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THE DARK SIDE OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY
the attempted Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II,29 the Catholic Church has championed authoritarianism and opposed democracy and freedom. As the nineteenth century Pope Gregory XVI wrote: It is in no way lawful to demand, to defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing, or of religion, as if they were so many rights that nature has given to man.30 Power and authority should, in the eyes of the orthodox, be exercised only by those at the top of the hierarchy. Orthodox Christianity provided the ideological foundation for modern science and society. Once people had accepted the idea that God was in heaven and not on earth, that there was no more supernatural intervention or magic, scientists and philosophers began to verify just such a world. Their science and philosophy confirmed that the physical world functioned mechanically and independently of consciousness and God. They also corroborated the orthodox Christian belief in the necessity for struggle and domination. These beliefs and concepts, however, are now being called into question, not only because of their practical drawbacks, but also because of their limited scientific accuracy.