"When you consider the hell on earth the Roman Catholic Church has instigated or inspired—the book-burnings; the slaughter and conquests of the Crusades; the massacres of 'heretics' and of 'heathens'; the dungeons and torture of the Inquisition; the uncountable innocents burned alive at the stake; the physical pain, mental anguish, humiliation, disease and premature death Catholic sexual teaching has imposed on billions of women; the terror, cruelty, beatings and sexual abuse inflicted on children over the centuries in countless Church-run schools and orphanages—then without question the leaders of the Catholic Church have been and are, unwittingly or not ... well, I leave you to make your own judgement."

From 'Old Nick's Guide to Happiness,' an upcoming philosophical novel by Nicholas Dykes