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%RELIGIOUS DOMINATION SYSTEMS ARROGANCE HUBRIS SEX 041222 %PRINCE PEACEMAKER HOLY SACRED INFANT VULNERABILITY 041222 %KING QUEEN RULER ETERNITY HEAVEN ABOVE EARTH FALL 041222 %CREATION SPACESHIP CREW EVOLUTION COSMIC BIG BANG 041222 %ASTRONOMERS ASTROLOGERS CHRISTIANS INSTITUTIONS IT 041222 %THOU INTIMATE EVIL RELATIONSHIPS CONSTANTINE LOVER 041222 What are some of the signs of the activity of The Domination System within the lives of Christians and their institutions. (The same question may be asked about other religious groups. Those questions will not be addressed here.) 1. With the firm leadership of Emperor Constantine Christians shifted from NON-VIOLENT-RESISTANCE to VIOLENT- RESISTANCE against their enemies. 2. During the above transition the status of women among Christians dropped dramatically; dominant men concentrated religious power into their hands, and marginalized females and children. 3. During the above transition human sexuality became more repressed than before. 4. Christians tolerated slavery from 100 ACE to about 1890 ACE, and segregation until about 1960 ACE. 5. Christians invented the doctrine of a Just-War and virtually never used it to pass judgment upon their nation's preparations for war and/or their nations' conduct of wars which did not meet the criteria articulated. 6. Christian institutions from 400 ACE to 2000 ACE concentrated power and wealth in many of their institutions and churches, giving more favorable consideration to wealthy people than to poor people. 7. Christians practiced sexual segregation from about 400 ACE through about 1900 in most of their institutions and churches; especially among their powerful leaders. 8. Christians rarely addressed or discussed openly and publicly how best to facilitate and promote the healthy development of integrative and honest sexual relationships among adolescents; leaving them ignorant of the diverse risks involved in uninformed/imprudent sexual experimentation "in the dark". Just say NO is not enough! 9. Christian leaders have been more preoccupied with authoritatively separating the sheep from the goats, than with being good Samaritans meeting the needs of people in distress. 10. Christians have not openly, publicly and honestly addressed the disintegrative effects of prostitution, sexual abuses, and the seduction of children into helping in the production of pornographic materials for the profit of domineering adults. 11. Christians and their institutions have often covered up sexual abuses initiated by domineering, but ostensibly sexually inactive male religious leaders; with vulnerable women and children most often the victims of sexual abuses. Only after 1950 ACE have such abuses been acknowledged to exist with tragic frequency. 12. Christians and their institutions have not effectively addressed the Myth of Redemptive Violence that has survived through most of human history in most, but not within all, cultures. 13. During the advance of technocracies Christians have rarely addressed the violence, coercion and alienation which flows from technocratic patterns of behavior, even in the absence of physical violence and coercion. 14. Christian leaders have rarely if ever acknowledged the legitimacy of human experiences as having any legitimate authority; much less have they overtly pointed toward human experiences have having significant authority. Christian authority has always been vested in the WORDS of: religious leaders, prophets, traditional stories, scripts, scriptures, doctrines, etc. Authority is always mediated by WORDS and by word-smiths. Contrary experiences of common people are never officially recognized as having any authority. These traditions play major roles in concentrating power into the hands of a few who are domineering people in the service of The Domination System. 15. What Galileo asked the religious leaders of his day to see with their own eyes and experience the presence of phenomena which was contradictory to church teachings and theories, the authorities refused to look --- so that they would not have contrary experiences. They refused to submit to the authority of their own experiences; much less to the authority of other people's experiences. 16. The more totally that people are alienated from each other, including from True-Lovers; the easier it is for domineering religious leaders to manipulate them spiritually through tacit/overt promises of "heaven", "nirvana", "means-to-salvation", "redemption", as purely- theoretical-realities --- separated from the realities of their: daily-relational-experiences, daily-relational- experiments, daily-existential-relationships, evil- relationships, intimate-relationships, sexual-dreams, sexual-fantasies, sexual-experimentation, etc. 17. The more totally that people are alienated from SANCTUARY-COMMUNITIES which are totally-committed to affirming-in-words-and-deeds: reconciliation, honest- dialogue, mutual-understanding, truly-complementary ideals/values/principles, True-Lovers, kindness, healing; generosity, sharing, distributive-justice, communal- integrities, personal-integrities --- the easier it is for religious-leaders to take-advantage-of vulnerable-people who are: thirsty, hungry, naked, homeless, powerless, poor-in-spirit, poor-in-goods, poor-in-relationships, etc. 18. Domineering religious/political leaders make use of the principles of: divide-and-conquer, divide-and- control, divide-and-coerce, divide-and-violate, divide- and-dominate, divide-and-manage, divide-and-steal, etc. The word "divide" may be replaced with one or more of the similar/related words: "alienate", "excommunicate", "reject", "exclude", "denigrate", "label", "polarize", "dichotomize", "fragment", "condemn", "isolate", "addict", "judge", etc. The good-goals of domineering religious and political leaders are used to "justify" their technocratic means. The Domination System is active among religious leaders who are arrogant, self-righteous, demonstrating hubris, concentrating-wealth, concentrating-political- power, etc. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================