Voices of Reason - Toni Van Pelt: The Dangers of Freethinking Women
Join us for our Voices of Reason lecture series with Toni Van Pelt discussing the faith-based oppression of women through-out the years starting with the Catholic Inquisition all the way to modern times.
The Catholic Inquisition published the book that could be called the most blood-soaked publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum-or the Witches Hammer-indoctrinated the world to the dangers of freethinking women and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture and destroy them. Those deemed witches by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any women suspiciously attuned to the natural world. Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth-a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God’s rightful punishment for Eve’s partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an estimated, astounding five million women.
The propaganda and bloodshed had worked. Today’s world is living proof.
Toni Van Pelt is Vice President and the Director of the Center for Inquiry-Office of Public Policy centered in Washington DC. Prior to her reassignment to Washington, Toni was the first executive director for the Center for Inquiry-Florida. With the development of the CFI Travel Club, she has successfully married her past career in travel and business with her commitment to skepticism and secular humanism.
Must RSVP to or call 202-546-2330 Ext 111.
Public:$6; Free to Friends of the Center
