Well, I know I used to vigorously defend christianity on this forum, just on principle, but it's been a long few years. I no longer even believe in god.

People who study systems of power think of them in terms of law order, or social contracts, or monopolies on force. They see governments and capital. Hegemony describes the complex way that through force, and through persuasion, power has a role in everyday life.

What I tried to illustrate here is the way that Europe's first and second estate waged a kind of mystical warfare over the hearts and minds of the third estate. Through violence, and dominance over views on sexuality, the second estate was able to monopolize magic.

And I think that means more than the sober academic would accept. Yes, magic is symbolic capital--that is, magic workers earned a kind of prestige and emanence--and yes, the church would be interested in controlling that capital to maintain hegemony. But magic is also... well.. magic. It was more than a commodity that imposters sold to the needy, it's almost a human need.