Throughout history, religion has been hailed as a guiding light, a beacon of morality and compassion. Yet, beneath the gilded robes and sacred hymns lies a more unsettling truth: faith is often a tool not of divine grace, but of human ambition. From the emasculation of rivals in Aristotle’s time to the chilling castration of young boys for the sake of celestial choirs, the pursuit of power and control has frequently eclipsed any notion of godliness.
Even figures like Voltaire, whose cynicism toward religion was fueled by its moral hypocrisy, or George Bernard Shaw, whose early exposure to religious pretense led him toward Fabian socialism, reveal how disillusionment with faith can reshape entire worldviews. And in the case of Ned Kelly, it was not merely the iron of his armour that sealed his fate, but the weight of religious prejudice.
This is not a story of divine will—it is a tale of how men, in the name of God, have repeatedly abandoned Him.
Aristotle’s life details are unclear, with only a few agreed facts. Born in 384 BC in Stagira, he was the son of Nicomachus, a physician to the Macedonian king and Phaestis. His father’s medical background likely influenced Aristotle’s early interest in science. Orphaned young, he was raised by a guardian, Proxenus of Atarneus, and may have spent time in the Macedonian capital.
At 17 or 18, Aristotle moved to Athens to study at Plato’s Academy, where he excelled. After nearly 20 years, he left following Plato’s death, possibly due to dissatisfaction with the Academy’s new leadership or anti-Macedonian sentiment. He traveled to Assos, where he researched botany and marine biology and married Pythias, the niece of a local ruler.
In 343/42 BC, Philip II of Macedon invited Aristotle to tutor his son, Alexander the Great, at Mieza. He taught Alexander subjects like ethics, politics, and literature. Aristotle encouraged Alexander’s conquests and reportedly advised him to treat Greeks as leaders and others as subjects. Their relationship later cooled as their views diverged.
After Philip’s assassination in 336 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded the Lyceum. He lectured, built a vast library there, and wrote extensively, producing key works like Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Poetics. During this time, his wife Pythias died, and he had a son, Nicomachus, with Herpyllis of Stagira.
Following Alexander’s death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens led to accusations of impiety against Aristotle. He fled to Chalcis to avoid persecution, where he died in 322 BC. He left his works to his student Theophrastus, and though hidden for a time, they eventually circulated widely in Athens, Alexandria, and Rome.
In The History of Animals, Aristotle wrote:
For no boy ever gets bald, no woman, and no castrated man. In fact, if a man be castrated before reaching puberty, the later growths of hair never come at all; and, if the operation take place subsequently, the aftergrowths, and these only, shed off; or, rather, two of the growths shed off, but not that on the pubes.
That was Aristotle's observation in ancient Greece, where men were castrated for sex crimes, and at the option of the cheated husband in a divorce, the cheating man would be castrated. That was used to advantage of by the Church in following the teaching of Saint Paul that women must be silent in church and hence were banned from singing in the choirs. Any music requiring high voices was reserved for boys, whose voices lacked power and, in any event, soon changed following puberty.
The solution was to castrate boys before puberty, which resulted in them retaining their boyish, high-pitched voices for the remainder of their lives. Additionally, deprivation of testosterone resulted in the bones of those castrated (castrato singular, castrati plural) not hardening and so exceeding their normal length. This resulted in enlarged rib cages and extended lung capacity, which, together with undeveloped larynxes, enabled the castrati to hold high notes for long periods.
The castrations were performed on young boys with promising voices, generally from impoverished families. The most common surgical technique was to sever the spermatic cords or crush the testes with the fingers. Another more barbaric method was cutting the scrotum open and removing the testes. Many boys died at the hands of back-alley butchers.
The castrati underwent about ten years of rigorous training, with those successful singing in church choirs or operas. Many of those who were unsuccessful obtained employment with the Church or became priests. Marriage was forbidden under pain of excommunication, as the castrati could not father children.
The use of castrati in church choirs, which commenced in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century and continued to be the norm for over 200 years, spreading across Europe. During that time, hundreds of young boys were castrated annually in Italy, not by the Church, but in many cases for its benefit with the knowledge of its secular agents. The castrati formed part of the choir in churches, including the beautiful Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence. They were also used widely in opera.
In 1589, Pope Sixtus V issued the bull Cum pro nostro pastorali munere, which authorized the replacement of boys and falsetto singers of the choir of St Peter's Basilica in Rome with castrati.
Then in 1599, Pope Clement VIII endorsed the castration of young boys for use as sopranos in all church choirs:
François-Marie Arouet, later known as Voltaire, was born in Paris on November 21, 1694, into a wealthy family. He was a sickly child but lived to 83. After his mother’s death, he was sent to a Jesuit school, where he excelled in Latin and admired classical writers like Horace and Cicero. At 11, his godfather introduced him to Ninon de l'Enclos, a famous courtesan who saw his potential and left him money for books.
Even as a child, François-Marie was influenced by Deism, rejecting religious dogma in favor of reason and nature. His godfather, a critic of the Catholic Church, introduced him to satirical works that shaped his thinking. A Jesuit teacher once warned him he would become the leading voice of Deism in France.
During a time of hardship in France, he gained attention for a poem honoring Saint Genevieve. His first published work led to a prolific career in writing—he would go on to produce thousands of letters, plays, poems, essays, and critiques, often challenging the Church. He once wrote that every honorable man must despise Christianity.
At 17, François-Marie's father insisted he become a lawyer, but he wanted to write. He studied law reluctantly and later dismissed it as useless. Through his godfather, he was introduced to a group of libertines who held discussions on literature and philosophy, further shaping his ideas.
After refusing to buy a legal practice, he was sent to work for the French ambassador in Holland. There, he had an affair with a Protestant woman, which led to his dismissal. Returning to Paris, he was imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months after writing a satirical poem about the Regent’s rumored incestuous relationship with his daughter. After his release in 1718, he adopted the name Voltaire.
His first play, Oedipe, was a success, earning him royal favor and financial rewards. He continued to amass wealth, publishing Henriade, a poem about King Henry IV, despite censorship. In 1726, after insulting an aristocrat, he was beaten by hired thugs and imprisoned again. To avoid further punishment, he chose exile in England.
During his three years in England, François-Marie was exposed to new ideas on religion and philosophy. He admired the Deists and the Protestant rejection of Catholicism, which reinforced his critical views of organized religion.
On returning to France in 1729, he partnered with a mathematician to exploit a flawed government lottery, securing his wealth for life. Moving to Lorraine, he began a long affair with the scientist Emilie du Châtelet, spending years studying Newton’s work. Newton’s scientific discoveries and anti-clerical views deeply influenced François-Marie, who later attended his funeral.
On his deathbed, François-Marie was asked by a priest if he rejected Satan, and replied:
Ned Kelly was born in December 1854 in Beveridge, Victoria, Australia, to Irish Catholic parents. His father, John "Red" Kelly, had been a convict transported from Ireland for stealing pigs. Growing up in a poor and struggling family, Ned was exposed to hardship from an early age. When he was just 12 years old, his father died after serving a prison sentence, leaving Ned to help support his family.
As a teenager, Ned became involved in petty crimes, including horse theft, and had several run-ins with the police. In 1869, at the age of 14, he was arrested for assaulting a Chinese man but was later released. A year later, he was jailed for three years for allegedly helping a bushranger steal a horse. After his release, he tried to live a lawful life, but tensions between the Kelly family and the police continued to escalate.
In 1878, a police officer named Alexander Fitzpatrick visited the Kelly home, claiming to have an arrest warrant for Ned's younger brother, Dan Kelly. A scuffle broke out, and Fitzpatrick later accused Ned of attempting to kill him. This incident forced Ned and Dan to flee into the bush, where they were joined by Steve Hart and Joe Byrne. The police soon declared them outlaws and sent officers to capture them.
On October 26, 1878, four policemen tracked the gang to Stringybark Creek. The Kelly Gang ambushed them, killing three officers—Michael Kennedy, Thomas Lonigan, and Michael Scanlan. Only one officer, Thomas McIntyre, escaped to raise the alarm. This act made Ned and his gang the most wanted men in Australia, with a huge reward offered for their capture.
For the next two years, the Kelly Gang eluded capture, gaining a reputation as folk heroes among poor Irish settlers who resented British colonial rule. They carried out daring bank robberies in Euroa and Jerilderie, often destroying police records and distributing some of the stolen money to struggling families. Ned also wrote a famous letter, known as the Jerilderie Letter, in which he justified his actions, accused the police of corruption, and declared himself a rebel against British oppression.
In June 1880, the gang made their last stand in the town of Glenrowan. They planned to derail a train carrying police officers and engage in a final battle. To protect themselves, they wore homemade suits of bulletproof armor made from plow blades, weighing over 40 kilograms (88 pounds) each. However, the plan failed when a local schoolteacher warned the authorities, and the police avoided the trap.
The Kelly Gang took hostages inside the Glenrowan Inn, leading to a violent siege. After hours of gunfire, Joe Byrne was shot and killed. The police then set fire to the inn, forcing the remaining gang members to come out. Dan Kelly and Steve Hart died inside, either by police fire or suicide.
Ned, despite being shot multiple times in the legs and arms, managed to escape into the bush but was captured the next morning. His armor had protected him from most of the bullets, but he was too wounded to keep fighting.
Ned Kelly was taken to Melbourne and put on trial for the murder of Constable Lonigan at Stringybark Creek. The trial was overseen by Judge Sir Redmond Barry, a member of the Irish Anglican ascendancy, who was known for his strict adherence to British colonial law. Despite attempts by Kelly’s lawyer to argue self-defense, Barry sentenced him to death by hanging. As he pronounced the sentence, Barry declared:
"May God have mercy on your soul."
To which Kelly famously replied:
"I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there when I go."
On November 11, 1880, Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne Gaol. Less than two weeks later, on November 23, 1880, Judge Redmond Barry died suddenly from what was reported as a combination of pneumonia and septicemia, fueling speculation among Kelly’s supporters that Ned’s words had been prophetic.
George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, 1856, into a Protestant Ascendancy family. This elite class, established after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, dominated landownership while Catholics faced discrimination under Penal Laws, many of which were repealed by 1793.
Shaw was the third child of George Carr Shaw, a struggling alcoholic corn merchant, and Bessie Gurly, an aspiring musician. Their marriage was troubled from the start—Bessie married to escape her domineering aunt, only to discover George Sr.’s alcoholism during their honeymoon. They lived in genteel poverty, raising three children in Dublin.
Bessie became involved with music teacher George John Lee, who effectively replaced George Sr. in the household. In 1866, they all moved into a house provided by Lee. When Lee left for London in 1872, Bessie followed with two of the children, while Shaw and his father remained in Dublin. Shaw, unable to afford university, worked as a clerk before moving to London in 1876 to become a writer.
Struggling financially, Shaw lived with his mother and sister, writing for newspapers and attending Socialist meetings. He became a leading member of the Fabian Society, advocating gradual socialism. He admired Karl Marx and later promoted eugenics, believing in eliminating “undesirables” through measures like sterilization and even the "lethal chamber."
Shaw abandoned novel writing after failures, finding success as a playwright. His works, such as Pygmalion and Saint Joan, won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He married wealthy Fabian Charlotte Payne-Townshend, which gave him financial security.
Politically, Shaw admired dictators like Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, believing in strong state control. Over his lifetime, he wrote more than 60 plays and numerous essays, remaining influential in literature and political thought until his death.
Errol Flynn and David Niven were both famous Hollywood actors, known for their charm, good looks, and adventurous off-screen lives. They were friends and occasional co-stars, sharing a love of partying and mischief in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Flynn was an Australian actor who became a star in the 1930s, known for his swashbuckling roles in films like The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Captain Blood (1935). He was famous for his wild lifestyle, love of sailing, and reputation as a ladies' man. Despite his success, his later years were troubled by health problems, financial struggles, and scandals. He died in 1959 at 50.
Niven was a British actor known for his smooth, witty, and gentlemanly persona. Unlike Flynn, he had a more disciplined career and even served in the British Army during World War II. He won an Academy Award for Separate Tables (1958) and starred in films like Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and The Pink Panther (1963). He remained a respected actor until his death in 1983.
Flynn and Niven starred together in a few films, most notably The Dawn Patrol (1938), a World War I drama about British fighter pilots, where they played comrades-in-arms. They also appeared in Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), a wartime musical comedy featuring numerous Hollywood stars performing for a good cause. Another notable collaboration was The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), an epic war film set during the Crimean War, where they played British officers. While their careers largely followed separate paths, their on-screen chemistry reflected their real-life friendship.
Mike Curtiz directed The Charge of the Light Brigade, and his Hungarian-accented English often amused everyone on set. Standing on a raised platform, he decided it was time for a dramatic entrance and called for a hundred riderless horses. Speaking into a megaphone, he shouted, "Okay, bring on the empty horses!"
Flynn and Niven burst into laughter. Frustrated, Curtiz snapped at them, yelling, "You lousy bums! You and your rotten language…
