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1. Secretary-General’s message for victims
“I urge all Member States to accede to and fully implement the Convention against Torture and support the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. Let us work together to end torture throughout the world and ensure that countries provide reparation for victims.”
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/sgsm15131.doc.htm
2. Both Mr. Prime Minister of Canada and Mr. Attorney General of Canada stated on behalf of the Government for victims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYsUbSK075s
3. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay’s message for torturers:
"Torturers, and their superiors, need to hear the following message loud and clear: however powerful you are today, there is a strong chance that sooner or later you will be held to account for your inhumanity." Pillay said. “ Torture is an extremely serious crime, and in certain circumstances can amount to a war crime, a crime against humanity or genocide."
4. Will Toronto Police, Canadian torturers stop their inhuman acts of torture?
5. Are these or those torturers not afraid of anything, like international law and international society? No, absolutely not. But, they have a set of measures or methods to deal with them.
This link, maybe you can’t open it. I don’t know how to solve it. They are now hacking everything. It is not necessary for me to show the evidence I have.
Canadian torture victim
Robin Yan
07/04/2014
Check this out! You hear a lot about the rift between christians and Transhumanism, but heris a group taking aNew Perspective! We might have something to learn from them!!!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/14798935435/?id=10153988921655436
In the course of my torture, I have willingly exposed myself to information available on the subject of targeting, remote torture with advanced electromagnetic and scalar weapons systems, and gang stalking. The information consists of input and contributions by fellow remotely tortured, targeted and gang stalked individuals found on this website and other websites addressing the same issues. The information consists of official documents about some of the electromagnetic weapons systems, their application (military and civilian) from military websites. The information consists of professional and academic papers on neuroscience (e.g. Dr. Persinger's papers, etc) and professional and academic papers on nanotechnologies. The information consists of books (e.g. Dr. Doug Beason, Ph.D; Dr. Duncan; Dr. Begich; etc...). The information consists of a historical record on non-consentual human experimentation in the United States, including files of congressional hearings. And so on and so forth...
From all these, I have benefited much from the experience of others and have learned a lot. But the learning process has required that I apply some guiding principles in how I process the information. Learn what to discard, and what to retain. What to further explore. And this is the summary of JUST ONE of the things I have learned:
Some (so called conspiracy theorists) argue that the government is behind these abuses. Some refute this.
My position:
I listen to what everyone has to say but do not force or compel others to see things my way. They probably have reasons for arriving at their conclusions, and while reasons may be flawed, they are never invalid. I happen to believe that the government/military or some agencies are wholely responsible for my torture. The reasons are that:
a) In the post 911 era, the prospect of multiple aircraft (including helicopters) surveilling my every single movement, 24/7, for almost 5 yrs now WITHOUT the government granting flying licenses to the aircraft, and knowing about the reasons the aircraft need to surveil, are ZERO. BTW, the aircraft can be seen by others as well so this is not a figment of my imagination.
b) The chances that my blood would develop an ability to have light-emitting objects when viewed under a microscope, when the head of the NIH advised a group of medical leaders to "ignore" any "UBOs" (unidentified bright objects) if they happen to find them inside a patient, (See ICAART DVD), suggests that there exists technologies whose capabilities to infuse/implant photonic/optic microdevices into unwitting victims' bodies, are both RECOGNIZED and EXPECTED to show up in such affected individuals.
c) An international organization that performs preliminary scans on targets found numerous frequency emissions from my head and body on June 30, 2012. The frequency emissions just happened to be in the range alloted to the military. No one else has application access to these frequencies except the parties that they are alloted to by the assigning agency. Any unauthorized access would constitute an act of war against the United States.
d)The relentless DESTRUCTION OF, AND OUTRIGHT THEFT, of microdevices my body is doused with, which include photonic crystals of all shape and form; nanofibers of various classes; official papers from military websites on the wireless, electromagnetic technologies; academic and professional papers on deleterious effects of some of these technologies on the human body; documentation of my barbaric torture with nanodevices and more... Non-governmental involvement would be happy to LEAVE THE MILITARY DOCUMENTS ALONE in order to shift the blame to someone else but this is not the case.
e) Constant character assassination and smears on FFFCHS' 'Comments' page (Pls go read this to see how far they will go to damage victims who are EFFECTIVELY EXPOSING these crimes). These tactics are consistent with some of the documents released in the Greenwald/Poitras/Scahill website on tactics used to discredit targets. Apart from Dennis Robinson, who it is alleged by the criminals is under my pay ( ! ), and whom they implore to kick me out of his website, no other target there receives this much attention. The degree of bigotry of these criminals is of such an extent that they refuse to believe that I am African and claim that I am a caucasian with blue eyes who HAS SOMEONE ELSE WRITING MY POSTS ! Never mind that many TIs in Oregon who have seen me in person, and who voted to have me write a letter to Senator Ron Wyden know the truth...
f) My body turns on street walking signals on "smart" street lights when my I am within activating range of some circuitry on the street light that interacts with illegal implants in my body. One of the companies making these is Intellistreet. Older street lights do not react to my body in this way; they remain silent as with many other non-implanted persons. The body can also turn these lights off, on, dim them or intensify the light. One of Intellistreet's contracts is with Homeland Security, according to documents.
g) This list could go on until it is a thick as the thickest book known...And this is just ON ONE AREA. But I must stop here. Library time where I write this is limited.
Conclusion:
Who I believe to be behind my torture has a sound basis in fact. Who someone else believes is behind THEIR torture has their own reasons that may or may not coincide with mine. But IT IS NOT MY PLACE to dismiss their belief or to try to command them to see things my way. Nor IS IT THEIR PLACE to dismiss my belief or try to command me to see things their way. I have to listen to them, not judge, nor recommend to them that they see otherwise. Else one comes across as having something VESTED in swaying others one way or the other.
Best to you.
You can't watch the tv or radio without getting harassed to some extent and going out too . I have found some positive digital songs to try to cheer me up.
I realized i am being a spoiled brat while in the hospital, I am trying to change but everything I do they seem to mostly dislike. I am also now seeing a psychotherapist.... The lack of not being able to distract yourself is very hard.
So what does everyone do for fun? I like walking my dog and looking at nature in my backward and playing games with my family but i would like to be with the public.
Btw anyone seen the new the AArp magazine?
there is a good article on ways to "bounce back" and article on Patrick Stewart on battling the darkness within that seems interesting for us.
Any people in Toronto, Canada who experience voice to skull electronic harassment please contact me. There are a number of us here trying to figure out a solution to this problem. PS I do not care at all about any conspiracy theories or anti government bs. I do not even believe that the government or police are harassing average unimportant non criminal individuals this way. In any case the solution to the problem in spite the perpetrators is finding proof ( clear evidence that we are being assaulted with yet publicly unrecognized communications technology and not some nut conspiracy theorists that think aliens or some other stupid thing is doing this ) So we need to have a technical approach, demonstrate first that there is in fact a signal directed at us, second track the source and call the cops. This is very basic outline that is why it is necessary to have a large group of rational people to provide more ideas and ultimately resolve this.
The following news made me think of lots? What about you ?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/04/ontario-premier-kathleen-wynne-slaps-tim-hudak-with-a-libel-notice-over-gas-plant-allegations/
Fighting Cancer with Nanomedicine
Nanotechnology-based therapeutics will revolutionize cancer treatment.
| April 1, 2014
© SETIXELA/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Short drug circulation times and difficulty localizing therapy to tumor sites are but two of the challenges associated with existing cancer treatments. More troubling are the issues of drug toxicity and tumor resistance. Toxicity can cause major complications, such as low white-blood-cell counts or heart failure, that necessitate cessation of treatment. The tissue damage inflicted by some therapies can even be fatal. And evolution of drug resistance by tumors accounts for the vast majority of cases in which treatment fails. Given these and other issues associated with treatment safety and efficacy, scientists are applying tremendous effort toward the utilization of nanomedicine in the fight against cancer.
Nanotechnology-based therapeutics have exhibited clear benefits when compared with unmodified drugs, including improved half-lives, retention, and targeting efficiency, and fewer patient side effects. Researchers have already made progress with chemotherapeutic nanomedicines in the clinic. Several compounds that are in various stages of trials or already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For example, Calando Pharmaceuticals has demonstrated the first evidence of nanoparticle-delivered clinical RNA interference (RNAi) (Nature, 464:1067-70, 2010). BIND Biosciences has shown that nanoparticles combining a chemotherapeutic drug with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) can reduce lung and tonsillar lesions with greater efficacy compared with the drug alone, and at substantially lower doses (Sci Transl Med, doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3003651, 2012). Furthermore, Celgene’s Abraxane, an albumin-functionalized paclitaxel formulation, was initially approved by the FDA for sale as a breast cancer therapy, but also recently received approval for the treatment of lung and pancreatic cancers.
Cancer nanomedicine possesses the versatility required to uniquely overcome some of the most challenging impediments to treatment success.
On the preclinical front, several nanomaterial formulations have shown promise. Single-agent nanoparticle delivery, both actively and passively targeted, has been demonstrated with a host of platforms using silica, polymer, metal, and carbon-based materials.
Delivering a double whammy
Researchers recently reported multidrug delivery using nanoparticles to mediate resistance in relapsing cancers and to improve triple-negative breast cancer treatment efficacy. Other recent approaches have included layer-by-layer siRNA and doxorubicin delivery for breast cancer therapy, simultaneous loading of small interfering RNA (siRNA) and tumor-penetrating peptides against ovarian cancer, as well as sequential administration of multiple types of nanoparticles for pancreatic cancer treatment (Adv Funct Mater, doi:10.1002/adfm.201303222, 2014). These exciting approaches have served as a foundation for the next phase of cancer nanomedicine in the clinic—the rational design of nanomaterial-drug combinations.
Until more nanoparticles are validated in the clinic, however, the impact that nanomedicine may have on cancer treatment has yet to be fully realized. In order for chemotherapies modified using nanotechnology to profoundly change hematological and oncological practice, the application of engineered nanomedicines must be paired with emerging strategies to rationally design nanotherapeutic combinations. This is critical because combinatorial therapy is an efficient way to simultaneously address the barriers to treatment success, and it is widely used in treating cancer and infectious diseases.
Current clinical methodologies for combinatorial drug design include additive treatments that combine two or more drugs at their highest tolerable but still efficacious dose, although the synergistic effects among drugs cannot be taken into account using this additive approach. As the field gradually embraces the use of nanoparticles to deliver multiple compounds with different targets, a move away from additive dosing is necessary. This raises several important questions. For example, silencing genes to combat resistance, mediating apoptosis, and allowing vascular access are each pathways worth targeting, but what if multiple pathways are targeted at the same time to comprehensively attack the tumor? How will dosing be determined? How will the dosages of each drug be adjusted if efficacy is improved but toxicity is worsened? More importantly, how will “optimization” be defined, especially if the desired outcome is to simultaneously stop tumor growth, eliminate resistance, maintain white blood cell counts, and achieve a host of other objectives?
The next phase of cancer nanomedicine in the clinic is the rational design of nanomaterial-drug combinations.
An attempt to optimize any one of these conditions will inevitably affect the others. Furthermore, these conditions vary from patient to patient, so phenotypic personalized medicine will be required. In addition, these issues create a parameter space that is too large to be individually tested and can result in an arbitrary dosing scenario. For example, a combination of six candidate therapeutics with 10 possible concentrations represents a minimum of 1 million possible combinations. Identifying a solution that rapidly converges on a defined set of phenotypic outcomes is a challenge that faces both unmodified drug administration and drug delivery by nanoparticles.
To move beyond short-term cancer management—or single outcomes, like delaying tumor growth using a nanoparticle drug formulation—and to enable long-term or potentially permanent disease management, the field of nanomedicine will inevitably need to be paired with advanced strategies to rapidly determine dosing conditions that can simultaneously optimize for efficacy and safety. One promising route is the field of feedback system control (FSC), which relies on phenotypic responses instead of trying to interrogate cellular pathways, their individual protein components, or a spectrum of genotypic responses. One example is the use of a search algorithm in a feedback loop that can guide the formulation of rational drug combinations, both unmodified and nanotherapeutic. (SeePNAS, 105:5105-10, 2008; BMC Systems Biology, 5:88, 2011.) Remarkably, this approach can be used for in vitro studies with cell lines and primary cells, and for preclinical and even clinical validation. And because FSC utilizes outcomes to iteratively suggest new possible combinations before rapid convergence—in tens of trials versus a million or more—toward an optimal combinatorial dose, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics are inherently accounted for with this approach. Furthermore, because combinations will vary from patient to patient, FSC will help personalized nanomedicine dosing on a case-by-case basis.
In sum, cancer nanomedicine possesses the versatility required to uniquely overcome some of the most challenging impediments to treatment success. Rationally designing nanotherapeutic combinations using rapid convergence solutions such as FSC represents a promising pathway from cancer management towards cancer elimination.
Dean Ho is a professor of oral biology and medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry, where he codirects the Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology. He is also a UCLA professor of bioengineering and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and California NanoSystems Institute. In December 2013, Ho coauthored a review of the translation of cancer nanomedicine to the clinic (E.K. Chow, D. Ho,Sci Transl Med, doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3005872, 2013).
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11. A tribe slaughtered and their virgins raped for not showing up at roll call. In Judges 21:1-23, a tribe of Israelites misses roll call, so the other Israelites kill them all except for the female virgins, which they take for themselves(note that they didnt take any young men for the women of Isreal, just young virgin girls for the men of Isreal). Still not happy, they hide in vineyards and pounce on dancing women from Shiloh to take them for themselves ( as sex slaves). - See more at: http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=21#sthash.2Nhq6AJs.dpuf read full text here!
Wives Provided for the Tribe of Benjamin
21 Now the men of Israel had sworn kat Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” 2 And the people came to lBethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3 And they said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?” 4 And the next day the people rose early and mbuilt there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” nFor they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 And the people of Israel ohad compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7 pWhat shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by theLord that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?”
8 And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from qJabesh-gilead, to the assembly. 9 For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of qJabesh-gilead was there. 10 So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, r“Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. 11 This is what you shall do: severy male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.” 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at tShiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the urock of Rimmon and vproclaimed peace to them. 14 And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them. 15 And the people whad compassion on Benjamin because theLord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, x“What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” 17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 18 Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” yFor the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.” 19 So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lordat Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of zthe highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards 21 and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out toadance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’ ” 23 And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance band rebuilt the towns and lived in them.
WILL VIRUS PARTICLES MEET THEIR END IN THESE TINY DEATH TRAPS?
Whether or not the single biggest threat to humankind’s continued vitality on the planet is the virus, as Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg has said, there’s no question that viruses impose a hefty toll on human health worldwide. Though bacteria have been more or less conquered with antibiotics (though that’s not as certain as it used to be), viruses have continued to thrive and mutate despite Western medicine’s best efforts to combat them.
But there’s a new kid on the medical block: Nanotechnology is gradually turning its hypothetical promise into real applications. Some see nanotech-based medicines as an entirely new set of tools in a doctor’s medical bag. Among commercial companies, Vecoy Nanomedicines is most bullish on the promise of nanotechnology to combat viruses.
The Israeli startup — whose founder, biologist Erez Livneh, fine-tuned the idea at Singularity University’s 2010 GSP program — is building a new class of medicines to fight viruses.
“The secret sauce here is not a specific material but a structure,” Livneh emphasized in his presentation at this year’s Solve for X competition.
The structure is a nano-sized virus trap that would be administered in bulk, either with an injection or with an aerosol spray, to a patient who had been exposed to a virus. The polyhedron traps are large for nanomachines but still far smaller than a blood cell. Their outer layer dupes the immune system into recognizing it as friend, not foe, while pores in the surface are large enough to invite viruses in. After a virus enters, it meets with sharp pokers that physically destroy it.
“The Vecoy technology is the invention that solved a seeming paradox: How do you create a particle that’s attractive to viruses but that’s invisible to the immune system?” Livneh explained in a recent interview with Singularity Hub.
They claim that in a recent in vitro test, repeated rounds of the traps captured 97 percent of the viral copies that were floating around with human cells.
Vecoy is considering a number of different materials from which to build. But the seeming frontrunner is folded DNA, which has emerged as a viable raw material from which to build nanostructures. But some believe the biological material will inevitably trigger an immune response, even in its abstracted form.
“I feel that this approach is flawed, and could cause a dangerous, inflammatory innate immune response that could make the patient extremely ill,” said Stanford’s Annelise Barron. The immune response could potentially be averted, Barron said, if “the percentage of DNA in the ‘decoy’ construct could be adjusted to be minimal.”
Supporters of so-called DNA origami, on the other hand, claim that the worst-case scenario will be that the body will biodegrade the DNA-based machines before they can perform their function.
“People ask, ‘How do you guarantee that this stuff will be ejected?’ but our challenge is guaranteeing it won’t be ejected too fast,” Livneh explained.
What would happen to the devices after they were administered to a patient and had done their work? In one scenario, the immune system would clear out the traps. In another, the traps would dissolve, releasing broken viral strands, which would hopefully help the immune system learn to target the virus more effectively on its own.
A wide range of potential uses for the mini virus traps can be envisioned. In addition to being administered to patients as medicine, they could be cycled through donated blood and other transplantable body fluids. They could also be used to purge water supplies of viruses such as cholera. In that case, the traps would be made from magnetic material to be retrieved after use with a magnet.
It’s hard to argue with the need for a more effective ways of controlling viral illnesses.
“We need new ways of looking at viruses. The Spanish flu killed more than all the casualties of World War I by both sides. If that virus were to hit today, we’re not better off; we’re actually worse off with a denser population and international flights,” Livneh said. “This is exactly the kind of stuff that got me into science in the first place. It’s an opportunity to make a radical change for the better.”
http://singularityhub.com/2014/04/01/will-virus-particles-meet-their-end-in-these-tiny-death-traps/
http://www.dawn.com/news/800755/jail-police-being-trained-to-use-new-weapons
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x912es_cia-brainwashing-techniques-bastard_news
There's the hope that 3-D printers could someday produce much-needed organs for transplants. Americans are living longer, and as we get deeper into old age our organs are failing more. Some 18 people die in the United States each day waiting in vain for transplants because of a shortage of donated organs -- a problem that Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and a pioneer in bioprinting, calls "a major health crisis.-http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/tech/innovation/3-d-printing-human-organs/
Microchip implant in eyes of nine blind people helps them to see again
- The implant partially restored vision in retinitis pigmentosa sufferers
- The 3mm chip made up of 1,500 pixels was placed at the rear of the eyeball
- Patients were able to recognise facial expressions and distinguish objects
- Scientists at Tubingen University said the trials 'exceeded expectations'
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A microchip developed by scientists has restored the sight of nine blind people suffering from a degenerative disease after it was inserted into their eyes.
Once positioned at the rear of the eyeball, the implant restored functional vision to the patients born with the hereditary condition retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
The 3mm chip may provide the 15 million people left blinded by the disease a means of partially restoring their vision.

X-ray: Scientists at Germany's Tubingen University placed the 3mm chip at the rear of the eyeball of patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa (RP)
The tiny implant, developed by scientists at Germany's Tubingen University, is placed below the surface of the retina where it electrically stimulates optical tissues.
In the latest trials, described in the Royal Society's biological research journal Proceedings B, most of the patients involved were able to recognise facial expressions.
They could also distinguish objects such as fruit on a table and read road signs.
Sight sharpness for two of them also surpassed the visual resolution achieved in earlier human trials involving 27 patients.
Professor Eberhart Zrenner, of Tubingen University's Institute for Ophthalmic Research, said trials 'exceeded expectations'
He said: 'As physicians we are constantly seeking out the best treatment options for our most in-need patients which most definitely includes those suffering from advanced-stage retinitis pigmentosa.

Stimulant: The tiny implant was placed below the surface of the retina where it electrically stimulates optical tissues

Blind: RP is a disease that mainly affects the retina, specifically, the photoreceptors in the macular layer, which slowly degrade until the patient goes blind
'This research provides additional evidence our sub-retinal implant technology can help some patients with retinal degeneration regain functional vision and does so in a way that does not require externally visible equipment.'
RP is a disease that mainly affects the retina - specifically, the photoreceptors in the macular layer, which slowly degrade until the patient goes blind.
Although the disease is incurable, the nerves of the retina remain functional in one bright spot. If these nerves can be stimulated then some form of vision might be recovered.
The light-sensitive, externally powered microchip is surgically implanted beneath the retina and into the macular region.
This is the area of the eye where clear images are formed in normal-sighted individuals.
The chip is made up of 1,500 pixels each with its own amplifier and electrode for stimulating the retinal nerves.

Improvement: In the latest trials, described in Royal Society's biological research journal Proceedings B, most of the patients involved were able to recognise facial expressions
In addition there are 16 electrodes to stimulate the nerves directly - producing some degree of artificial vision in the form of lines and colours the patient learns to interpret.
Walter-G Wrobel, chief executive of Retina Implant AG in Germany, which has manufactured the implant, said: 'The continuation of our trial is the next milestone in our quest to provide RP patients living in darkness with a treatment option.
'We are continually humbled by the 36 patients we've implanted so far and their willingness to participate in this ground-breaking research.'
David Head, chief executive of RP Fighting Blindness, said: 'As a leading relevant patient organisation in the UK we have been watching Retina Implant AG's research with great interest.
'The results published today show definite promise to one day restore functional vision to patients with advanced-stage retinitis pigmentosa.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2281460/How-microchip-inserted-eyes-blind-people-suffering-degenerative-disease-helped-again.html#ixzz2y3TwRpWf
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The idea that human sexuality is something dirty and sinful is a common trait for the Middle Eastern religions. The Esseenes, the early Christian sect, simply avoided marriage and sex all together. These eastern religions’s view of women was formed by the fact that they emerged in male dominated and very patriarchal societies. The covenant of the Old Testament between Jehova and the Jews, was really a pact between the God and exclusively the male part of the population. Women traditionally had a very low esteem in the Jewish society. They were seen as being somewhat stupid, not very good learners and frivolous. Women played a minor role in public life in Jewish society and were limited to being maternal- and householding chores. The Jews also looked upon women as the source of sin and death. “Original sin originated from the woman, and because of her we all must die”. This view of women has been part of Christianity ever since (Westermark). Woman was blamed for the original sin, to have led innocent Adam and thus mankind into the cesspool of sin.
The Christian view of women and sexuality are closely connected with the concept of original sin. “Behold, I am born in misdeed, and my mother conceived me in sin” (Ps 51,7). When the purely fictional characters of Adam and Eve, according to the Bible, suddenly realised that they were stark naked and had different anatomy, they took an interest in each other’s bodies. As a result the dirty and sinful bodily libido came into play. How mankind otherwise was supposed to reproduce and multiply in Gods cunning Masterplan is a bit unclear in the Bible. Maybe he had some kind of test tube cloning in mind, or perhaps some kind of pollination? Without “original sin” there would soon be no mankind for God to condemn. And we all know how much he likes to condemn , punish and kill sinners, by the thousands.
But of course, the gullible woman Eve was to blame, not the crazy Lord Almighty who placed both the three of knowledge and the seductive talking (!) snake in the three, in the garden in the first place. It is of course blasphemous to suggest that an almighty and omniscient creator God should really know what kind of creatures he creates. He should know that Eve would fall for the snake’s smooth talking. Why create man with a free will if you don’t want man to have this free will, and will punish harshly your creations for taking their own choices? It makes of course perfect sense if God is a perverted sadist deity, getting off on punishing his puny mortal creations. And it makes of course even more sense to punish mankind for the sin of purely fictional characters. What kind of a sick twisted stupid idea is that?! Still today this lays in the very foundation of Christian "thinking"!! (Your Honour, I rest my case...)
The Church Father Tertullian tells us “the woman should wear a simple dress, be mournful and full of repentance to suffer for her inheritance from Eve, the shame of being the one who committed the original sin and the guilt of being the cause of mankind’s condemnation.” According to the apocrypha Egyptian gospel, Jesus said, “I have come to abolish the deeds of women” (Edwien). It is reasonable to interpret this as referring to “Original sin”, that is female sexuality, procreation and childbirth. This is also in accordance with the bizarre Christian celibacy ideal. Women were a constant threat and challenge to the male priests and monks pledge of celibacy and chastity. The pious Francis of Assisi f.ex. warns his fellow Franciscan brothers against having anything to do with women at all, even to talk to them.
Of lesser value
The Church Fathers St. Augustine, Ambrosius and John Chrysostomos (Gold-mouth) all had the opinion that woman was an inferior creature of lesser value than men. She was not created in Gods image (because God is a man), and her main purpose was to serve and obey the man. The church fathers argued that the very caption “woman” or “female” (femina in latin) was in itself kind of obvious linguistic proof that women were inferior to men. They argued that the word “femina” consisted of the two words fe = fides(faith) and minus (less), thus “femina” meant “of lesser faith”. Christianity’s “great thinker” Thomas Aquinas also saw women as both bodily and spiritually inferior to men. He meant that women in reality were “failed” men. This alleged holy cerebral genius was convinced that girls were the result of poor semen quality or a faulty uterus. He wondered if the reason for the birth of girls could be the damp winds from the south, which besides causing rain also caused babies with an extra high water content (!), - girls (Deschner 1987). Martin Luther, who in fact contributed to abolishing celibacy, also saw women as inferior, woman were only “half a child” or a “magnificent animal” in his view (Ibid).
Are women human?
At the church council in Mâcon towards the end of the sixth century, a bishop asked the question if women were to be considered as human beings (or more precisely: belonging to the species “homo” [sapiens]). The bishop answered this very intelligent question himself with a firm No! The majority of the council however, agreed upon that according to the Bible, women, in spite of all their faults and shortcomings, had to be considered as a member of the human species. Some of the delegates insisted however that the female gender only is of this earthly world, and that after Judgement Day all women will be transformed to genderless beings.
One realises that the cognitive abilities of the prominent delegates of the Christian Church in the first centuries left something to be desired. Even a Catholic has to admit, “none of the official Roman bishops in the second and third century could be considered as real theologians” (A. Erhard in Deschner 1987).
I’m not completely convinced if the situation has improved much since then.
Another church council, this time in Auxerre, in the end of the sixth century forbade women to receive the Eucharist with their bare hands, to not spoil the sacrament. Repeatedly the importance of women keeping their distance from the altar when attending mass is emphasized. With Christianity the women lost their traditional free social role in both the Roman Empire and in Germanic Northern Europe. In the Roman society, the marriage arrangement Conventio in manum, where the husband did not get authority over his wife or her money, was now abolished. Under this arrangement the married woman would still be under her father’s authority, an authority more or less reduced to a trifle at this point. After the introduction of Christianity, Roman women and their possessions came under their husband’s authority, and thus losing their independence.
The Bible’s regulations of marriage and gender roles were of course heavily influenced by the Jewish society’s strong patriarchal traditions. By the way, St.Mark tells us that Jesus said that if a [Jewish] woman divorced her husband, and then re-married, she was guilty of adultery (Mk 10,12). St.Mark is obviously not very well informed about Jewish society, since Jewish women had actually no right whatsoever to divorce their husbands.
With the introduction of Christianity in Northern Europe, women also lost much of their status, independence and prominent role in both society and religious life. In the pagan religion, women were central both in performing rituals and with several female goddesses in the pagan pantheon. Women had the right to inherit land and other rights under the laws, and were often the owner and head of households. In the pagan burials, there are no differences in wealth between male and female burials in the pre-Christian periods.
In polytheistic religions like the Pagan Norse religion, the eternal battle between the forces is the main theme. This battle between order and chaos is upholding the balance of the world. The different forces, or gods, are not simply good or evil; they are playing their necessary parts in the everlasting epic fight, maintaining the balance and equilibrium of the world. Christianity, on the other hand, is a harsh dualism between good and evil, between pure and spoiled, black and white. There is no room for greys, compromises or doubt. “He that is not with me is against me” as Jesus himself so eloquently undiplomatically puts it (Mt 12:30, Mk 9,40).
The pagan religions of northern Europe were faith-tolerant and accepted other religions. A myriad of different gods, both local and foreign, was not a problem for polytheistic religions. Christianity is on the other hand a strictly monotheistic religion, which does not tolerate other gods whatsoever. As result the Church demonised the old pagan gods. And with Christianity, a strong patriarchal male dominated social order was introduced. Christianity was forced upon pagan society by the authorities by sword. As emperor Constantine did in the fourth century, Christianity was now also used as a powerful political tool to get rid of the old power structures and local petty kings, and introducing an unified national sovereign authority. The pagan religion was an entire integral part of the pre-Christian society, and by destroying the pagan religion, the pagan society’s political structures also crumbled. With Christianity we also got the strict male domination of the church wedged into the society’s social structures. And there was no place for women in this new religion, except as pious passive believers.
With the male domination in the Church, women were considered as of inferior value and subordinate men, according to St. Paul’s teachings. St. Paul thought that men should be the head of women; she was created to serve the man and not vice versa. 1Cor 11,1-9; Eph 5,21-24; Col 3,18; 1 Tim 2,11-15; Tit 2,4-5; A woman should not be allowed to teach, and she should be quiet - be seen and not heard.* As late as in 1995, Pope John Paul II declared the debate of female priests for over. There was nothing to discuss; Jesus chose only men as apostles, and therefore only men can be priests. End of story!
Chastity?
The Church’s fear of women is closely connected with the Church’s views on sex, celibacy and chastity ideals. Women aroused feelings and desires among the male clergy, feelings they were desperately trying to suppress. Such yearnings and desires often take a lot of self-discipline to suppress, and to suppress such natural feelings cannot be very healthy in the long run. The Church’s bizarre ideas about women, sexuality and crazy paranoid notions about the workings of demons and spirits that later led to the crazy and hysterical witch-hunts, are obvious proof of this.
The official teachings of the Church was one thing, the clerical real life practice another. Chastity was not something everybody in the Church took as an absolute unexceptionable rule; popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks and nuns have fornicated and produced offspring since early Christendom. As an example: Pope Paul III became pope only because his sister was the last pope’s (Alexander VI) mistress. Paul himself had three sons with other women than his wife. In the Vatican corridors, popes and cardinals were not the only ones wearing dresses. When these things couldn’t be kept secret, it was only logical to blame it on the innate sinful women, who with their evil ways tempted and lured the poor pious clergy into carnal lust and sin against their will.
Christianity teaches that there is a clear distinction between soul and body, between the pure spiritual soul, and the dirty and disgusting body. Again it is St. Paul who is the main advocate for the idea that everything bodily is sinful, that the human body itself is the very home, the very root of Sin. This idea has produced a variety of bizarre events and views over the years. The Church Father Origenes sat right down and castrated himself after taking the Bible’s words of celibacy literally. Other theologians would often refer to the human body with contempt, such as a “pit of dung”, a “container of all things rotten” or as a “snow covered pile of manure” (The theologian John of Aviola, elevated to Church father in 1926).
One is tempted to say, “It takes one to know one”.
Pious Madness
The denial of natural feelings and desires cannot be very healthy in the long run. Whenever pious monks felt sexually aroused and felt a tingling sensation in the groin, it was not uncommon for them to dive naked into freezing waters in lakes and rivers, even in the middle of the night and in wintertime. Standing in freezing water to their waist bending their knees repeatedly and singing hymns with rattling teeth and purple faces, they conquered the devious sin. Some wrapped heavy pieces of iron to their penises as penitence, others isolated themselves in small rooms for years, some rolled themselves in ant nests as the holy Macarius, or rolled naked in thorn bushes as the holy Benedict. The pious Schenute did his penitence by weeping all day, and Antonius, the founder of the Antonite order, smeared himself with pig excrements (St. Antonius is by the way the holy catholic protector of cattle).
Others got the wonderful idea to live on grass alone, and grazed the meadows as cattle. To do penitence by standing still and mute for days at end was also a very popular thing among many pious Christians. Others took more drastic measures. The founder of the Dominican order, Domingo du Guzman (1170-1221 AD) whipped himself unconscious regularly to maintain his chastity and to strengthen his piousness.
The over-the-top pious syrian Symeon Stylites (means pillar man in Greek)(390-459 AD) roosted on top of a high pillar for 36(!) years, praying, preaching and doing ascetic exercises. This was not the first deranged idea this Symeon have had. Earlier he had stood firm in a dry well for five days on end praising God’s glory with constant singing, and then he let himself be walled up during fasting, without any food or drink. He did this at least 28 times. This happened around 412 AD after he was expelled from the monastery in Taleda because of his fanatical penitence-eagerness. After several years with his relentless energetic and manically urge to do penitence, the other monks couldn’t take it any more and kicked him out.
After the five days in the well and the fasting episode, he then let himself be chained to a rock and hung there for a while, until he got this marvellous idea about the pillar. Then he had already been contemplating standing on one foot for the rest of his life, but the idea of ascending a pillar was obviously more appealing to him. Symeon then became the first of the church’s holy pillar saints. Symeon also took the Church’s negative view of women very seriously, to such a degree that he refused to see his old mother for the rest of his life. (His mother Martha later also became a catholic Saint, because of her son Symeon’s “great achievement”). Women were not allowed to approach his pillar, and had to keep their distance. He also used to throw stones at passing women from his small platform on top of the pillar, if they came too close (Deschner 1987).
Twice a day he held exhorting preaches to visiting pilgrims from this elevated platform. Symeon’s pious pillar ascension inspired a multitude of aspiring pillar saints, who also roosted themselves on top of high pillars, often for decades. Some of the later ones were smart enough to build themselves small shelters on top of their pillar. Soon there were numerous of such pillars with a deranged bearded and ragged holy men roosting on top. Regular forests of pillars were erected, and competition could be hard. A Roman monk, John Moschus, writes about a long and bitter religious dispute between a catholic and a monophysitic pillar saint, who stood and yelled and ridiculed each other from their respective pillars (Deschner 1990). Symeon and probably all the other pillar saints were probably completely raving insane, but to the Church they are holy ideals of piousness, chastity and asceticism.
Criminal Law and Punishment
Under the influence of Christian teachings, Constantine - the first ”Christian” emperor, started to criminalize moral misdemeanours. This had earlier been considered belonging to the private domain. Among other things, “stealing brides”, also in the cases were the bride consented, now got a death penalty. Not only the “kidnapper” groom and the bride, but also the participating staff (servants, wet-nurses etc) were executed by forcing melted lead down their throats. Participating slaves were burned to death. For sexual relations between a male slave and his female owner, the woman was decapitated and the slave burned. A corresponding regulation for sexual relationships between male owners and female slaves didn’t exist of course.
Holy Brothels
In spite of the Christian religious ideals of chastity and celibacy, the reality was, as we have seen, somewhat different. According to the sources many monks (and nuns) were acting like frivolous libertines. The sources suggest that many became monks just to be able to fornicate undisturbed (Deschner 1987). In the end of the 16th century many male monasteries were teeming with women and children. Homosexuality was also not uncommon in many monasteries. And many nun monasteries were in reality working brothels, and competed many places in Europe with the local prostitutes. Already in the ninth century there are many comparisons between nun monasteries and brothels in the texts. The clergy complained regularly about nun monasteries being open both day and night, to both laymen and randy priests. Chastity and celibacy had obviously a hard time, and if the nuns didn’t have access to men, they had to help themselves as best they could. Marguerite Gourdan was France’s most famous brothel owner in the 18th century, and a well-known producer of wooden penises, popularly called “nun heirlooms”. When she passed away in 1783 they found hundreds of orders for her wooden penises from French nun monasteries (ibid). Many monks had on the other side a strong inclination for voluptuous statues and pictures of St.Mary, and it was not uncommon to find kneeling monks masturbating in front of a well-proportioned statue of St. Mary.
It was not very different in the Vatican. Pope Sixtus IV in the fifteenth century is famous for building the Sistine Chapel, but he also built a brothel. Sixtus was himself one horny bastard, and raped both his own sister and his children. He also earned approximately 20.000 ducats in taxes each year from his personal prostitutes. Both the Pope, cardinals, bishops, abbots and abbesses bought and sold brothels and prostitutes at this time. It was a huge industry, papal Rome had in 1490 less than 100.000 citizens, and 6800 of these were prostitutes. This means that every seventh woman in Rome was a prostitute at this time.
Masturbation and homosexuality
The widespread monastery life was instrumental to suppress the population growth in the early Middle Ages. Up until the 14th century the Catholic Church seems to be fairly liberal with non-fertile ways of getting sexual satisfaction. Lesbian and gay relationships were not uncommon in monasteries, and were largely ignored if not committed publicly. Masturbation was also considered as a minor sin and usually ignored. If caught in the act the penalty was usually quite mild. As an example, penitence books only gave 50 days of penitence for a bishop who had been caught masturbating in church (!) (voluntare semen fudit in eglesia). For a priest the penalty for this was only 30 days of penitence (E.Bjøl). Masturbation was considered normal for the young ones, and 14 of 17 medieval theologians deal with, and accept, female masturbation, especially in cases when women didn’t get orgasm during intercourse. The reason was the widespread belief that orgasm was necessary for impregnation.
After the Black Death had sent huge parts of Europe’s population home to Jesus in the middle of the fourteenth century, the church changed its view on non-fertile and “unnatural habits” drastically. These things were now considered as serious sins. As a result masturbation was considered harmful and the cause of blindness, epilepsy and several other illnesses. And this view made its way into the medical world, and is just one example of how misanthropic Christian moral has corrupted medical progress. Surprisingly this view of masturbation as an unhealthy crippling menace continued until the twentieth century! Amazing!
Rules for married
The pious ideals of the Christian Church have always been chastity, asceticism and celibacy. Already the Apostle council firmly stated in their decree, that among the worst deadly sins were trinity, paganism, murder and sex without marriage. Even sex within the marriage was considered a sin, so the church started regulating it. In the early middle ages this kind of filthy activity between married couples was forbidden on Sundays and other holydays, on days of penitence and prayer, on Wednesdays and Fridays, or Fridays and Saturdays, and of course in the forty day long Fasting, in the four weeks of Advent, before going to Altar (Eucharist), under pregnancy etc (Deschner 1987). If we add all this together we find that sex within marriage was forbidden in eight months of the year!Later in the Middle Ages this religious ban was reduced to just half the year. Breaking the rules was punished with penitence, but also with deformed and handicapped children, epilepsy, leprosy and demonic possessions, according to the Church. The moral concerned clergy discussed thorough and deeply which sexual position gave the least pleasure for the participants, and therefore could be accepted by the church. What deep insights, broad experience and factual knowledge the church had on these matters, is not entirely clear. Anyway, the result was that all other sexual positions than the “missionary position” was considered a crime just as serious as murder. The church viewed marriage as doubtful at best. According to St. Augustine married persons got a lesser place in heaven than unmarried did, and only completely abstemious marriages were really ”true” marriages.
Birth control
Family planning and the use of contraceptives, both ”mechanical” devices and pharmacological ones were widespread and quite common in Antiquity. In the Christian world family planning and contraception have more or less been unknown until modern times. And in modern times the Catholic Church had tried to fight this with all means necessary. The Pope is still at it, with his reactionary crusade against contraceptives, also in heavily overpopulated developing countries with colossal Aids- and HIV-problems. How many people have died and die because of deceases easily avoided with condoms, how many illegal abortions or unwanted children growing up under horrendous social, economical and hygienic conditions This papal crusade against contraception is not only stupid, it is malicious and evil. Instead the Vatican has their own “developing” projects, building schools and churches in developing countries to further promote mythical, magical, racist, misanthropic and completely irrational ideas discarded by science centuries ago.With the fierce enthusiasm The Catholic Church has for fighting contraception, one can ask: When has the Church showed any similar enthusiasm to fight the weapons industry? When have the bishops engaged themselves and their vast influential organisation in fighting the production and use of bombs, grenades, mines, napalm and nerve gas? Never! But in fighting contraception and family planning the influential Catholic Church has showed an impressive and burning commitment.
The hypocrisy of the Church never ceases to amaze us.
