Free The Celtic Conspiracy by Thore D. Hansen Page B

couldn’t have been more different.
    MacClary seemed to notice Thomas’s irritation. “Thomas, you have to admit there might have been a far more pragmatic reason for getting rid of the Druids.”
    “Maybe, but the fact is that Celtic society was based on free accord and a moral order that had developed over more than a millennium. The Celtic people didn’t need a centralized government to remain a cohesive society. The Druids always considered property to be collective, for example. Rome, on the other hand, was intensely materialistic...”
    “And we shouldn’t forget that the Romans considered women solely objects of desire, servants, and breeding machines, while the Celts worshiped them as the source of God,” said Deborah.
    “Exactly,” Thomas continued. “And Rome could control both with their new
divine
business partners. The emperors were no longer dependent on the goodwill of numerous religious leaders. Now they were only dependent on the leaders of the Church, who were as easy to buy off as a prostitute...”
    MacClary raised a professorial finger. “But the Druids would have been in a position, along with the few critical thinkers in Rome, to expose the Christians’ lies. That’s why they had to die.”
    As excited as he had been only minutes earlier, Shane, who’d had little sleep lately, suddenly found himself overcome with profound tiredness. He couldn’t follow the debate anymore.
    “Mr. MacClary, is there somewhere I can lie down for a minute?” he said, interrupting the exchange.
    MacClary’s face showed concern. “Of course, right in the next room. And please, call me Ronald.”
    Next to the library was a small, comfortable guest room, much more modest than the other rooms Shane had seen in the house. MacClary turned on the light and laid his hand on Shane’s shoulder. “I’m sure it was a difficult evening for you yesterday. I know how long Ryan can go on discussing this topic. He’s obsessed with the lost knowledge of the Druids. But it
is
lost; we have to reconcile ourselves to that. Lie down for a while. We’ll be in the library when you want to join us again.”
    Shane lay down on the narrow bed. Thoughts raced through his head. He didn’t agree with MacClary. The knowledge wasn’t lost. He could feel it, even though he couldn’t say why he was so sure. It wasn’t lost, it was only that the remoteness of centuries had blocked access to it.
    As he lay down, he quickly slipped into a trance-like state between waking and sleeping. Before he fell asleep completely, he wondered what role he had to play in this conversation.
    A conversation that was still going when he awoke.
    “Gentlemen, Rome’s motives, even before the rise of the Christians, were always marked by massive economic interests,” Thomas was saying. “There was a reason that all the emperors rewarded the priests with incredible gifts after their betrayal of Jesus. Constantine, in particular, inundated the bishops with riches, and from that point onthe teachers of the Church, including Ambrosius, Chrysostomos, Hieronymus, and so many others, were subject to him. They wrote praise scriptures for the Christians, adulterated the Bible, and wrote vehement but extraordinarily effective propaganda against the pagans.”
    Shane quietly made his way back to the library. He saw Ronald reach for his glass of wine as Thomas scornfully added, “Constantine showed which faith he would build on in the future. He betrayed his pagan beliefs, and the Church began to destroy all the pagan places of worship. Then, to add insult to injury, the emperor’s money financed the construction of monumental churches on the same sites where pagan shrines had been. That was too much for the Druids.”
    Ronald nodded. “There you’re right. The more the economic power of the priests grew, the more room the Celts had to cede, eventually retreating to our beautiful Ireland.”
    From the doorway, Shane said, “What Thomas just said is true.