*sigh* Another broken irony meter.

[onager]

6. I mostly blame Martin Luther...

Yes, he destroyed the authority of the Pope. But he seemed to think most right-minded Xians would fall in line with his religious ideas and he would become the supreme pontiff of the new Protestants.

Then the Law of Unintended Consequences struck, as usual. Luther created hundreds of Protestant mini-Popes, competing with him to see who could be the most fanatical and intolerant. Of course, every one of them claimed to have uncovered the real meaning of the Bible. And only their version was the real deal.

Luther helped with that because he translated the Bible and opened it up to everyone. Well, now every single Bible reader could be his or her very own Pope, and interpret the scriptures any way they wanted. Which they proceeded to do.

A few years ago, the Lutheran church bankrolled an epic movie about Luther. It was mostly propaganda, but had one realistic moment: during the Catholic vs. Protestant wars, Luther walks thru a sacked and burning village filled with the corpses of men, women and children. The look on his face says: "WTF? l didn't mean for THIS to happen!"

The New World didn't turn out any better, since our sainted Puritan ancestors set up a terroristic theocracy almost the equal of ISIS. The religiously incorrect in Puritan Massachusetts could be jailed, fined, tortured and executed. e.g., if you had taken a stroll on Boston Common in the 17th century, you might have seen the bodies of Mary Dyer and other Quakers hanging from the public gallows.

/usualtediousrant