Post by B.G. KentOh just took out a DVD on the INquistion and it was so eye opening. I am
amazed at how people convicted anyone because their beliefs were not like
the literal interp of the Bible...actually killed and tortured them over
it. How the church backed them all up. I'm so glad that people don't try
and judge you over not keeping to the literal interp of the bible...that
they've grown up since then.
To hold allegiance to a book over God...amazingly idolistic.
Bren
Speaking as a Catholic, the Inquisition was an evil institution.
Sorry to disillusion you, but Protestants did much the same thing, but
it wasn't so centralised. How about Cromwell's massaces of Irish
Catholics, or Qeen Elisabeth I persecuting English Catholics?
Luther's encouraging the persecution of Catholic priests, monks and
nuns? That's not something you'll hear about too often in Protestant
circles.
I lifted this from the web under the following title. It relates to
Northern Ireland. What you need to remember is that the violence
we've seen in Northern Ireland was widespread right across Western
Europe during the Reformation Years and during the religious wars of
the 16th century.
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(Start of Extract)
Protestant Presence
Gary Katz, CBC News Online | Updated December 8, 2004
In 1534, in the middle of the Protestant Reformation sweeping through
much of Europe, the English King Henry VIII signed and sealed the Act
of Supremacy, making himself the head of the English Church. No more
pope. Though he did it more from pragmatism than from passion, the
fighting he started in England between Catholic and Protestant wasn't
done for over 200 years. In Ireland it's going on still.
Countries don't change their religion as easily as, say, their sales
tax rate. Henry's daughter got her nickname - "Bloody Mary" - from her
attempts while queen to reverse her dad's unorthodoxy using means that
contained little hint of Christian charity. Many of her subjects who'd
followed Henry into heresy were dispatched to their reward
prematurely, with hundreds burned at the stake. Mary's Protestant half-
sister became Queen Elizabeth I in 1558 and turned the country around
again, re-establishing official Protestantism, persecuting Catholics,
and seeming to settle the issue for good.
Not quite. In 1605, with Elizabeth two years in the ground, there was
a failed plot by a group of Catholics (including the much-effigized
Guy Fawkes) to blow up the English Parliament with the Protestant
king, James I, inside, and at the end of the century King James II, a
self-proclaimed Catholic, had to flee his throne and his country to
avoid disaster from rising Protestant forces led by the Dutchman
William of Orange (later King William III of England).
James's supporters and heirs fought unsuccessfully to regain a
Catholic throne of England at the Boyne River in Ireland in 1690 and
in the Jacobite (named for James) rebellions, one in 1715 and another,
under Bonnie Prince Charlie, in 1745.
But back to Henry and Ireland. England took over Ireland in the 12th
century after the Pope, Adrian IV, obligingly told Henry II of England
he could have it. It was never a happy conjunction but it was Henry
VIII who poked into the Church, making it even worse, and in 1541 he
became "King" instead of merely "Lord" of Ireland.
The Reformation was a time of increasing fear of Catholic invasion in
England and Henry wanted no problem from the Irish. He crushed what he
could of the old ways and replaced them with a Protestant Church of
Ireland. It didn't take hold the way it did in England and relations
between England and Ireland deteriorated even further. Irish
rebellions continued through the 16th century though they were harshly
put down.
Under Elizabeth's successor, James I a Scot who succeeded the
childless queen), the north of Ireland - largely the province of
Ulster - was settled by English and Scottish Protestants, and many
Irish Catholics lost their land. In the mid-17th century another Irish
rebellion led to more land confiscations and the loss of many
thousands of lives. And more Protestant landlords and settlers in the
north.
In response to Irish support for the deposed Catholic James II at the
Battle of the Boyne, the Irish Parliament, controlled by English
Protestants, stripped Irish Catholics of all power. At the beginning
of the 18th century, only about 10 per cent of the land in Ireland was
owned by Catholics. As a group, their situation was increasingly
dire.
(End of Extract)
&&&&&&&&&&&&&888
When it comes to "TRUTH", men are often prepared to resort to
violence. Which side they're on usually doesn't make much difference.
You might also understand from the above why the Irish Catholics
resorted to the IRA, as one example. And it owes it's origins to a
deliberate attempt to Protestantise Ireland. By force. The
repercussions are still being felt today.