I guess that I just don't know

Eight hundred and seventy years ago, on June 3rd 1140, Peter Abelard, "the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century" was found guilty of heresy. Neither the specifics of his heresy or the vast bulk of his work have caused timeless interest. His love for Heloise, however, overshadows the rest of his life.

If not for the young, fiercely intelligent, and purportedly comely student of his; Peter would just be another annoying monk. Heloise gave birth to a son, the product of their affair, and named him Astrolabe. The Astrolabe is an instrument used to determine the position of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Abelard was castrated to end his affair with Heloise.

Peter Abelard’s last words were “I don’t know”

Vandalism

One thousand five hundred and fifty-five years ago today, June 2nd 455, the Vandals invaded Rome, which they would sack for two weeks before leaving. These two weeks would give rise to both the term “vandalism” and to an entrenching of dislike between the Arian and Trinitarian theological disciplines. Thousands of illiterate subjects would realize any potential truth in the concept of an afterlife to support ideas they would never be conversant in. To this day those who died in the Vandal’s sack of Rome remain silent on which Christian theology was correct.

To the vast majority of those impacted by this sack the motivations were tribal and economic.

The sack of Rome by the Vandals helped make the dark ages a little less bright.

Let your Freak Flag Fly

Three hundred and fifty years ago today, on June 1st 1660, Mary Dyer was hanged for violating theocratic law in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Far from establishing a free colony where individuals could practice their own flavors of faith the original settlers often sought freedom to persecute others for believing differently from them. Dyer sought to teach people to read the bible for themselves and establish a personal connection with god. She was branded a Quaker and sentenced to death. One anonymous juror was infamously quoted as saying: "She did hang as a flag for others to take example by."

Ironically her neighbor’s exercising of their religious freedom aided her in discerning the possible truth of an afterlife long before they could. To this day she is remains silent.

If you are an atheist you know that religious freedom is all too often the freedom to declare hate speech protected, the freedom to force others to pray, the freedom to subsidize proselytization efforts with public money. Historically it was the freedom to put people, like Mary Dyer, to death.