lindier
Forum Veteran
An interesting article in the independent this morning compares the malign effect of Isis in Syria and Iraq with that of Europe during the thirty years war between Catholicism and the Protestant reformers.
It talks about whole cities such as Magdeburg laid to waste and the population reduced by over a third. It mentions the religious austerity of Calvinism and compares it to wahibism.
It then mentions the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 which guaranteed the right to worship freely to all Christians particularly those who lived in areas controlled by the opposition and suggested that perhaps the same might happen in due course with Isis.
Personally I think the authur is a little optimistic although it is an interesting theory and hypothesis.
It also reminds the reader that Cromwell in England used St. Paul's cathedral as stabling for his horses and proposed, though never carried out, the demolition of the great cathedrals as being inconsistent with his austere religion. And this from a man who encouraged ther turn of the Jews to England!
As I suggest something to think about
It talks about whole cities such as Magdeburg laid to waste and the population reduced by over a third. It mentions the religious austerity of Calvinism and compares it to wahibism.
It then mentions the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 which guaranteed the right to worship freely to all Christians particularly those who lived in areas controlled by the opposition and suggested that perhaps the same might happen in due course with Isis.
Personally I think the authur is a little optimistic although it is an interesting theory and hypothesis.
It also reminds the reader that Cromwell in England used St. Paul's cathedral as stabling for his horses and proposed, though never carried out, the demolition of the great cathedrals as being inconsistent with his austere religion. And this from a man who encouraged ther turn of the Jews to England!
As I suggest something to think about
