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destroyed Christianity--starting way back in the 5th century A.D., with the first right turn toward state-enforced religion, monolithic religious dogma (purging of the variety of thought in the Christian movement; burning of the alternative Gospels), and the oppression and silencing of women (the famous female philosopher, Hypatia, skinned alive in Alexandria, in 415 A.D., at the order of Bishop Cyril, leader of the 5th century NeoCons)--badly needs to be dismantled and reformed. There is more evidence every day that this decrepit and highly corrupt male institution has been telling a big fat lie for 1,500 years, that it has any "lineage" to Jesus and the earliest Christians, who were communal, egalitarian, anti-property, anti-war, and anti-institutional. The arrogance of these men, running the Church today, who establish themselves as "little gods" over others, and their putrid assertion of moral authority, rival that of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
I do not say this lightly. There are many good people in the Church, among both clerics and laity; and the Christian inspiration of non-violence and of justice for the poor, and also of the value of each and every human being, is alive in these people, and has given rise to many a hero among them--for instance, Bishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, who was shot dead on his altar by fascist paramilitaries trained in the U.S., because of his strong advocacy for the poor. Catholics, as individuals, and also as representatives of the Church, have been strong supporters of democracy movements, and a bulwark against fascism, in many countries--and I'm sure that most of them would say that the institution, while it certainly needs reform, is nevertheless helpful, and they would not want to see it dismantled. The problem is that the Church has no mechanism for reform. The institution itself is highly undemocratic and fascist, and actively prevents reform. It should long ago have abandoned its crazy assertion that only people who "physically resemble Jesus" (i.e., have a penis between their legs) --and one of the recent "popes" said exactly this--are holy enough to serve as priests. Their obsession with the dirtiness and unworthiness of women is fetishistic--and self-idolatrous--and borders on psychosis. Until recently, women were not even allowed on the altar during Mass, because they are "unclean." And notice the fetishism of the priest, in his fancy lace and gold-trimmed garments, ritually washing his hands before touching the bread that is supposedly (according to dogma) Christ's actual body. It is sick. Did Jesus refuse to eat with women? Did Jesus bar women from his inner circle? On the contrary, he set an example of egalitarianism, at every point his life, even in the sanitized gospels. (And it is very apparent in the gospels that were purged in the 5th century, which have lately come to light.) So this modern fetishism and hatred of women is a great divergence from real Christian teaching. It is the phony "rock" upon which the false "Fathers of the Church" built their very un-christian, power-mongering institution.
And, as the human race grows in enlightenment, and this falseness becomes more and more apparent, I think the "little gods" of the male hierarchy--the priests, the bishops, the monks--feel increasingly threatened by the quite evident lack of Christianity in their glorification of themselves. They stand on false ground. True Christian teaching does not support their egotism. And the weaker ones--who can't bear to live in a world in which their status as "little gods" is not worshiped--prey on children to gain a feeling of power. Such abominable acts are both more frequent, and less tolerated. (Both things are true, in my opinion.) And I don't see any remedy for it, except dismantling of the Church hierarchical organization. It will not reform itself. Its stubborn exclusion of women from the clerical hierarchy makes that very clear. It is not reformable.
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