In Reply to: 5/11/5 posted by OldManTime on November 05, 2005 at 20:04:21:

I was intrested in your comments regarding the Gunpowder plot, this is an area of History i have studied and lectured in throughout the years, i hope you dont mind me correcting a few of your points as its not as anti catholic as you make out, Before the Reformation it is an established fact that the Roman Cathoic Church was very corrupt in England it was the biggest landowner and had its own courts which made laws that were not in keeping with the State, it also taxed the ordinary person on nearly everything it owned, there were hundreds of thosands of fake relics that brought in a considerable amount of money to the Church, making it the richest institution in the country. It is against this back ground that the Reformation started by King Henry the eighth took place, yes it had alot to do with his pending divorse from his wife, but Henry had in fact being given a dispensation by the Pope to marry his brothers wife, plainly in scripture this was not allowed, all that happened during the reign of Henry was the Pope was no longer prayed for at Mass, and the Monestrys were closed down, the vast bulk of the population remained Catholic, there were no liturgical changes, even on his death bed Henry heard mass as did the population. After Henrys death things did take a turn in a more exstreme form of Religion took over, but the People still were Catholic but not Roman Catholic, when Edward the sixth died at a young age his Roman Catholic sister Spanish by birth took over, she will go down in history as the most bloody Queen ever, she banished all protestant preachers from the land, and without mercy she burned thosands of Protestants who refused to attend the Roman Catholic Mass, that is why to this day you can buy a drink in England called " Bloody Mary" Smithfields in London was the place where thosands of men women, and children who were Protestants were burned to death. People resented a foreign Church that of Rome having any influence in England, after Mary died her Sister Elizabeth took over she kept the ritual of the mass but rejected the more exstreme form of Protestant dogma, the people still regarded themselves as Catholic but not Roman Catholic, regrading the Gunpoweder plot in many ways it was a story of betrayal of those involved it was to do with power and in a small part religion, after the fires of Smithfield there was no demand to go back to Rome, Many Cardinals and the Pope himself encorged Philip of Spain to invade England in Elizabeths time to restore the Roman Catholic faith, that is why even Roman Catholics who disliked the Queen gave her their support as they did not want to be ruled by Spain or have the yoke of the old Roman Catholic regime again put on them. Those were dark times there were faults and killings on both sides Catholic and Protestant, today we can look back at those times and know that mixing Religion and politics and being intolerant get you know where, today the Church of England and Wales and Scotland is broadly Catholic it sees itself as Catholic and reformed, but not Roman Catholic, it works closley and has excellent relations with the Roman Catholic Church and thank God for that. There are many Churches that are Catholic including Lutheran, Old Catholics, Orthodox Churches ect that are Catholic in that they believe the Catholic Creeds of the first seven centuries of the Church and its doctrine but they are not of Rome, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there was much trouble over religion but it was not one sided Roman Catholics mureded and slaughtered those who held opposite views to Rome, but down through the years, many children were given a one sided view of the reformation, most academic scolars now through reserch and better relations between churches have come to a more fair view, but it is the past, here in Ireland we know first hand how religious differences caused trouble, but in todays world and in the New Ireland all Religions and those of no religion can have their views respected, it only leads to trouble when one group or the other has total dominance and claims that they " are Right " all Christians have equal rights God does not have favourites, i have been surprised at the Charity and humanity of many non christians, let us leave the argum,ents of the past where they belong, Bonfire Night in the Uk now is only associated with fireworks and bonfires and a bit of fun, people have forgotten its symbolism, so lets not attach any sinister motive to it, sorry for being so long winded but i hope i may have enlighted some people, we are should be open minded