Of the three main divisions of Christianity, Protestantism enjoy the best but not an unsullied, reputation for securing, extending, and enhancing human freedoms. Indeed, there is a popular, well-preserved stereotype which portrays Protestant history as a series of successes in emancipating people for the enjoyment of greater freedom. The contrasting corollary to this image is that of Roman Catholicism as a perennial Inquisition. Catholic history is depicted as unrelieved servitude in subjection to hierarchical authority, freedom of conscience being stifled by the imposition of unreasonable, outrageously dogmatic restraints upon children, women, and men. Eastern Orthodoxy, especially the notorious early Byzantine and the Russian, has a similar reputation. Such are the views, as widely held as they are uncritical and uninformed, of many Protestants.