Today, February 17th, we should pause and remember that great hero of freethought, Giordano Bruno.
On February 17, 1600 Giordano Bruno was murdered by the Christian Inquisition.
His murderers would protest that he was lawfully executed.
His crimes ( from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno ) were as follows:
- Holding opinions contrary to the Catholic Faith and speaking against it and its ministers.
- Holding erroneous opinions about the Trinity, about Christ’s divinity and Incarnation.
- Holding erroneous opinions about Christ.
- Holding erroneous opinions about Transubstantiation and Mass.
- Claiming the existence of a plurality of worlds and their eternity.
- Believing in metempsychosis and in the transmigration of the human soul into brutes.
- Dealing in magics and divination.
- Denying the Virginity of Mary.
What he was really murdered for was for saying the Earth moved around the Sun.
He was burned alive at the stake.
Before the fire was lit, his tongue was nailed to the roof of his mouth so he could not utter further blasphemies as he painfully died.
You can learn more about this great hero here:
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/john_kessler/giordano_bruno.html
Many think such things could not happen today.
You don’t really believe in evolution do you?
And you don’t think the Earth goes around the Sun, do you…….?
Edwin.
Unfortunately even today there are those who would silence the voice of anyone who disagrees with them. Although their methods no longer include burning at the stake, they do their best to portray those who dare think differently from them as unpatriotic, immoral, anti-family, and a whole host of other negative labels. Giordano Bruno should be our example as we stand up against those who would still our voices and keep us from standing up for our freedom to think our own thoughts and live our own lives according to our own rules and not theirs.
Edwin,That was an excellent post. What they did to Bruno is exactly what many fundamentalists would do today if they had a chance to get away with it. That’s the power of religion, it certifies itself with terror and brutality, not reason.The public needs to be reminded of religion’s past, and through that they may discover that today’s religions harbor the same mentality as they did 500 to 2000 years ago.
I agree with Robin C. and being silenced when you disagree with the established majority groupthink – just try questioning the dogma of the HolyHoax and the Chosenites!
Edwin,It has been an enduring wish of mine that freethinkers, agnostics, atheists should band together and organise a trip to Bruno’s statue in Italy and pay their respect and graatitude by laying flowers at the feet of the statue, with full international media coverage. Why can’t we? Some of us certainly have the money,and enough of it to organise cruises to the Galapagos. Mr Mel Gibson and company can direct a major motion picture on “The Passion of Christ”. How about a major motion picture on Giordano Bruno?? Why are we not seeing that?? Don’t tell me we don’t have enough rich freethinkers who can put their money where their mouths are?
Lest We Forget. . . Giordano Bruno’s execution (or assassination, if you prefer) was only one event in a long succession of activities knowingly perpetrated by the Christian church centered in Rome to supress knowledge that either undermined its authority or its teachings or both. Ever since certain sects of the Christian religion became powerful enough in the second or third century C.E. to exercize local political control (by overcoming competing sects), they have not only destroyed pagan artifacts that they disagreed with, but other Christian sects. Eventually, The most powerful sects gained Imperial sanction at Nicea, and began a program of exterminating the remiaining competing sects. Temples and shrines that could not be converted to the official religion were destroyed, and documents that contradicted the new religion were destroyed. Whole libraries throughout the Eastern Mediterranean were destroyed, including the great Library at Alexandria (which destruction is attributed to Cyrus, subsequently canonized). Not only were philosophies contrary to the official religion destroyed, but scientific discoveries of all kinds. Much knowledge was lost for a thousand years–some knowledge was lost forever.Those few brave people like Bruno whose thoughts were free struggled against religious repression. So even durng the re-awakening of intellectualism during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, human progress was held back by the conservatism of superstitious thinking. It may be too much to classify men like Bruno as martyrs, but we owe a great deal of gratitude for our intellectual freedom to their bravery. Thanks to Edwin for bringing this reminder to our attention.-Z
Yes, well, as we speak there are political prisoners in Europe for questioning historical dogmas handed down by Simon Wiesenthal…
Yes, well, as we speak there are those of the tin-foil hat persuasion who labor under the impression that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is historical fact.
“Tin foil” hats? Before jumping on the “don’t try and confuse with facts because my mind is made up” bandwagon – read the The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. It’s not what the cultural Marxists have led you to believe. The problem with too many atheists is that they have prided themselves with being so open-minded that their brains fell out. Here’s a site that has the text of one translation from the Russian of late 19th century. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/przion1.htm Challenge authority and read something that you are not supposed to read! The book simply identified the equivalent of the New World Order that we know today – before the October Revolution, more accurately known as the Red or Jewish takeover of White Russia. Like the HolyHoax, if so many laws across Europe & Canada (taking the guise of “hate crime” laws in the USA) have to be enacted to make you – i.e. force you to – believe the incredible story of 6 million dead jews during the Third Reich, then perhaps a 19th century book is the sort of thing George Orwell addressed in 1984 or Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451? By the way, in many government-run schools these days books like 1984 are no longer on junior high reading lists. By The Protocols and other de facto banned books at http://www.noontidepress.com/catalog/ LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF and not according to the dogma of the government-run schools, the controlled media for the masses, Communist popular front groups (many of those operate with the power of the Federal gun and have since at least the mid-20th century). There’s a direct tie or correlation to cultural Marxism in the USA and the relocation of the Frankfort school to Columbia University in the mid-1930s. Some of you might care enough to check into these matters indepedently – others might be ready to quit knee-jerk fundamentalist mentality labeling of “tin foil” hats or other manifestations of being brain-washed in America.
One anonymous said:Yes, well, as we speak there are political prisoners in Europe for questioning historical dogmas handed down by Simon Wiesenthal…In response to that, another anonymous said:7:44 PM EST Anonymous said… Yes, well, as we speak there are those of the tin-foil hat persuasion who labor under the impression that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is historical fact.AM I TO TAKE IT THAT some atheists support the imprisonment of those who dare challenge the blasphemy laws that comes with Jewish supremacism in England, Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, Sweden, and Canada? Such a comeback by the latter anonymous poster (quoted) just goes to show that being atheist does not make one civilized, possessed of rational thought processes or critical thinking skills. There’s no blasphemy like acknowledging the “elephant in the living room” – and that elephant has a coat of many striped colors, albeit invisible. Some stripes (that you might not see) include questioning the current War for Israel, the Holy number of Six million dead jews, jewish preeminence in government, universities, media (including Hollywood), publishing, and so on. The saturation of cultural Marxism is so prevalent that those who see it – and dare speak of it – are the ones who are called crazy by those who believe. In this case, the True Believers are atheists such as the latter anonymous posted mentioned above, among many others.
anonymous wrote: “AM I TO TAKE IT THAT some atheists . . .” For some unknown reason thought I was referring to him. Interesting. The poster really ought to know better than to post this “do you still beat your wife” rhetoric. Also interesting that a flip-flopper from atheism to christianity sees fit to lecture about rational thought and critical thinking. Mr. Kettle, meet Mr. Pot.If the tin-foil hat fits, wear it.
Try answering the question: Do some atheists support imprisonment of those [blasphemers] who question the dogma of the HolyHoax? That’s the inference revealed by juxtaposition. There’s no business like shoah business! Blasphemers Unite!
Try getting off your soapbox, Larry. I doubt many take you seriously anymore.