history and current events in a very similar way. 5th Century A.D., end of the Roman Empire, death of Hypatia--philosopher, woman, head of the Alexandria Library, skinned alive by Christian monks on orders of Bishop Cyril, no consequences; end of the rule of law; Library burned; Cyril becomes a "father of the church" (big at the Council of Ephesus), adopts the word "patriarch" to describe his position, suppresses women (no women can speak in church), persecutes Jews and real Christians (the Gnostics--into equality and communal living), re-writes the Gospels (deleting Mary Magdalen, designating Peter as Jesus's successor)--and, truly, thus begins a thousand years of darkness.
And here we are again. Reason, learning, science, education--all under attack. Representative government totally corrupted by the rich and the warmongers. Civilization--knowledge, books, science, art, medicine--and common ground--roads, cities, public buildings, libraries and schools--all suffering from war and looting. And the Patriarchal madmen (I hesitate to call them Christians) seemingly on the rise (although I think that is something of a corporate news monopoly illusion).
It looks bad for us, really bad. The historical gyre coming back round, and biting us in the ass.
However, I think it's simplistic to say that "Christianity" has inflicted more suffering than Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, etc. I am not underestimating the death and suffering that has been inflicted on human beings by other human beings who CALLED THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS. It has been enormous. But I don't think that the utter hypocrisy of killing, torturing and oppressing others "for their own good" is unique to Christianity, and I don't think you can weigh millions of deaths against millions of deaths. (What of nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the name of democracy? Or slaughtering White Russians in the name of communism?)
Christianity has been USED--like many other tools of tyrants--in order to conquer and control lands, consolidate wealth and enforce obedience. But the key thing that happened, in the American Revolution, was the SEPARATION of church and state. Both government and church benefited enormously. The government quite deliberately abandoned the enforcement of religious ideology as a powermongering tool, and endorsed and started protecting the notion of the Free Human Mind. (That was Thomas Jefferson's GOAL in life--it's inscribed around his Monument!) The Christian religion was thereby FREED from its chattel status, as a tool of government and powermongers, and could reach back to its ORIGINS in the peace and love teachings of Jesus.
I really think that's what has happened. Thus you have, by the 1960s, CATHOLIC PRIESTS pouring blood on Draft records, CATHOLIC NUNS marching with Martin Luther King, and virtually all Christian churches embracing policies of peace and justice. And you have the Ecumenical movement (cessation of the warlike battles among religions; instances of common services; reconciliation of Jews and Christians, etc.).
This rightwing thing is very overblown--it is a distinct minority of dominant/submissive personality types that has always been with us, but has recently been given a big trumpet by the corporate news monopolies, way out of proportion to their numbers.
I have to laugh. Somebody asked Karl Rove how they won the election. You see, the Democrats blew the Republicans away in new voter registration in 2004, nearly 60/40. And the vast majority of new voters voted for Kerry. And the vast majority of Independent voters voted for Kerry. And the vast majority of Nader voters voted for Kerry. Gore/Bush 2000 switch voters were a wash (and not a factor). And Gore 2000 voters--still angry about 2000--were the ones responsible for getting all their non-voting family members, co-workers and friends to register and vote THIS TIME ("most important election in our history"). (Very motivated, in other words.)
So it occurred to some news monopoly reporter that this needed some explanation, and he asked Rove, how did they do it? And Rove replied (I am not kidding), it was their "invisible" get out the vote campaign.
Oh, and previously, Cheney had floated a line about their voter registration in churches. (--that big, important, rightwing effort that resulted in a 60/40 Democratic triumph in new voter registrations!).
The "invisible" get out the vote campaign. I think when you combine Republican greedbags and war profiteers, a few genuine but clueless conservatives, and a few rightwing "Christian" extremists, you might come up with about 40% of the voting population.
"Invisible," indeed. And well out of the mainstream of American opinion, which is extraordinarily progressive, justice-minded and peace-minded. (I'll spare you the stats. It is overwhelming--on every issue.)
So, anyway, the point I'm getting at is that I think you are exaggerating the menace of Christianity out of fear of the rightwing and what we know it has been capable of, in the past. And, of course, the rhetoric of people like Falwell is scary, and their power within the Bush Cartel is scary. I feel tremors every once in a while myself, on the very matters you have brought up--witchburnings, inquisitions, crusades.
But I also think we need to become FULLY COGNIZANT--aware every minute, and as to every word and every image--of the PROPAGANDA OF FEAR that is being relentlessly infused into our brains.
And have faith in the American people. The American people don't buy this crap--Bush or rightwingism--but they don't know how they have been disenfranchised--the specific mechanism that was used. (They are becoming more aware of it, though). I mean, Bushites have gained control over our election system. Major Bush donors and campaign chairs OWN AND CONTROL the SECRET, PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE by which all our votes are tabulated electronically. (Two companies, Diebold and ES&S.)
Most Americans also don't know that the TV networks, acting in concert, FALSIFIED the exit poll data (Kerry won) on everybody's TV screens on election night. (They "adjusted" that number to fit the official tally coming from Diebold and ES&S--thus depriving the American people of major evidence of election fraud, and squelching protest and calls for investigation.)
This is a fixable problem. And I and others have been crying the alarm over it for some time. We still have the power to change this--to achieve election reform--at the state/local level. There is bipartisan corruption to deal with, in electronic voting (elections have become a big business), but we have more say, and more ability to purge the corruption, locally. (Federal reform is a hopeless prospect, and could be quite dangerous, especially if the Bush Cartel seeks to federalize elections, which I suspect they have plans for.)
Don't give in to fear! Work like beavers to reconstruct an edifice of democracy from the bottom up. Demand transparent elections! Throw Diebold and ES&S out of your county and out of your state! Or, at the least, demand paper ballot backups, strict auditing and security, and no secret programming code!
Nao, we are looking at a fascist coup, not at the will of the majority. This regime does not have the "consent of the governed." That is very clear. And so what we have to do is to re-empower and re-enfranchise the majority.
I am all for raising holy hell about John Roberts and a number of other things, and for the Democrats in Congress chaining themselves to their desks if necessary, to blockade any further action by this illegitimate, traitorous government.
But I DO think we need to be realistic about the Supreme Court. The courts are going to be very, very bad for a very, very long time--not just on women's rights, but on ALL rights and on Corporate Rule. We need a new strategy to protect women's rights, and to recover our democracy. The key is transparent elections.
Americans are overwhelmingly against this, and ALL OTHER Bush policies--way up in the 60% to 70% range. Think about it. Why are we getting these things shoved down our throats ANYWAY?
Election reform! Now!
See the DU Forum "2004 Election Results and Discussion" for information and action ideas:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203