Making Health a Human Right

Your Illiteracy is Intended by Those in Power

The dome in Cologne, constructed from 1248 to 1322, was a symbol of medieval power of the Roman Church in Germany.

You also do not know that it is not the wish of God that you are illiterate and can not read and write. The rulers of the land and the church are telling you that it is only the simple-minded person who will go to heaven. The thought that knowledge is power has never crossed your mind and you have never conceived that your illiteracy is a precondition for the injustice and the excessive greed and wealth of the rulers.

Your entire life you could neither read nor write. There are no schools and your parents and grandparents were all illiterates. The ability to read and write is considered an art and is one of the best-kept secrets at that time. You never thought of lifting this secret. Only a small and chosen worldly and clerical cast knows the art to read and write. Among them the priest in the village.

The only information you get is from other peasants in the village where you go to mass every morning. During mass you do not understand anything because the priest speaks for one hour in Latin, supposedly the language of God. The priest also reads the Word of God from the bible, which, of course, is written in the Latin language. Likewise, the priest’s prayer is also in Latin, the only language that God understands, according to the priest.

The church at that time tells you that it is in vain to even attempt to pray, because God does not understand German, English, French or any other language spoken by common people at that time. If you want to talk to God, you need a translator, a priest who speaks Latin. According to the church at that time, this is the only way, that God can understand your wishes and thoughts. This is why at least once a week you go to confession, an audience with God with a Latin translator.

The greatness and power of God is reflected in the church building, the only building in the village made of solid stone. The windows are made of colored glass, a material that does not exist anywhere nearby.

Many years ago you undertook a pilgrimage to the magnificent dome in Cologne which was already 200 years old by that time. You were numbed with adoration and reverence. You would never have thought it possible that god is so powerful that he can construct such a magnificent building. Making your way amidst the beggars, you reached the interior of the dome of Cologne. With deep reverence you admired the gigantic architecture and the golden statues. It has now been 20 years since you undertook this pilgrimage but there was not a single day when you did not clearly recall the greatness and splendor of this magnificent building.

Yet, even this impressive dome in Cologne is not the largest building of God. Somewhere far away behind the Alps, the huge mountains in the south, lives the direct representative of God on earth. Rome, the city he lives in, is supposedly built of gold and jewels. He reigns over the entire earth and, in addition, possesses the keys to heaven. The church at that time tells you that this man decides whether on judgment day you go to heaven, to purgatory or directly to hell. Of course, you don’t dare to question this dogma, because that would be a sin. And sinners are sure to be turned back from the gates of heaven and sent to hell or eternal damnation.

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The Stony Way to Paradise

Indulgence letter issued in Rome on August 31, 1492, the year Columbus reached America. This indulgence letter secured the absolution from any sins for a limited time only: Exactly 100 days.

One thing is clear to you: If your presence on earth has to be a burden, you want to look forward to the heavenly paradise. The last thing you want is to live through hell on earth and then in eternity. The desired places in heaven are commercially available, but to a price. Again and again the indulgence traders, envoys of the roman church at that time, come into the village and preach that “only if the Taler (a precursor of the dollar) clangs in the chest, the soul will spring out of purgatory”. More recently you can also buy indulgences in order to liberate your deceased ancestors from purgatory – everything has its price.

Whenever the indulgence trader sells the indulgence letters in the village market place, you are close to tears. Once again you don’t know what you should use your last pennies for that you saved after paying the heavy taxes to the landlord and the church. Should you use these pennies to buy food for your children or to secure the entrance of your soul to heaven or to liberate your ancestors from purgatory?

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A Simple Monk Ends the Dark Middle Ages

The castle church in Wittenberg. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther hammered his theses against the indulgence trade to the door of this church.   One of the first printed copies of the Luther bible in the German language from 1524. Bible translations into English, French, Dutch and many other languages follow. With their help, millions of people in Europe learned to read and write.

But then something unheard of occurred. The event was so powerful that it brought down the entire card house made up of lies dulling people’s minds and permitting premature death of millions of people caused by unbearable poverty. This event was so fundamental that it terminated the dark Middle Ages with one strike and determined the course of human events until today.

On October 31, 1517 a young monk Martin Luther nailed his theses to the castled church of Wittenberg in Medieval Germany. Luther’s message was simple and clear: Neither the pope in Rome nor the roman Church owns the key to heaven, nor can indulgence traders sell it. The key message of the young monk: the key to heaven lies within yourself.

Two weeks after these theses were made public everything was quiet. But it was the silence before the storm. Then the storm of liberation from the dark Middle Ages began to blow across Europe. Millions of people realized that they and their ancestors had been kept stupid in ignorance and poverty – like animals – and served only one purpose: the excessive enrichment of the church and the nobility.

On April 19, 1521 Martin Luther refuses to recant his teachings under heavy pressure from the emperor and the pontifical legates. This day became the turning point from the Middle Ages to Modern Time, one of the decisive days of the second millennium.

The stormy wind of the liberation of the human mind was soon blowing all over Europe and brought down the existing systems of the world. In April 1521, only four years later, Luther was called in front of the Emperors Diet in the city of Worms. In the presence of Emperor Charles V and the pontifical legates, he was pressured to recant in order to stabilize the antiquated order of things. Luther did not recant, and consequently, was banished by the Emperor and the Pope. He was branded an outlaw who can be killed by anyone without fear of punishment.

Luther made good use of time during his banishment. In the Wartburg castle he translated the bible from the antiquated Latin language into the common German language. With the help of the book printing technology that had just been invented, over 100.000 copies of this popular bible could now be printed in the spoken language.

During the 16th century the illiteracy rate in Europe dropped from 80% to 20%.

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