The Virgin Mary (1555) Religion and Virginity It was on this date, August 7, 1555, that Pope Paul IV, newly elected and nearly 80, issued an Ecclesiastical Constitution called "Cum quorundam," making it an article of faith that Mary, the mother of Jesus, "was a virgin before, during, and after the conception and birth of […]

Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur published (1485) An “Age of Chivalry”? It was on this date, July 31, 1485, that the source of the Arthurian legends as we know them today, eight romances known as Le Morte D'Arthur, was published in London.* The work was written by Sir Thomas Malory (c 1405-1471) and was published […]

Urban VIII (d. 1644) It was on this date, July 29, 1644, that the pope who will be remembered throughout history as the persecutor of Galileo, Urban VIII, died at Rome. It had been 18 months since his victim had died in Florence, while under a house arrest, which Urban did nothing to mitigate. Born […]

George Bernard Shaw (1856) It was on this date, July 26, 1856, that playwright George Bernard Shaw was born to Protestant parents in Dublin, Ireland. It is said the young Shaw attended a revival service by Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey in Dublin, and in one of his first critical notes wrote, "if this sort […]

Church opposition to surgery, dissection and the study of anatomy slowed the development of medicine.

Alan Hale and Comet Hale-Bopp (1995) It was on this date, July 23, 1995, that Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered by Alan Hale and, independently, by Thomas Bopp. Working as a shift supervisor in a construction materials company, Bopp, an amateur astronomer, observed the celestial event in Glendale, Arizona. A professional astronomer, Alan Hale made his […]

The famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial was a publicity stunt that exposed the imbecility of fundamentalism.

No Kissing on Screen (1910) It was on this date, July 20, 1910, that the Christian Endeavor Society of Missouri began a campaign to ban all motion pictures that depicted kissing between non-relatives – coincidentally on the same year and month that sultry silent screen actress Theda Bara turned 20. Movies were only just beginning […]

The Christian conversion of Native American Indians.

The Pope is infallible, not impeccable, says the "Catholic Encyclopedia."