HISTORY OF THE CHURCH STEEPLE

Most Christians worship under churches with steeples. Why is that?

Steeples, the pointed roofs of churches, have been included in church buildings since the conversion of Constantine and his proclamation making Christianity the official religion of his Roman State. The origins of steeples, however, have been traced back to several different traditions.

Steeples on the churches, and obelisks (such as the one at the Vatican and our Washington Monument), all show the influence of our phallus-worshipping ancestors, including ancient Israelite and Canaanite tribes. These tribes had rituals including the baking of long loaves of bread for blessing, which were, in turn, placed under poles representing the fertility and power of the gods. Eventually, the tall poles were included in the earliest churches.

Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his "Edict of Milan" in 313CE, made the Empire officially neutral with regard to religion. Eventually, Pagan and Christian symbols were eventually merged at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, and new doctrines and dogmas were set up by the Holy Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church, and strictly enforced, under penalty of death.

The male phallus played a role in the cult of Osiris in the ancient Egyptian religion. It is widely understood that the obelisk is a phallic symbol honoring and celebrating regeneration of the sun god Ra (Egypt). The obelisk was the first point sun rays hit as it ascended, which the pagans believed symbolized re-birth between earth and heaven.

The Ancient Romans were strongly influenced by the obelisk. There are now more than twice as many obelisks standing in Rome as remain in Egypt. It takes little imagination to see the parallel between the obelisk and the common church steeple, which many historians have pointed out. Everywhere in the world where there exists a major power center, such as Rome, London, and Washington DC, you will find an obelisk.

The Roman Catholic Church adopted an Egyptian pagan obelisk and placed a cross on its peak, thus combining the two meanings. Emperor Caligula in 37 CE brought this particular obelisk from Egypt to Rome. It originally stood in his circus on a spot to the south of the basilica, close to the present Sacristy. Pope Sixtus V had Domenico Fontana move it in 1586 to the center of St. Peter’s Square.

The obelisk is also a sundial, its shadows marking noon over the signs of the zodiac in the white marble disks in the paving of the square. This gigantic monument sits in the center of St. Peter’s Square to this day and is a testimony to early Christianity’s pagan influence that we see in and on churches across every continent on earth.

It is interesting to note that the KJV Bible mistranslates the Hebrew term Asherah as groves. The Strong’s Concordance defines it as: “straight, right, especially used of a strait way, hence also of what is upright, erect. The asherah is found in the scriptures 40 times, always referring to idol worship.

The Companion Bible, Appendix 42, defines asherah as the following: "It was an upright pillar connected with Baal-worship, and is associated with the goddess Ashtoreth, being the representation of the productive principal of life, and Baal being the representative of the generative principle. The image, which represents the Phoenician Ashtoreth, as the sole object of worship in her temple, was an upright block of stone, anointed with oil, and covered with an embroidered cloth.”

In Deuteronomy 16:22 we find this warning: "Neither shall you set thee up a pillar; which Yahweh your Elohim hates." The biblical Old Testament Yahweh is adamant that His people be separate and not partake of the pagan practices of the heathens, including erecting towers and pillars pointing to the sun in sexual rites of fertility.

I wonder of Christians know of the symbolic Pagan origins of so much of modern day Christianity. Seek and you shall find …

Just a thought ...

~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.