Christianity was not meant to be a belonging system, us against them, right against wrong, good versus evil, but a transformational system for the common good of all humanity, to work for a universal higher consciousness no different than working for a more just, sustainable and compassionate world.
Sioux Rose
STEPHEN V. RILEY: I truly respect those like yourself who transcend their faith, and for what it's worth (by their fruits you shall know them), your words DO seem to reflect what Christ came into this world to inspire. By the way, while I was raised as a Jew, I have always resonated with the Teachings of Christ, as distinct from the horrific way that his name has been used by various religious institutions to instead foment conflict among persons. This could probably be said of followers of most masters, although the Buddhists seem to adhere closest to the teachings of peace and "harm none."
I believe that the allegory that tosses the LOVERS out of the garden to render their natural conjugal attraction a sin fostered a wound that has lasted all through the generations since this belief came into circulation. There is such power when "two become one," and if two or more joined in love set their power of intention on something positive, a third mysterious force, that of our benign universe, works to assist in its manifestation. Plausibly the early church leaders understood this and did their best to undermine this holy potential inherent to union among "the common" folk.
How many lives have been ruined by this belief in sin? How many women have killed their own children when living in authoritarian households forced to have more babies than they want or can raise? How many men and women have been twisted into very violent sexual practices, how many serial killers spawned? How many forced-celibate Catholic church priests convoluted into acts of predation against children?
Wilhelm Reich studied what the suppression of healthy natural sexuality does to a people, and he linked his findings with the mindset that seeks an outside, authority figure to give it direction: enter the Fuhrer.
In any case, Mr. Riley you are a credit to your cause as I believe is Matthew Fox for turning Original Sin into Original Blessing. And for his pains, like all genuine thinkers, he's been (unless it was rescinded) ex-communicated. The most generous people I've ever personally encountered have all been Catholic. I suppose they, too, have taken the best from that faith and transcended so much of the institutionalized idiocy.
Sioux Rose, thanks for your kind words. Mathiew Fox comes to mind as one of the "heretics" caught dancing on the edge.
To date, the church in Rome shows no signs of maturity, but there are powerful signs of maturity within the various religious orders and certainly among growing numbers of the faithful. There is hope and it is about the maturuity of the human species that Christ came to teach for all of humankind.
Mr. Riley the ONLY reason they didn't "put him to the question" and burn him alive after torturing his body (no doubt by Jesuits and Dominicans) - is that our Civil Society will no longer allow the animals to do that to humans. The only reason. Tielhard de Chardin S.J. had his books banned and he was shut up for the crime of having "thoughts".
And one other thing. The first thing the boys did after the Constantinian Ascendency in 325 C.E. was to put the rabbi on a pedestal and make him a GOD, like Gaius Julius, or Octavian, or Livia, or any of the Roman Pantheon. But then, they were a scabrous, vile, poisonous crowd who murdered or burned everyone who disagreed with them, and then they went and emptied the 1000 libraries of the Roman Empire of 1500 years of history, literature, science, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine. Burned them because they were "pagan". When Krakatoa blew in the 6th century and nuclear winter settled over Europe, there was no bottom and it took 1000 years to put medicine, science, and mathematics back on track. Side note:
If you make him, "...a son of God" (like any one of us) then you are called to emulate him (and you are then a heretic and will be hunted down by the good priests).
If you make him, "...THE son of God" then you are called to worship (through his priests) in groveling degraded abasement - and pray to Mary to intercede for you.
You might as well be praying to a Loa.
Um, excuse me? Wicca...the new name for Witchcraft...is one of the fastest growing forms of spirituality in this country. And, um, sorry, but witches have pretty much got it figured out that condoms help in preventing the spread of aids.
I recommend that the author do a little research before castigating other people's belief systems.
The Catholic Church, through USAID and the US Catholic relief Services has been one of the largest providers of condoms and birth control in Africa. I used to get my protection from CRS in Kinshasha Zaire.
Africa has little use for the Pope and the Catholic Hierarchy in Rome. The Pope's visit is merely an occasion for a national holiday. The African chruch, from priest to cardinal, is from the people, lives with the people and most importantly understands the people.
Most of the relics from the European Church live out their lives in missions and monasteries. The Cardinal, in Kinshasha, can be found driving himself in his VW Beetle, to visit the poor in the Slums of Massese.
The Catholic Church in Africa is not the church of the Pope and Rome.
Magic has been a major part of bantu mythology. The further you go from the cities, the blacker the magic. Canibalism, infanticide, levitation, simple and complex spells. The deeper the forest.....
AIDs came from the forests of Zaire, near the Ebola center of Kikwit. In 1981, Belgian doctors were mystified by the deaths of bargirls in Kikwit and later Kinshasa. Kikwit is also the epicenter for black magic in Zaire.
AIDs spread through the military, who left wives in the vallage, took up with bargirls, then brought AIDs back to the village. Waste a condum on your wife? no way...
Countries with the largest militaries, i.e. South Africa, have the largest AIDs problems. Countries, like Uganda, who have worked to treat AIDs in the military, are among the success stories. Uganda is very Catholic, by the way.
We, of the west, have no understanding of the church and magic in Africa.
The article and most of the comments are from a western point of view.
Most are as far from the reality of Africa, as the Catholic Church is from the reality of Africa. While Mr Brauchcli has certain relevant points about the Catholic Church, I doubt he has been any closer to Africa than Harvard Square.
ducksawce thanks for this. I don't suspect most Americans could find Zaire on a map. Are you making a connection between maleficarum and AIDS?
"The Cardinal, in Kinshasha, can be found driving himself in his VW Beetle, to visit the poor in the Slums of Massese." Are you sure this man is connected to Catholicism? Does he send them a bill?
Does all the magic follow the standard outcomes: Revenge, Seduction, Promotion, Protection? Healing? Can I assume that the cannibalism, infanticide (pick your psychosis) et al, is done in service to "personal power" to be used in the achievement of the standard outcomes?
In a quantum universe matter is energy and energy is matter. Do with it what you will. On a planet where "Humans are Food" and life is a will to dominance over others, you could call our kiddie commercials on TV a form of Black Magic, created by evil sorcerers (called bent shrinks) - to steal the souls of the little ones. Couldn't you.
The Cardinal in Kinshasa was not connected to Catholicism in Rome.
The Catholics of Africa are miles ahead of Rome ... It really is a church of the people - very unlike Rome
Perhaps he was trying to find answers for the twisted perversions of Leopold and the Belgiums, and the dreaded Kurtz, who lined his walkway in Kisangani with the skulls of African.
The horror !!!
And maybe they are moving beyond the clutches of the Chicago School and those who worship false economic gods.
Coming from a continent of psychotics, it is refreshing to find people who know their families, know their communities (villages) and know their humanity.
Rome could learn a lot from Africa....
Ray Berthiaume
I find your words of experience very refreshing. Thank you, ducksawce.
I've become weary of the single most genocidal religion in the history of the human species prattling on about morals and ethics in the name of a flat earth genocidal blood god "borrowed" from a genocidal tribe of pastoralist killer nomads from the Middle East. 2000 years is enough.
Ratzinger (the current pope of rome) was their head Inquisitor before being elevated to the purple (Yes, the RC Inquisition still exists to this day). Inquisition means slice the man's penis with a razor, it means rape the woman and cut off her breasts and then butcher them both like cattle in the public square - to Appease the Blood God and Save the Righteous - and if you think for one minute they wouldn't do that to humans today - thank your lucky stars others, less fervid in their beliefs - pulled the teeth of those monsters. Consider:
Without Dogmatic Authoritarian Patriarchy, Male Supremacy, and Gender Slavery - Roman Catholicism and Xrstianity as a whole would collapse in a week. Screw their 30 cent theology, it goes with their make believe space giant.
Just remember girls, you brought evil into the world and you were born to be the property of a male - and he can do anything to you that he wants - the Pope says so. You, ladies, are second class humans in their world, and like Malcolm X used to say, "There ain't no 2nd class anything. There are Citizens, and there are Slaves." And yes, your beloved Inquisitor would deny women ANY economic or biological self-determination. The mentally ill monsters want to live in the 12th century. Finally,
There is NOTHING here that loves your life except for you, the ones you love, and the ones who love you - thats it. That's all you got. Now for most humans, given the normal practice of treating each other like meat, that's a nightmare - because they can barely be brought to love themselves, let alone each other. But that's it you see; No make believe space giants, just us and the 400 billion stars in our local neighborhood. Quite a lot wouldn't you say? Bottom line:
We are all we've got, it would be well if we started acting like it.
Peace
The Church (and all churches, mosques, shuls, ashrams, etc.) are places of power and absurdities.
However, the doctrine of papal infallibility is relatively recent, and only pertains to doctrines of the faith, not to every observation that might flow from the mouth of any particular pope.
Catholicism is Evil. Good Catholics grace this earth, but Catholicism is an awful institution. The first church I ever stepped in, Catholic, a priest swats a hat off my head, I'm a little kid, scares me.
It subjugates women. But worse, it separates people from the message of Love the Messiah brought to us by crudely positioning itself between believers & the Lord.
Jesus said pray for forgiveness in private. Not in 'confessionals',
Condoms? How does this "church" instruct it's High Priests? "Thou shalt don the condom when molesting little boys. They have DNA now."
Jesus would burn the Vatican Down, and may well do so soon.
US Blues
Catholicism is no more evil than capitalism.
Stephen V. Riley, First, most thanks for your 3:09 post. I love how you separate the Good Works of true believers who are Catholic from the rotted roman church.
Your analogy is quite apt. Both institutions, evil in their manifestations, have some decent roots, and some positive attributes in the present tense. However nothing forgives coming between the Son of Man and his children. Which that church does.
I worship the Messiah, his Father and the Holy Spirit. And know this, that the message was that as Jesus Loved us, we are to Love one another. By this we shall know his disciples. Stephen, you are a disciple of the The Messiah, if you were here I would wash your feet with my tears.
Love, where for art thou? US Blues, this hit's for you.
And the next verse in the Tom Lehrer song, for anyone interested . . .
"If it is, try playin' it safer
Drink the wine and chew the wafer
2-4-6-8
Time to transubstatiate!!"
Love that song.
People might want to read Murder In The Vatican which is about how the Smiling Pope who was going to lift the ban on condoms and birth control was assassinated in 1978, 33 days after becoming Pope. He was an ultraliberal Cardinal amongst a liberal group of Cardinals who vote for the Pope. After he was gone, the same liberal Cardinals voted the most conservative Cardinal as Pope, who was Pope John Paul II, and who kept the ban going.
Funny how the last 2 popes had associations with the NAZI's (Pope John Paul II is said to have worked for IG Farben which used prisoners from the Auschwitz as labour and sold the NAZI's cyanide for use in the camps).
In 1978 if you remember, AIDS was not known of. However, there were some Hepatitis B trials going on that some suspect may have introduced HIV, accidentally or otherwise. If you read NSSM 200 which was published in 1974 by Henry Kissinger, you know it warned that population growth and increases in living standards in 3rd world nations were a national security concern. Then look at the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) published by the Cheney/Rumsfeld team in 1999 which said that the engineering of a virus to target certain ethinic or racial groups would be a politically useful tool, then you may see a pattern. HIV hits certain ethnic and racial groups hard, while those of European descent have some genetic protection, thats a fact, maybe even a coincidence.
As for the history of the Roman Catholic Church, one should understand that all religions get controlled by the ruling elite, since religion is a tool they use to control people. The secular are given a religion as well, but it's called something else, related to Global warming and environmentalism (Gaia worshipping) and the high prists are pseudo scientists. Those who are skeptical of the religion get called denialists, much like Galileo was deemed a heretic by the Catholic church. Just a matter of time before they get called out as practicing withcraft, or perhaps demons have taken over their minds and caused them to be mentally ill.
It should be noted that the Vatican position is that "we can no longer pretend that human activity has little or no impact” on the worldwide “changing climatic conditions”. So they are on board with the high priests of Global Warming, thats good, no?. I guess if you do not agree they will say you must be a witch.
Also, they support evolution, and deny a literal interpretation of the bible for creationism. I happen to agree with them, so I guess you can not be wrong on everything.
Thank you for your post. I don't agree with everything you said necessarily, but I especially liked your third paragraph. I already knew about NSSM 200 (most Americans have never heard of it, but it does exist), but I was unaware that the idea of virus engineering had made an appearance in the PNAC.
Have you seen Gary Null's documentary "Deconstructing the AIDS Myth"? Powerful movie. I believe it is still on Google Video.
I just love all the Catholic haters on this comment page. They are so right all the time, especially when it comes to vilifying the Catholic Church.
They cannot tolerate a religion that tries to elevate the human race from its weaknesses, especially carnal ones. All they can do is bring up the scandal with priests, even though other religions have their share of pedophiles and adulterers.
Do any of you really think Africams with AIDS will actually use condoms? If they have access to them, why is it spreading at an alarming rate?
To say the Church gives the appearance of witchcraft with its rituals and garments is just insulting.
Getting really sick of reading articles like Brauchi's, who, from his name must have been a Catholic himself once. Figures.
Elevate the human race? You mean like forcing a Brazilian 9 year child that was raped to carry her pregnancy to full term or be excommunicated along with her family (as opposed to the assailant who wasn't)? How humane. Shame on me for vilifying this impeccable organization.
History refutes you and your flat earth fixed creation genocidal religion.
I would offer the theory that "AIDS" is spreading at an alarming rate in Africa because of the onslaught of pharmaceutical poisons that destroy their immune systems, all in the name of curing it.
Sioux Rose
Thanks angain for great commnent on this... and for starting such great discussion on the subject. i wish more people would read. That's is the issue in many cases in regards to what people believe or do or understand. Yes, experiance does make a difference along with the cultural influences you grow up with. But as it is with many of the world's major mountains to climb right now, it would help if more people could read more... or if information was put out in a way that people could understand it.
I say this about reading so that people can find and critique information for themselves. Yes, the internet has helped but overall enough people are still not being reached. Real reading requires time and effort. people feel that the work of everyday living is the giggest priority and the practicalities of life out way sitting around and reading a book... that's just sad...
This may seem like it's off the subject of this article but UNDERSTANDING is key to any issue. Life experiance and reading about other peoples life experiance is a way to expand ones consciousness enough to make a difference.
In defense of Roman Catholics, at least they do not say they are a chosen people, and anyone can join or not, as they wish. As I remember, Catholicism was an improvement over the Old Testament, which had lots of slavery and issues with womens rights.
The Old Testament and Rabbinic writings showed polygamy to be legal. The Roman Catholic Church actually banned polygamy. They also made divorce difficult which protected women in those days, and forbade adultery which also protected women as it protected them from diseases (no condoms in those days). Without the protection of marriage and being abandoned via divorce when they got a bit older, women were treated poorly. Islam also permitted polygamy. But you have to consider the time and not condemn these religions, but the Roman Catholic church was actually somewhat progressive in this area. One of the reasons Christianity spread so quickly was it was attractive to women who recognized their lives would be better. Men preferred Islam and the Jews simply were not very open to new recruits since their religion had a racial component.
The Catholic Church led the way to oppose slavery, while this was not prohibited by Islam or Judaism. For example, in 1435, Pope Eugene IV officially condemned the enslavement of the black natives of the Canary Islands. He decreed that all European masters were to free the enslaved within 15 days or face excommunication - the highest penalty of the Church. In the 16th century Pope Leo X said "not only the Christian religion but nature herself cried out against a state of slavery". Pope Paul III issued a bull that forbade conquistadores in the New World from using natives as slaves with excommunication as the penalty. In 1639 Pope Urban VIII condemned slavery absolutely and threatened excommunication of those who practiced it.
The Reformation in the 1500's and new sects of Christianity were created. Some of these sects permitted slavery as they said it was not prohibited in the Bible and it was profitable, and even Luther said polygamy was permitted, although this did not last for cultural reasons. Luther also did not believe the world could survive without slavery.
The Inquisition and Reformation caused many to flee to the New World where slavery and the slave trade flourished since the African slaves were easier to control and made better workers than the native Indians, who were susceptable to European diseases, and the religions of those who fled to the New World and engaged in the slave trade did not prohibit slavery.
Catholics started coming to America as slaves (indentured servants) from Ireland following the ethnic cleansing and genocide (20% of the population) of Catholics by Oliver Cromwell, they were freed after working for a number of years, when they became wage slaves. In fact, in the early years of this country, some states prohibited Catholics from voting or running for office.
The Roman Catholic Church did not allow Catholics to loan money at interest (usury). Another point in their favour. Pope Innocent IV (1250-1261) noted that if usury were permitted rich people would prefer to put their money in a usurious loan rather than invest in agriculture. Only the poor would do the farming and they didn’t have the animals and tools to do it. Famine would result. We see this today with the banksters preferring to invest in derivatives rather than the productive economy.
Calvin and Reformation led to the ending of the ban on usury. Before this, society that had forbidden the lending of money at interest for 750 years (since the council of Nicaea in 775). Taking interest on loans was officially banned by canon law although some lending at interest did occur.
By 1544 Calvin allowed for the lending of money at interest except to the poor, which opened the doors to todays sub-prime mess which is a good example of why usury was prohibited, as it will always lead to the lending of money to the poor. This is a means to exchange fictitous capital with no value (money created out of thin air) in return of tangible assets promised as collateral in the event of default (your house or car), or in the case where you can not declare bankrupcy thanks to the 2005 bankruptcy law, it makes you a slave with your wages garnished until your debts are paid off.
Not saying there were not a lot of warts on the Catholic Church, especially the Inquisition. But the Inquisition was more about weeding out those who pretended to convert to Christianity while maintaining their other religion (Jewish or Islam). It did not intend to exterminate those of other religions, but there was discrimination and Jews did not have the same rights as Catholics, and so some converted yet continued with their religion secretly.
I think you might be able to say that those catholic leaders who made changes and realized the true right and wrong based on human rights, by say going against slavery, were evolving in there understanding of life.
There comes a time with any philosophy or religion etc. that an evolution or mind expansion occurrs. So, then that would mean that the current leaders should or could also go through an evolution in consciousness and in doing so would open up the flood gates for many of their underlings to take the actions necessary to truly assist their following flock.
It's true that within any one religion or spiritual practice, that some individuals will deviate to the positives of human nature. The thing is, these are people who will have less of a problem bucking authority. But those who are afraid to break from authority will not do what they know is best. They will not even question themselves or authority.
So, by maintaining the delusional beliefs about every single human to be able to control their sexual urges, especially those with no respect or regard for others, is no way for the leaders to be "saving" their flock.
Leadership of a people requires responsibility for their lives now... not after a long and torturous and meaningless death.