Religious Tolerance
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If current trends continue, the only churchgoer in thirty years time will be Sir Cliff Richard, assuming he’s still alive! But we haven’t always been so apathetic and, as we like to think as tolerant as we are today.
Take the gunpowder plot of 1605, despite what many think this wasn’t just a handy excuse to let off a few fireworks and scare the neighbour’s cat, it actually came about because England was staunchly Protestant and anti-Catholic. A small band of Catholic extremists planned to change all this by blowing up the Houses of Parliament with the King, the Lords and the Commons still in them. As we all know, it went badly for Guy Fawkes and co. Not only did the conspirators get hanged, drawn and quartered, but the resulting backlash led to anti-Catholic laws that meant they were worse off than before. In fact, Catholics wouldn’t get equal rights for more than two hundred years and the traditional English sport of Catholic bashing didn’t stop there. James I followed up Elizabeth’s attempts to settle as many Protestants in Ulster as possible to cement the British hold over Ireland. This was done by taking the land away from indigenous Catholic Irish and giving it to British nobles and wealthy corporations. The resentment this caused led to a long uprising which was finally brutally put down by Oliver Cromwell in 1653. Only with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 does a permanent settlement to this struggle seem achievable.
Today we enjoy religious tolerance, but this wasn’t always the case. It was hard won over many years and much of our history occurs in a context of bitter religious conflict.
Take the gunpowder plot of 1605, despite what many think this wasn’t just a handy excuse to let off a few fireworks and scare the neighbour’s cat, it actually came about because England was staunchly Protestant and anti-Catholic. A small band of Catholic extremists planned to change all this by blowing up the Houses of Parliament with the King, the Lords and the Commons still in them. As we all know, it went badly for Guy Fawkes and co. Not only did the conspirators get hanged, drawn and quartered, but the resulting backlash led to anti-Catholic laws that meant they were worse off than before. In fact, Catholics wouldn’t get equal rights for more than two hundred years and the traditional English sport of Catholic bashing didn’t stop there. James I followed up Elizabeth’s attempts to settle as many Protestants in Ulster as possible to cement the British hold over Ireland. This was done by taking the land away from indigenous Catholic Irish and giving it to British nobles and wealthy corporations. The resentment this caused led to a long uprising which was finally brutally put down by Oliver Cromwell in 1653. Only with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 does a permanent settlement to this struggle seem achievable.
Today we enjoy religious tolerance, but this wasn’t always the case. It was hard won over many years and much of our history occurs in a context of bitter religious conflict.
From the History Channel podcast 'Things that make us British?'
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