Church decision on whether women have souls: Results.
Dave Butler
Well folks the verdict is in; the Catholic Church did indeed hold an
official council on whether women had souls and you women did just make
it by one vote. I now have 3 references: _The_Rape_Of_The_A*P*E*_ by
Allen Sherman (page 202 for those who care), _Why_We_Burn:_Sexism_Exorcised_,
written by Meg Bowman and appeared in _The_Humanist_ magazine in the
November/December 83' issue and finally, an article witten by Dottie Lamm
(wife of the governor of Colorado) that appeared in the November 6th 1983
Denver Post. The title of the article was
_Tracing_Anger:_Its_roots_are_in_history_
and the excerpt from the article is as follows:
"Are Women Human?" (In the year 584, in Lyons, France, 43 Catholic
bishops and twenty men representing other bishops, after a lengthy
debate, took a vote. The results were: 32, yes; 31, no. Women
were declared human by one vote.) ---Council of Macon, France.
If you wish to find references to this council in Catholic literature
and:
1. you don't read french or latin or
2. you don't have access to rare books,
give it up. I searched through copious compendiums on church councils and
history. Each of these books professed to be a veritable fount of Catholic
knowledge. Only the _Catholic_Encyclopedia_ even mentions the council, and
it refuses to discuss the decisions and votes made (If I sound slightly
irritated, its because I am. You try searching through 17 or more 300 page
tomes which have all embarassing facts edited out). One of the other catholic
embarassments was the _Malleus_Maleficarum_ ("Hammer of Witches") written
in 1448 for Pope Innocent VIII. It started out as a treatise on witch
hunting, but ended up as a mysogynist's handbook. Here's some excerpts:
Beware of women when they weep. They are only bent on causing
evil, and their tears are false.
It is unwise for a man to marry. A wife is a destroyer of
friendship, a temptress, a threat to the household, a bringer of
misfortune, an evil. Woman is more bitter than death itself. She
seeks to ensnare and trap. He who is righteous will avoid her,
take flight from her. Only the sinner will permit himself to succumb
to her.
The minds of women are light and incapable of producing aught
that is wise or good.
Women can but destroy what men have created.
Women are repulsive to the touch. In intercourse, they are deadly
dangerous. The man who lies with them seeks death.
Women seek the destruction of man. Fear and despise them.
This book was kept around for hundreds of years (the church put out 28
editions) and 3 different Popes endorsed it as official church law.
If you happen to think that this purely Catholic demigogery, forget it.
The 3 sources I've got enumerate examples from every major religion and
nationality (You should here some of the things Martin Luthor said).
I want to thank the people that wrote me about my search for this
council. Some wrote to wish me luck. Some wrote to say that while they
thought I was serious in my quest, I was definitely mistaken and misled.
Some wrote to tell me I was obviously a slanderous flame-baiter. To all
these people I say thank you; you all encouraged me to search harder for
the truth. To those who supported and helped me: thanks, I couldn't have
succeeded without you. To those who thought I was probably a nice person, but
definitely misled: never underestimate the stupidity, bigotry and prejudice
of any organized religion or government. To the highly insultable reactionary
types: next time someone says that your sacred cow is deseased, before
throwing stones, look at the beast; they might be right.
Special thanks to:
Mary Jo Williams(udenva!mwilliams) who sent me the reference to
Dottie Lamms article,
Dottie Lamm for sending me a copy of the article,
Ken Arnold (cgl.ucsf.edu!arnold) for the reference to
_The_Rape_Of_The_A*P*E*_.
Enjoyed this Immensely,
Dave Butler
Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.
P.S. When I first politely made my request for information about the
council to the net there was a stampede to tell me how wrong I was and
that I should apologize. But when I posted my preliminary results,
there was a thundering silence. Wonder why that is.
P.S.S. I guess I don't owe the church or the net an apology.