Anne Widdicombe Ch4. History of Christianity

[modeller]

I wonder why Anne Widdicombe , a convert to Roman Catholicism , who deplores ( as she sees them ) anti Catholic Bonfire Night celebrations but ignores the millions all over the world who were tortured to death by the Catholic Inquisition.

[Clanad]

Although I'm certainly not a defender of Roman Catholicism, it'd be interesting to understand where you derive your statistics...

[modeller]

Go on to Google there are numerous links . For that matter the present series Christianity on Ch4 describes vividly the actions of the Spanish Inquisition in the new world . Surely you must know ( its in the public domain ) about the atrocities committed by the Inquisition. If you go onto the Vatican web site even they admit to the extremes of the Jesuits. The medieval period was a barbarous time and atrocities were committed in the name of Christianity , think of The Crusades but my point was that Anne Widdicombe whilst deploring the action of one side chose to ignore the far greater barbarity of her new found faith.

[Clanad]

Oh, hold on a minute... I never disputed the actuality of the Inquisition(s) (since there were many) or their outrages.I am not now or ever sought to dismiss the seriousness... I was just asking where your reference to "millions all over the world who were tortured to death by the Catholic Inquisition" came from, since many serious historians beleive the total for all the inquisitions (many overseen by the political state and Protestants) is somewhere between 3 to 6 thousand... (References on request). The number could be somewhat higher or lower since records supporting either view are frequently not in evidence. As an example: "... Secular historians given access to the Vatican�s archives in 1998 discovered that of the 44,674 individuals tried between 1540 and 1700, only 804 were recorded as being relictus culiae saeculari..." (Source:. The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (2003, by Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University and a self-professed Episcopalian)
For clarification, I'm not familiar with the TV program referenced since I live in the U.S.

[Theland1]

Numbers are immaterial - the scoundrels in the Vatican endorsed these outrages, and when the Vatican state was liberated in the 1800's. prisoners of the Catholic church were released never having done any thing but have thoughts opposed to the pope.

[naomi24]

The Inquisition is history, and as such, can't be changed, but the bonfire celebrations are on-going, so perhaps she feels that's something that can be changed.

[naomi24]

(Hello Theland, nice to see you).

[Theland1]

Bonfires and 5th Nov are as important to the Great Unnwashed as Xmas is - a celebration of booze, booze, and more booze. Dammit - religion spoils Xmas don't you know?

[Theland1]

If I was'nt married, I'd like to sleep with Anne, but we'd go straight to the cigarettes!

[Octavius]

It is a good question but perhaps one only Ann Widdicombe can answer�.?

Why not drop her a line?

http://www.annwiddecombemp.com/

[Booldawg]

Probably becuase she's speaking out against something that happens in todays society rather than apologising for something that she's not been directly involved in that happened 100s of years ago.

It about as relevant as people staging anti-muslim protests against 9/11, London Bombings etc in the year 2300.

[jake-the-peg]

I watched this program the other night and I think the thing I was struck by was how biased it seemed.

I think that was probably what modller was getting at too.

It seemed that great amounts of emphasis was given to Henry VIII's attrocities but very little time was given to Catholic ones or when they were they were just put down to mass hysteria from the mob. (As in the French case she mentioned - the St. Batholemew's day massacre).

I don't think she mentioned that the French King Henry IV declared Protestantism illegal and drove out the Hugenots with at least as much ferocity as Henry persecuted the Catholic Church.

She failed to mention entirely the Catholic Guy Fawkes Plot and the Jacobite rebellions on 1715 and 1745 because her main tenet was that one could be a Catholic and Loyal subject of the crown and these were all instances of Catholic sedition.

Even the Armada warrented only a passing reference.

I also rather got the impression that some of her intervews were edited to select the part of the interview that suited her and may have not entirely reflected the view of the interviewee

I was left with the distinct impression that she was weighing the evidence in a quite biased manner to present the story that she wanted to tell.

However I suspect she might argue that the other, traditional, story is well known and needed a counterweight in itself.

A shame because the oppression of Catholics in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth would have put her on much stronger ground had she chosen to concentrate on that

[modeller]

Anne Widdicombe in common with most politicians is an artist in what they leave out even when they appear to be sincere . She didn't attempt to deny the Bartholomew massacre in 1572 but neither did she mention the fact that the Pope was so overjoyed at the massacre he had hymns of praise sung in all the churches , he commissioned a painting showing the event in all its gory detail and it is hanging to this day in the Sistine Chapel and to ensure all his followers could join in his joy he had a special issue of coins showing his portrait on one side and an angel slaughtering the Huguentots on the other.

[123everton]

I thought Mussolini liberated the Vatican with the Lateran treaty of 1929.