In an effort to explain and control the destructive behavior of males Biblical writers came up with the concept of the Devil as a counterpart to God. Over the centuries many images of the Devil were created, all made to look ferocious and to frighten people.
Not surprisingly, neither the concept of a Devil nor the ferocious images had any noticeable affect on reducing--much less eliminating--the negative behavior of males. Violence of all kind has remained a characterisic of the male-ruled world.
In the early 1970s African-American comedian Skip Wilson used the tag-line "The Devil Made Me Do It!" in his popular television show to explain his unorthodox behavior--helping to make the show the second most popular fare on TV during its five-year run. To my knowledge, this was the only really positive result of the creation of the Devil concept by Catholic Church leaders.
The reason why this religious ploy failed: the Devil is incarnate in the genetic programming of males and often overcomes the angelic side of many men.
