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The Perfect Heresy by Stephen O'Shea6/8/2023 ![]() A handful of people not dying, a handful of others dying earlier, and Europe might have been a very different place. It's actually quite hard to read this book because you want the story to come out differently so very much, and there were points when it could have. ![]() Good lord, the cruelty and misery that the Catholic church has wrought. ![]() A crusade was called for, and was every bit as vile, greedy, spectacularly violent and flat out evil as, oooh, all the other crusades. ![]() So they had to go, and by happy chance, the French monarchy was bang alongside any excuse to put down the independent and headstrong Languedoc nobility. Except, of course, to the Church, by making people question why they should give much of their money and labour to support a bunch of greedy corrupt bastards when you could attain heaven by simply living a good life of service, prayer and self restraint. As far as can be told they just.didn't do any harm. Basically the kind of religion you can get behind. ![]() They were against the established church and monarchies because worldly pomp, didn't believe in oaths or sacraments unless they were given by people who actually demonstrably lived up to their principles, didn't believe in tithing, were against violence, generally believed in something like equality for women and lower classes. The grim, grim story of the Cathars, a dualist sect who believed the material world was evil. ![]()
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