Catholics in England were considered outlaws for nearly 300 years

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jyCSoL8Y4siiRB1Vttb1HUrwif6AD9I5IBL01

Catholics in England suffered long repression

By ROBERT BARR (AP) – 4 hours ago

STONOR, England — For nearly three centuries after the Reformation, Catholics in England were outlaws.

But in the turmoil and persecution that followed the break between King Henry VIII and Rome, noble families such as the Stonors clung to their faith, "in spite of dungeon, fire and sword," as the Victorian hymn "Faith of our Fathers" put it.

"We're just stubborn, really," says Ralph Thomas Campion Stonor, the seventh Lord Camoys, a title bestowed on an ancestor for valor in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Pope Benedict XVI will recall the years of persecution during his upcoming tour of Britain Sept. 16-19. He will visit Westminster Hall, the medieval chamber within the Houses of Parliament where the Catholic Thomas More was tried and convicted of treason in 1535. More refused to swear an oath accepting the annulment of King Henry's marriage, thus becoming one of the first of the legion of English Catholic martyrs.

The Stonor family's history mirrors the vicissitudes of Catholics, both noble and humble, who defied the law and risked death to preserve their faith through times of persecution until they regained full legal rights in the 19th century.

[Kolesar]

1. Now Britain is 58% agnostic and government has to fund their church to keep it from disappearing.eom

[Tesha]

2. "I will die rather than switch my belief from my invisible friend to your nearly-identical...

invisible friend!"

Yeah, religion makes sense. :(

If it weren't for the fact that they're speaking about
"religion", if these folks spoke in their usual terms
(hearing voices in their head, believing that an invisible,
unprovable being tells them what to do, believing that
they can't really be utterly destroyed, being afraid of
eternal torment, etc., and then often being willing to
use force to make *YOU* believe the same things), we'd
lock 'em up in the loony bin for their own protection!

But because they're talking about "religion", their
lunacy gets a free pass or is even encouraged by
society.

Tesha

[alphafemale]

3. the three Abrahamic religions are founded on a guy that was willing to slice his little boys throat

...because the voices in his head told him too.

And there are grown up people who truly believe that there was this old dude who fit two of every animal on the planet onto a boat not all that much bigger than a double-wide.

We've all heard of Animal Hoarding...but.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I didn't know that was in all three Abrahamic religions

Guess I should have?

But that is the part in the bible that I learned in Catechism that was the deal breaker for me. I couldn't participate in a belief that if my father were to hear voices that he assumed was God telling him to cut my throat he would do it.

That was enough for me. When I heard that I said I'm out of here.

Don

[alphafemale]

7. I just remember being totally gob-smacked when I realized adults actually beleived the stories

I thought they were just telling them to me as Aesop's Fables or something.

And i knew at once that I needed to "blend or perish"...

[pipi_k]

8. I've been especially frustrated by adults

who have said they take everything in the bible literally, but when they were faced with things they couldn't explain, did the old, "Ah...um...er....Well, I don't take EVERYTHING literally!" thing.

Soooo...some things are literal, some are not. And all it takes for someone to "interpret" the Bible is an inability to explain it literally.

sigh...

The goalposts and "rules" always end up being changed.... :eyes:

[CBGLuthier]

9. Imagine our world if he had said NO to god.

As I have said many a times it isn't just that I don't believe, it is also that I find this god unworthy of my love, respect, or worship. He is a petty and cruel god. To paraphrase Hedwig and the Angry Inch, what Jesus is saving us from is his fucking father.

[alphafemale]

10. Yeah...I've said that. Even if they're right?

I'd rather burn in hell forever than bow down to that asshole.

[RagAss]

4. maybe they knew something.

[burnsei sensei]

5. Catholics owe every bit of tolerance they experience

to the Enlightenment.
Believe it or not, Benedict, Voltaire was your very best friend.