``Theologie de Clermont'' by the Rev. Father Vincent published in 1904 contains the following passage: ``The Church has received from God the power to reprove those who wander from the truth. not only by spiritual but corporeal penalties, such as imprisonment, flagellation, mutilation, and death.''Modern civilization need not be alarmed by such proclamations, but it is too soon to ignore them.
The Ugly ChristianChristianity is a bloody path unlike any other. We acknowledge that there maybe a few gentle, compassionate, loving christians, but do they acknowledge or repudiate the demonizing by activists? Do they actively oppose the denigraton of people not christian? If they don't stand actively against the evil done by christianity, then they are part of it! Christianity is too heinous to let the wickedness stand unrcontested. Let those who don't share the hatefulness of their fellows find a new way to describe their beliefs. Defending their religion with, "But we are christian and we don't feel that way," gives aid and comfort to the christians who are wicked! And christians make no objection to the evils within their religion, then they are silent participants! Of course, christians weren't the only people who found gender variance disturbing. As monotheistic gods and their followers began claiming the earth, forming ``macho'' cultures, there were many dissenters. Judaism was one of those dissenters. Nevertheless, gender vatiants once had a place and were admired and respected by many people. We didn't have to rationalize and fantasize concerning what we are in hopes of begrudgingly being granted a niche in life. It wasn't until the advent of christianity, most despicable of all religions, that the enmity escalated, and an attempt was made to eliminate us and paganism from the face of the earth. Christian warmongers survived and ultimately replaced us, pagans, and more mellow christian sects, as the only state religion of the Roman Empire.
(1) Paul of Tarsus apparantly was a strong advocate. It was Paul who spread the idea of christianity to the gentiles. Christianity then, as it appears in the New Testament, was a little different from christianity today. Nascent christianity was a minority religion that spread from within Judiasm. Jesus was, if he existed at all, a Jew. (2) Until the arrival of Emperor Constantine christians were a small minority persecuted because of their intractable belief in one God and their ``acts of faith '' against other religions; primarily intolerance and prejudice which led to demonstrations, vandalism, and attacks against anyone who refused to bend knee to their God. This was much like avtivist christians still do today. Women seeking abortions, non-believers, pagans, and gender variants are frequent targets of christian fundamentalist intolerance. When Constantine raised christianity to a state religion the other religions were slowly eliminated, often by violent means. The early christian movement, with Constantine as its champion, was relentless. Christ may not have come with a flaming sword as prophesied, but the religion that sprung up around Paul most surely did. It still exists today. It isn't christians under attack, as they complain. It is the rest of us who are under attack, an attack that has not let up since it began. Denying our right to reveal history and to name our attackers, as some christians do, is like blaming the chickens for pointing to the fox, feathers still hanging from the mouth of the fox, and having the fox hush the chickens.
A Historical PerspectiveThe Roots of JudaismAs late as ninth century B.C.E., the temples of Asherah and Yahweh, erected side by side in Mizpah, still survived. The wide spread practice of sacred prostitution by males and females suggests that the sacred marriage was a dominant aspect of the cult of Asherah and Yahweh. These prostitutes were considered sacred priestesses and they dramatized the role of the Goddess inviting the king to her couch. The episode is obscure but Isaiah may have attended one of these shrines, engaging in a sacred union with a professional prophetess. Hosea, 750-735 B.C.E., makes it abundantly clear that the practice continued in his day with undiminished vigor. In the subsequent century Deuteronomic law attempted to suppress the hierodouloi, but even with the stringent reforms of Josiah, which included destroying the temples and the sacred women who wove hangings for Asherah, the cult persisted. Yahweh was himself believed to be the first husband of the zonah, distinguished from mere lovers. The fertility symbol was retained as the traces of the old religion were suppressed and interpreted as a symbol of the marriage of Yahweh and his people.(*3) Yahweh as the consort of the Goddess Asherah, is well established in academia. That Asherah was served by `male' priestesses as well as female priestesses is also not in doubt. Artistic renderings from the period display a female form with a penis side by side with Yahweh while the Goddess resides in the background. These figures, not understood by non-transgendered historians, are glossed over as unexplained curiosities, but their meaning is immediately clear when taken in the context of the times. What was the function of `male' prostitutes clothed as women (Deut. 22:5) if not to service men as functionaries of the Goddess? Judiasm, however, insufficiently disciplined was unable to eliminate paganism or goddess worship. Paganism continued well past the arrival of nascent christianity.
The Roots of christianityChristianity, originating with the emergence of Messianic Jews, contends that the Bible is a collection of works ``dictated'' by God. The most stringent orthodoxy believes the Bible is the literal word of Yahweh. Liberal theologians sixty years ago, in the 1930's and earlier, were well aware that this position was untenable.(*4) Attempting to preserve the illusion of the authority of the sacred text, Concordism was invented. Concordism is a false science which strives, at the cost of reason and rationality, to force agreement between modern science and the material in the Bible. Thus days, with mornings and evenings, become periods of time, and other absurdities, incongruities, and incoherence are covered by subterfuge and misdirection.(*5) In truth the Bible is a collection of documents from different periods of time and it is infantile to judge it as a single collection, taken as a whole. Historians agree that the triumph of christianity over paganism was violent and bloody, but to temper the necessity of presenting uncomfortable truths they ``make claim'' that christianity was the first educative force in Europe. This is the height of arrogance. It was nascent christianity that destroyed the academic knowledge of pagans, who were the first educative force in Europe. After burning the Library of Alexandria, destroying the majority of writings and books by pagan scholars, (hiding a few away in church vaults), they exterminated anyone who was pagan; exemplified in the brutal murder of Hypatia. They plunged the world into a thousand years of darkness, the only knowledge remaining retained and hidden by the church. Only by the steadfastness of courageous scientists such as Galileo was the church forced to withdraw its influence over the lives of the people. Each step forward was fiercely opposed by the church. The church fathers recognized clearly that learning and wisdom, truth in the classic meaning, were, as they still are, the eternal adversaries of faith and dogma. The beginning of every religion, of course, is cloaked in mystery. Christianity is no exception. Although substantially different from the creeds of Rome, Greece, and Judea, christianity is essentially a reflection of the worship of Attis, Osiris, Dionysos, Orpheus, and Adonis. All are built around the theme of a Savior-god who takes human form, teaches, suffers, dies, and rises again. The minor divergences from this theme lend no greater authority to one than another.(*6) Many include, for example, a virgin birth. As christianity triumphed and its morality became the predominant force in much of the world, accordingly all other practices have been labelled immoral. Such is the prerogative of the victor, the destruction of the old and denigration and dismissal of it as inherently wicked. It is only thus that christians can justify the slaughter of millions of innocent people. The New Testament was established by the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. and confirmed in Western churches in 397. However, the idea for a New Testament was originally conceived by the famous heretic, Marcion. He formed the very first collection of the kind in 150 C.E. It included an abridged version of Luke and the majority of the Pauline epistles. Somewhere between the year 150 and 200 C.E. other books were added and the Bible took on a similar pattern to the text of today, however the Apocalypse of St. Peter was still in the canon. Said to be lost, a copy was discovered in Egypt at a later time, but no effort has been made to restore it in modern versions. There are a plethora of writings and documents written near the time of the formation of christianity. Held with equal historical authority to those in the canon, the only difference was that the selected writings were expected to raise fewer doubts among the faithful. Church authority for centuries proscribed common folk from reading the Bible, lest they lose their faith in doubt and confusion over the sacred texts. In the earliest forms of christianity, recorded around 80 C.E., there were deacons and deaconesses. Deaconesses, a word contrived to disguise the truth that there were women prophetesses, preachers, bishops, and priests. Women, equal in all ways to men, busied themselves with charity work and the spreading of indoctrination. Baptism, total immersion, was almost exclusively administered by women. Sick and dying persons were rubbed with holy oils to scare away evil spirits. Some of the congregation believed they had prophetic powers, healing powers, and in glossolalia (speaking in tongues.) There was widespread belief in the speedy return of Jesus, only neutralized by his absence in the continued passage of time.(*7) During its earliest years christianity was a peaceful pagan (rustic) religion assuming its place among the many other pagan religions. Maria (Ma Rhea) was a form of the Goddess Cybele, Christ was a form of her Savior son, Attis, and Yahweh, the Father, a form of Zeus. The myths and manuscripts that would one day compose the Holy Bible were formulated on the bones of paganism with deliberate purpose. In nascent christianity, Ma Rhea still held sway as the primary deity. Then came Paul, the defiler, whose doctrine during the early centuries overwhelmed the beliefs attributed to Jesus/Attis, preparing for the eventual ruthless elimination of the Goddess in Europe, and the silencing of the feminine voice. Paul, Saul of Tarsus, coming to dominance in christianity, brought a strict discipline that set the stage for later christianity to become master of the Roman Empire. Not only did they persecute other pagans, murdering them in their temples and then burning their temples, but the same fate was meted out to dissident christians, those not in accord with the teachings of Paul. Although formed from paganism, christianity had to separate itself from its pagan foundation if it was to dominate and prevail. Baptism, originally a means to exorcise devils, became a dedication to their Lord. Saints replaced Greek heroes, goddesses, and gods ... often retaining the legends as well as the names. christmas, set on December 25th, was the birthday of Jesus/Attis and the practice of a decorated pine tree, popular among the laity, was never addressed. It was, and is, a celebration of the death of Attis, the Gentle Shepherd, by castration and, after three days, his resurrection. From their Jewish origin the christians, pagan Jews, took Pesach, the Easter Festival, and created the anniversary of christ's resurrection. Pentecost, which commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Sinai, became the pouring of the Holy Spirit (Sophia, the feminine aspect of God) on the Apostles. The church, although openly more hostile to Hellenism than to Judaism, became Hellenised because from the time of its origin it was a pagan adaptation of Judaism.(*8) A few sects of christianity today have softened with the advent of new knowledge. A select few sects have gone so far as to denounce the hostility exhibited by the many. The many, however, are vocal, hold the power, and they oppose the publication of any unflattering history. Their attempt to hide history is no different from those who would deny the holocaust,. Atheists, skeptics, pagans, gender variants, must unite to insure christians and religions created in the same mold, never again rule over the human species. We, the Metro'on, are in the process of defending atheism, skepticism, paganism, women, and Gallae. We indict those who erased history, those who murdered people; those despicables leading the early church and acting upon the admonitions of Paul. Sifting through antagonistic sources is sometimes difficult, but the research has revealed the extent of the evil. Most of our discoveries are not complimentary to christianity. However, our focus is in reclaiming our past, not just in exposing the crimes of the early church. The latter is necessary because of the thoroughness with which the church eradicated the historic records of paganism. Often the only proof of our existence is found in the inimical writings of our persecutors. Non-belief, pagan spirituality, the spirituality of women, and that of gender variants has existed since time immemorial. Pauline christianity, with a swift and deadly sword, under orders of the church fathers and christian emperors, cut us down, destroyed our works and attempted to erase any memory that we ever existed. This information is recorded in the archives of the Vatican. Even other christian sects, now called heretical, fell under the onslaught of anti-libertine christians. Montanus, a gender variant priest(ess) of Cybele from Phrygia, converted to christianity and founded the Montanist sect in the year 157 C.E. (S)he had emasculated (he)rself in the worship of Cybele and Attis, not because (s)he feared the ``sin of lust'' as christian historians would have you believe. In (he)r conversion to christianity (s)he preached that the time of revelation had not passed and that women had an equal right to speak and prophesize. Montanism attracted a wide following before it was condemned as heresy by those operating under Paul's dictum that women must be silent. Herded into their own churches and burned alive, the members of the sect were wiped from existence. The story of Montanus (Carata), Priscilla, and Maximilla can be found in another area of our homepage. Churches, organizations, and corporations, dedicated to self-preservation, acquisition of wealth, and the domination of their congregations are at fault, not necessarily individual believers. If in the restoration of history dirty laundry is revealed, then the proper response is to wash it, not push it back in some dark corner of the laundry room. Religious associations, organizations, churchs, much like living entities, oppose any view save their own. They acknowledge it, declare themselves enemies; when a people says something negative about itself, believe that it is true. They know themselves! Why is it necessary to reveal injuries from the past? Because they are the foundation for continued persecution and marginalizing of people today. Her/story, existed; it was a brilliant flame inclusive of everyone; women, men, non-believers, pagans, gender variants, and even early christians. We, the Gallae, were once joined at the hip with other women, in our mind that has not changed. When we reclaim our heritage, we reclaim what has been stripped from other women, and from other good people as well. Neglecting this responsibility, our histories would once again return to obscurity. We have no desire to harm good people, nor would we if we could. We are not the aggressors. We are the survivors of the aggression against us. Survivors of crime today are counseled to confront their abusers, publicly exposing the crime and giving notice that it will not be tolerated in the future. This we do!
Footnote from history:Origen of Alexandria, who would not have become a theologian without the sponsorship of a woman patron, adapted quickly to the silencing of women, speaking and writing against the Montanist prophetesses. It is wrong for a woman to speak in assembly, no matter what she says, even if she says admirable things or even saintly things, that is of little consequence since they come from the mouth of a woman.
1. Myth and Ritual In the Ancient Near East, 1958, by E.O. James, Professor Emeritus of the History of Religion, University of London. p. 126 2. p. 127 (same) /// 3. p. 128 (same) /// 4. Orpheus, A History of Religions, (with 38 editions in French alone) by Salomon Reinach, 1930, p 185 refering to Loisy, Quelques reflexions, p. 228 /// 5. p. 185 (same) /// 6. (same) p. 228 /// 7. (same) p. 275 /// 8. (same) p. 281 |
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