Text from history book used to teach children in Cuba. 3-18-00

A BOOK OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY IN THE CASTRO ERA

The following, for the knowledge of our readers and militants, is a publication of some paragraphs about the Castro version of "The Rise of Christianity", a chapter in a book of Universal History published by the DE teaching media in the Castro era.

THE MYTH OF CHRIST

In the eleventh century, the myth of Christ was issued. It was said that since Christ lived among the poor, suffering the same pain and misery as they did, he dedicated himself to teaching them his ideas of good and bad, assuring them a better life after death.

As this legend was passed on orally, it was then said that Christ was able to heal with words even the most seriously ill; this was called "miracles".

It was said that Christ told many stories in a way that everyone understood and in many of them criticized the rich.

All these stories were collected and written two centuries after the date that it is said that Christ was born. As works of universal literature, some of them turned out to be interesting, but in reading them we should take into account that they have alot of fantasy,imagination, from facts that cannot be confirmed because they have been collected over long years of oral tradition.

Because Christianity taught the poor and enslaved humility, to not rebel and this served the slave owners.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Christianity, as all religions, created its apparatus to guarantee complete control of its believers. In this way the church emerged. At first it was a secret and clandestine institution, but little by little it was becoming so powerful that the Roman state couldn't do anything against it and decided to accept it and declare it an official institution.

With Christianity no longer clandestine, they began to build large and impressive buildings for meeting which were called churches.

The churches had large statues inside, solemn music and rich adornments of gold for the altars. This demonstrated the power that the church was now attaining.

Do you undertand now how Christianity was transformed from a religion of the poor and enslaved to an instrument to serve the dominant class?

Christianity, as all religions, has a definite objective: keep the exploited masses in conformity with their lot, ready to accept the exploitation imposed on them to favor the dominant class.