Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World

I recently finished John Foxe's book on Martyrs. This is a very old book more recently updated in its language. John Foxe was a Protestant who died in 1587. He compiled this book from accounts of people who had witnessed the persecution of Protestants, particularly under Queen Mary. The book was very popular with English Puritans.

Unfortunately, after I read this book, I can understand the ill feeling that many Protestants now have towards Catholics. The book records martyr after martyr who simply disagreed that the bread and the wine of communion physically became Jesus' body and blood.

After a religious group slaughters another religious group because of their differing beliefs, it is somewhat understandable that there would be some ill feeling.

The obvious modern day equivalent of this is the current American (viewed as Christian by the Iraqis) campaign in Iraqi. You could also count the Israeli/Palastinian conflict in the same bucket.

There are two lessons to learn. One... slaughtering people based on a theological or philosophical disagreement does not result in people changing. Two... it only ever has negative consequences for the 'offending party' down the track.

So... an interesting book. Worth a read. Please be wary of it shaping your views on the current Catholic church because that would be wrong. A few hundred years of water has gone under the bridge.