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by F_J_H 1858 days ago
How is Catholics & Protestants killing each other for hundreds of years in Europe related to easy access to the vernacular English Bible?
1 comments

The Bible was originally in Greek/Latin which only the Clergy were trained in, not the language of the people (Vernacular). Democratizing access was a direct result of the printing press and was a very contentious part of the protestant reformation [1]. I wouldn't have specified "english" vernacular, but England, like the rest of Europe, has a very bloody history [2] here see "bloody" Mary and Henry VIII. Until eventually King James approved of what is known as the Kings James bible.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Bible 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English_Bible_tra...

People were dividing into groups and killing each other long before the 1600s. Graphs of killings dropping: https://media.gatesnotes.com/-/media/Images/Articles/About-B... (from pinker and gates notes)

Also having some familiarity with the conflicts in Ireland it was never much about varieties of Christianity - it was about the English colonising Ireland and pushing the native Irish around as second class citizens - see the potato famine and the like. Catholic vs Protestant was just a way to identify the two sides.

Henry VIII and Bloody Mary were 1500's. Not sure what point you are trying to make but that graphic is for homicide which is very different than deaths from state genocide and war.

The Irish oppression started in large part because of the Irish were Catholics & Henry VIII was excommunicated by the pope. The potato famine was in the 1840's which is over 300 years into the conflict, ignoring the role religion played over that time is missing a massive historical context.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromwellian_conquest_of_Irelan... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_in_Ireland