From: redsonja@olias.linet.org (Red Sonja)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.pagan,talk.religion.misc,talk.abortion
Subject: Re: Freedom of Religion
Date: 26 Jan 93 04:21:45 GMT
Organization: LI Freenet

In article <2B63263F.9583@news.service.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:

>P.S.: I actually got up the courage to read the _Malleus Maleficarum_
>straight through -- not just excepts, the whole damned thing.  I heartily
>encourage anyone who doubts the truth and the real evil behind the
>Burning Times to read it.  My jaw actually dropped when I read some
>stuff.  You know how the male pronoun is usually used to denote gender-
>neutral stuff?  Well, they use "she" EXCLUSIVELY to talk about evil and
>wicked people -- EXCLUSIVELY.  They talk about how men can be witches
>and stuff, but then talk only of evil "she's" and "her's".  They target
>women specifically and systematically, for anyone who doubts the
>misogyny of the early church.  Had I read anything like this in school,
>I would have renounced the catholic church even earlier than I did.  (As
>it is, I just kind of lost interest and dropped out.)  I have never in
>my life read anything so evil and hateful before; it's _Mein Kampf_ with
>the pope's seal of approval.  It is specifically stated that the
>Inquisitor in the court should call a woman an adulteress and concubine
>no matter her guilt or innocence because "although this is beside the
>point, yet such questions engender more suspicion than would be the case
>with a chaste and honest woman who stood accused."
>
>Read this book, and then talk of the Burning Times.  Else you are not
>informed -- I was not as well-informed as now before *I* decided to read
>all of it.  Later, I'll type in and post the Papal Bull that started it
>all.  
>
>I say again, every person alive who considers themselves Witches or
>Pagans must read this.  Every person alive should read it, as an example
>of what we must be on guard against -- especially those in the xtian
>churches, who must bend their will toward making sure that it NEVER gets
>this out of hand again.  

Janis you are 100% correct. I have only seen the original of this book,
but I did not have to read it. It was on display at the Deutsches 
KriminalMuseum in Rotenberg Ob-Der-Tauber, a tiny little 1400's medeival
village that was so obscurely located it survived 2 World Wars untouched.
The book in question was accompanied by the most gruesome collection of
instruments of torture I have ever seen. It boggles the mind that people
actually came up with all these ideas, and many of them were fiendishly
designed with female genitalia in mind. It brings it home to a sensitive
to be in the same room with all that shit. Shock warring with nausea.
Amnesty International also exhibited this collection in Heidelberg Castle,
to their great credit. Unfortunately sometimes it is necessary to see
the ugly side of history in order to learn from it.

And now, pagans, what do we do about the computer game Darklands which
is actually extolling this activity, proudly cites the HexenHammer (as
it was called in Germany) as a reference, and turns seeking out and 
destroying witches and pagan altars into a game?!??? Has anybody seen
this game yet??? I was stationed in Germany for a while and this is my
first year back, and my fiancee purchased the game as a gift. Supposedly
it re-creates medieval Germany. This particular aspect of the game is
extremely disturbing. It is presented in a very jaundiced and intolerant
way in the manual as well.

Suggestions very welcome!! 


-- 
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redsonja@olias.linet.org     \\\RS///     Self possession is 9/10 of the law.
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