Welcome to the Yellow Pages . . . and religion

The Yellow Pages of the phone book reflect the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. If one flips to the “Churches” section, one should be prepared for confusion. The confusion of the Reformation lives on.

Where did all these churches and sects come from? They came primarily from the Protestant Reformation. That is when Europe blew up. When all the pieces finally landed, tens of thousands of people had died, incredible suffering had taken place, church creeds and confessions had arisen, political boundaries had been altered, and Protestantism was an international patchwork of churches competing with each other and maintaining their identities distinct from the Roman Catholic Church.

Whoever thinks the Protestant Reformation was a small blip on the screen of European and North American history, does not understand history.

In sixteenth century Europe, a person could be killed for not believing in the Trinity, for attending a Catholic mass, or for reading an English Bible. In France, the Psalms were set to music by Protestants; French Protestants went to the stake singing the psalms, which is why their tongues were first cut out.

William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. Sir Thomas More was beheaded for siding with the Catholic Church instead of King Henry VIII.

Anabaptists were drowned for their belief in baptism by immersion and their rejection of infant baptism. In some Protestant cities, people were fined or imprisoned for skipping a church service. That’s how things were back then. There was no “separation of church and state.” Religion was political and politics were always caught up in religion.

There was constant war. The wars didn’t end until 1648, when an exhausted Europe agreed to a ceasefire and Protestants and Catholics agreed to disagree without budging an inch on their different beliefs. There was no reconciliation. By that time, Protestants were fleeing to America and bringing their divisions with them.

Welcome to the Yellow Pages!

We take religious freedom for granted; we shouldn’t. If you own a Bible, remember that its pages are soaked in blood. Next time you read the Psalms, remember those French Protestants. Next time you attend a Catholic mass, remember the Catholics in sixteenth century England, rescuing priests on the run… when Catholicism was illegal.