11-20-2015, 08:12 PM
(11-20-2015, 07:11 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: The Catholics and Protestants did fight each other, for a very long time. The Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) was one of the most destructive wars in Europe ever. But, in fairness, what started as a war of religion eventually became a war of the great powers on the continent at that time.
On a side note, one of my ancestors, Carl Gaston, was a French Huguenot who was shipped out of France to Scotland for being Protestant around 1680. Around the same time, another of my ancestors, the MacKenzies, were forced out of Scotland because they were Catholic (and also because they fought the British).
As Fred noted, the Northern Ireland conflict has been the most recent Protestant and Catholic conflict. But it was also colored by nationalism, which played just as much a part.
But, it is like this for all religions. Around the time attributed to be the lifetime of Jesus, Judaism was split into three major factions: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sadducees_pharisees_essenes.html). There were a multitude of lesser factions as well. Monty Python's "The Life of Brian" may have been far more accurate of life in those times than a lot of other movies, believe it or not. BTW- modern Judaism is the ancestor of the Pharisees. There are some indications that Jesus and the Apostles would have been related to the Essene tradition.
Buddhist sects in Japan fought each other for years. Hindu sects fought in India for years.
Sectarianism is nothing new. We don't hear about it becoming violent in the civilized world so much because most of the civilized world is secular and democratic
My ancestors were kicked out of Switzerland, and then Alsace, for being Anabaptist around the same time. Finally making their way to the Pennsylvania frontier in Somerset just in time for the French and Indian War.
