Conspiracy Theories: Difference between revisions

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*** The first [[Evil Plan]] of the Catholics was probably helping to bring about the Dark Ages: they were the ones to close Plato's academy, and they took a turn burning the library at Alexandria.

**** Though to be fair, these institutions were closed because of their connection to Pagan Cults which were outlawed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius. Many of ancient philosopher's works were preserved by the Church through the Dark Ages, though the only ones who could read them were Churchmen and those nobles who cared.

**One of the most famous is the idea that the Catholic Church, or Christianity in general, was a construct of Emperor Constantine. As if the Roman Empire was a totalitarian state. No state was at the time, certainly not one that size; the emperor could only have absolute power at any given time and place and in any event, even modern states with extensive technological resources and the desire to rule over every aspect of life(assuming it has such} can find it difficult to force an ideological concept down it's subject's throat in it's despite the way Constantine was accused of. Furthermore the history of the time shows other Emperors demonstrating the impossibility of doing that in the Rome of that time by the discreditable method of actually trying to do so not with Christianity but with other new fangled religions of the time. Romans actually did have a capacity for passive resistance if they cared enough about something. In any case Constantine's history does not show him as a would-be Torquemada. He was possibly a sincere Christian in his later years though that is arguable. What is true is that he was a politician and all his religious policies could be interpreted through the rational goal of making sure no one riots in the street over religion and getting a good relationship with the strongest special interest in the Empire. He certainly showed no sign of unusual interest in the theological details of in-house Church arguments. Certainly not enough to decree the Churches theology by fiat.

***A large part of this is that this comes from telescoping the reigns of several Emperors and aspects of religious policy which evolved slowly. There were still Pagans in the empire by Justinian's time and Justinian was in any case a closer fit then Constantine to the character and policy associated with this theory.

** While we're on the subject of Antichrist accusations and the Catholic church, there's the [[wikipedia:Vicarius Filii Dei|Vicarius Filii Dei]] <ref>Vicar/Representative of the Son of God</ref> rumor. The link has the whole story, but to sum it up -- this is given as a supposed title of the Papacy, and present on one of the Papal Tiaras. The name, while innocuous, can be numerologically represented as none other than [[Number of the Beast|666.]] Problem is, no such title is actually ''claimed'' by the Papacy, and none of the extant Papal Tiaras have such writing on them.

* Back in the 1920's, Margaret Murray claimed that there was an "Old Religion" in Europe predating Christianity (all the way back to the stone age!) that had secretly survived under the Church's nose for centuries. Witch hunts were an attempt at wiping these people out once and for all. Oh, and Joan of Arc was a voluntary human sacrifice for this pagan cult. Despite the fact that she has been completely discredited (her claims have pretty much no basis in fact, and some of her "facts" were completely twisted), many new agers and pagans continue to believe the myth she's propagated.