The Sin of Sodomy Series

If you have not read The Wrath of God and the Sin of Sodomy – Part I, please go back and do so. None of the following analysis will make any sense without reading the introductory post. Pay particular attention to the Calamities per Century (C/C) number highlighted in red on the right-hand side of the data set. This will be the ratio I will be using to compare different historical eras. Without any further delay let’s get right into the analysis, I’ll start with the City of Rome below:

Rome

Republican Rome (500BCE – 27BCE)
Floods	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities   per Century
15	3	1	5	0	24	5.1
Imperial Rome (27BCE – 300AD)
Floods	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities   per Century
8	5	0	0	2	14	4.6
Christian Rome (300-1900)
Floods	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities   per Century
49	3	6	7	6	71	4.4
Modern Rome (1900-2009)
Floods	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Influenza	Total	Calamities   per Century
0	0	0	1	1	2	1.8

The C/C for Republican Rome was 5.1 versus 4.6 for Imperial Rome. That works out to one disaster every 20 to 22 years respectively. There is a slight decrease in the number of calamities for Imperial Rome. If we cast our mind back to the introduction, you will recall that Imperial Rome was described as Sin City. One would expect that if God was punishing sodomy, Imperial Rome would be a prime candidate. However, there is no evidence that God unleashed any additional wrath on Rome as there was a slight decrease in the number of disasters. This seems counter intuitive to the Sodomy Theory, but let’s continue.

Now, this is where things get interesting. If we look at the C/C number for the 1,600 years of Christian Rome, there is virtually no difference in the number of disasters as compared to Imperial Rome. It appears that the presence of the Vicar of Christ in Rome provided no additional benefit for the citizens of the city. Either, there was a lot of sodomy going on in Christian Rome or the Sodomy Theory is utter nonsense. But, let’s not draw any conclusions just yet.

If we are to look at the last C/C ratio for the modern era, we would see that modern Rome had only 1.8 disasters per century (which works out to one disaster every 56 years). That is a marked improvement in public safety over Republican, Imperial or Christian Rome. What is going on here? According to the Sodomy Theory, one would expect an increased number of disasters for a secular society that tolerates homosexuality. But, in Rome’s case the exact opposite happened. How is this possible? Maybe all our modern technological improvements have been foiling God’s plans for unleashing his wrath?

If you would look at the above information, you will notice that Rome experienced a lot of flooding. Every time the Tiber River swelled its banks, many Romans would get flooded out of their homes. This was a persistent problem for centuries. Nevertheless, this problem was solved once and for all in the late 1800’s when water control structures and concrete embankments were installed within City limits. Persistent problems, like fires or plagues, have been dramatically reduced with the implementation of pressurized water supply systems and modern public health care. The two calamities that did occur recently were the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 and the battles for Rome in 1944. Other than these two events, Rome has been a relatively safe location to live despite the modern acceptance of homosexuality.

Moving onto Constantinople, let’s take a look at its C/C data below:

Constantinople

Christian Constantinople (324-1453)
Earthquakes	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
8	5	2	17	13	45	4.0
Muslim Constantinople (1453-1918)
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
2	13	1	2	0	18	3.9
Modern Istanbul (1918-2009)
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Influenza	Total	Calamities per Century
1	0	0	0	1	2	2.2

Christian Constantinople has a C/C ratio of 4.0. This is only marginally less than Christian Rome’s C/C ratio of 4.4. After more than a thousand years as the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, Constantinople finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Ottoman conquest ushered in nearly 500 years of Islamic rule. The C/C ratio of Muslim Constantinople is essentially unchanged at 3.9. Moving on to Modern Istanbul, we see the C/C ratio dropping to 2.2, essentially the same ratio as Modern Rome.

With the ancient world, we see the same trends with Constantinople that we saw with Rome. We are getting about one calamity every 25 years on average. Even with a change in religion the city did not see any change in the C/C ratio. Let’s take a closer look at Muslim Constantinople. While, the Ottomans were noted for their harems and self-indulgence, they did not suffer any increase in the number of calamities that their devout Christian predecessors.

Improvements in technology and medicine helped to increase public safety in Istanbul. This can be seen in the dramatic reduction in destructive fires. Fires used to be a persistent problem for the city often leaving whole neighbourhoods in ruins. The installation of a pressurized water distribution system virtually eliminated the problem. The two calamities that did occur in the 20th Century were the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 and an earthquake in 1999.

For our last city let’s turn our attention to the Jerusalem:

Jerusalem

Hebrew Jerusalem – 630 BCE-135 AD
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
1	4	8	19	3	35	4.6
Pagan Jerusalem – 135-330
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
Christian Jerusalem – 330-636
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
1	2	1	3	3	10	3.3
Islamic Jerusalem – 636-1099
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
4	1	1	6	0	12	2.6
Crusader Jerusalem – 1099-1244
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
2	1	1	5	0	9	6.2
Islamic Jerusalem – 1244-1920
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Plagues	Total	Calamities per Century
4	0	0	6	6	16	2.4
Modern-Israeli Jerusalem – 1920-2009
Earthquake	Fires	Sackings	Sieges, Battles & Riots	Influenza	Total	Calamities per Century
0	0	0	5	1	6	5.5

Jerusalem is unique in our analysis as it is not only a modern city with ancient roots, it is also the spiritual center for the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Due to its religious significance, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, besieged 23 times, captured 44 times and levelled to the ground twice.

I will start my analysis of Jerusalem in the year 630 BCE, during which time the city was the capital of the ancient Hebrew Kingdom of Judah. If you have read the Bible’s Old Testament, you will no doubt be familiar with the Jerusalem’s turbulent past. You may ask, why did I not select an earlier starting point; say like the Jerusalem of King David in 1,000 BCE.  The problem one encounters by looking beyond 630 BCE in the historical record, is that we are no longer dealing with the history of Jerusalem, but rather the legend of Jerusalem. This is why I chose 630 BCE as a convenient starting point.

Hebrew Jerusalem has a C/C ratio of 4.6, which works out to one calamity every 22 years. Hebrew Jerusalem’s C/C ratio is remarkably similar to Republican Rome’s. Jerusalem was a troublesome city for any regional power that had occupied the city. Jerusalem was always a hotbed for zealots and religious fanatics. The Roman Empire found Jerusalem particularly problematic with several revolts originating in the city.

At the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135, the Romans deciding enough was enough, expelled all the Jews from Jerusalem and levelled the city to the ground. The Romans then rebuilt Jerusalem into a completely Pagan city. The exclusion of all the religious crazies from Jerusalem appears to have solved Rome’s problem with the bothersome city. Pagan Jerusalem became the most peaceful era in the city’s history resulting in a C/C ration of 0.0. It looks as if God became quite fond of all those Pagans living in his city.

Rest assured, the fun returned to Jerusalem in 330 when Constantine rebuilt the city as a center of Christian worship and veneration. For the following 300 years of Christian rule, the city had a C/C ratio of 3.3. Though Christian Jerusalem was not as safe as the Pagan version, it was a marginally more peaceful spot to live than either contemporary Rome or Constantinople.

The Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 636, initiated over 400 years of Muslim rule. The C/C ratio of Islamic Jerusalem was 2.6, a slight improvement over Christian Jerusalem. By the standards of the Middle Ages, Christian or Islamic Jerusalem was a relatively peaceful location. However, all that relative peace and tranquility went out the window with the appearance of the Crusaders, who conquered Jerusalem in 1099. Crusader Jerusalem had a C/C ratio of 6.4. The arrival of the Crusaders and their religious nut cases from Western Europe made life for poor citizens of Jerusalem quite dangerous. .

Things returned to relative stability with the final recapture of Crusader Jerusalem by the Muslims in 1244. The second era of Muslim rule over Jerusalem lasted from 1244 till 1917 and had a C/C ratio of 2.4. This period of Muslim rule had about the same C/C ratio as the first one did.

The era of Modern Jerusalem was ushered in by the British conquest of the city in 1917. This eventually led to the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948 with Jerusalem as its capital city.   Modern Jerusalem had a C/C ratio of 5.5, which is more than double than that of contemporary Rome or Istanbul. What accounts for the difference? While, Modern Jerusalem enjoyed the benefits of modern technology and medicine; the return of the religious crazies more than offset those gains with religious upheaval and war. Just turn on your TV, listen to a news report from the Middle East and you will know what I mean.

Looking at the C/C ratio of Jerusalem over the last 2,600 years, we can see no evidence of the Sodomy theory whatsoever. In fact, the history of Jerusalem defies the Sodomy theory in every way.  Just look at Pagan Jerusalem. It would seem that the presence of all the religious crazies in Jerusalem caused more problems for public safety and peace than a few homosexuals ever did.

If we are to look at the data sets for Rome, Constantinople or Jerusalem we can see zero evidence for the Sodomy theory. Christian threats of divine retribution for participating in homosexual activities have no basis in historical fact. Societies that tolerate homosexuality are at no greater risk of calamities and natural disasters than a pious religious society is. In fact, the data seems to suggest that discriminatory religious societies are more at risk for calamities than liberal ones.