Once upon a time, the Mother Church had under her tutelage a pampered and not at all curious child: the humanity of the West. During this tutelage, civilization fell into a quagmire, science languished. Every now and then there were religious wars, witches were burned at the stake by the inquisitors, and Western humanity groaned under its brutal enslavement to dogma, prejudice and the unholy church-state alliance. All research stopped, the literature of classical antiquity was given over to the flames of faith and even the great achievements of "Greek science" were forgotten... Everything was covered by darkness... Then, because of the "religious wars", which fragmented Christianity , the full flowering of the Enlightenment came and with it the dominance of reason and progress! The secular nation-state has emerged, and with it a new and revolutionary sense of human dignity!... Western humanity has been rescued from the bloodstained intolerance of religion! Now, at last, man has come of age in all areas, in science, politics and ethics...

This is a simple and charming tale that is easy to follow as it offers a homely interpretation of things. Its only drawback is that it happens to be incorrect in every characteristic detail...

BIBLIOGRAPHY

by Sotiris Mitralexis