{"id":102731,"date":"2018-03-06T19:23:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T02:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=102731"},"modified":"2018-03-06T19:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T02:23:05","slug":"hey-live-bay-area-might-want-check-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/03\/hey-live-bay-area-might-want-check-tomorrow.html","title":{"rendered":"Hey! If you live in the Bay area, you might want to check this out tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The C.S. Lewis Society\u00a0Book and Film Club of the Bay Area writes:<\/p>\n

As a Subscriber to our updates*, you are invited to read along this year with the\u00a0C.S. Lewis Society Book and Film Club of the Bay Area<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>This month,\u00a0we explore a fascinating reconsideration of much false history in\u00a0Bearing False Witness<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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  1. S. Lewis Society Bay Area Book and Film Club<\/strong>
    \nMeets bi-weekly Wednesdays<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Wednesday, March 7 and 21: <\/strong>Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History<\/a><\/em>, by Rodney Stark; leader\/moderator, Andrew D\u00f3sa, Esq.<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    According to the \u201cconventional wisdom,\u201d the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and \u201cHitler\u2019s Pope,\u201d the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long held beliefs are all wrong<\/em>?<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    In this stunning, powerful, and utterly incisive book, Rodney Stark, one of the most highly regarded sociologists of religion and bestselling author of The Rise of Christianity<\/a><\/em> argues that some of our most firmly held ideas about history\u2014ideas that paint the Catholic Church in the least positive light\u2014are, in fact, profound fiction. Why have we held these wrongheaded ideas so strongly and for so long? And if our beliefs are wrong, what, in fact, is the truth?<\/p>\n

    In each chapter of Bearing False Witness<\/em><\/a>, Stark takes on a well-established anti-Catholic myth, gives a fascinating history of how each myth became the conventional wisdom, and presents a startling picture of the real truth. For example,<\/p>\n