A review by steveinadelaide
Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History by Rodney Stark

5.0

I grew up in a Protestant denomination that made much of the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation. In fact, major doctrines in the denomination were built on badly interpreted texts in these two books full of dreams and predictive prophecy. In attempting to find literal real-world events that "fulfilled" the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, the Roman Catholic Church was constructed as a worldwide evil power that would play a significant role in events leading to the end of the world, starting way back from its inception. Because of this, the denomination I used to belong to, and many other fundamentalist denominations, have demonised the Roman Catholic Church. There is no doubt that, like all organisations, Roman Catholicism has its problems -- we have seen the incredible evil of child sexual abuse uncovered within the priesthood of the church in recent decades. But much of what has been ascribed to the Roman Catholic Church is complete nonsense. Rodney Stark's book, Bearing False Witness, compellingly demonstrates, with incontrovertible evidence, that the accusations of such things as anti-Semitism, suppression of gospels, persecution of pagans, and support of slavery are either exaggerated or completely false. This book is a must read for anyone who has been seduced by religious or secular anti-Catholic "history".