" The Catholic Church had murdered more people during the past two thousand years than any other institution devised. my man. It systematically suppressed knowledge and fought scientific progress. Across time, at one point or another, it actively supported slavery, racism, fascism and sexism. It published the Hammer of Witches, detailing how to torture and murder innocent women. It jailed and burned scientists at the stake in a futile attempt to keep the masses ignorant. It terrorized Jews and Muslims for centuries, torturing and murdering during the Inquisition and crusades, all in the name of a supposedly loving God. It ignored eyewitness accounts that Jews were being slaughtered by Nazis. It systematically covered up tens of thousands of cases involving sexual misconduct by priests. It even had the audacity to absolve fault that had not yet been committed, thanks to indulgences bought with wealth. "

― Steve Berry , The Omega Factor