Some of those drawn into the holy war had been secular nationalists only a few years before. If one looks at the biographies of these people, remarkable continuities are revealed.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Many militants of the secular cause look astonishingly like clergy. Worse: like caricatures of clergy.
At the end of the 30 Years War then, Europe broadly decided to separate the sacred from the secular in its political culture. I know that is an oversimplification, but it is instructive, and it led to a growth in religious tolerance that has characterized the best of Western life since.
Pious XII was too neutral to mention the gas chambers; decent people like my own family were turned into devils by crude Christianity.
The road to the sacred leads through the secular.
The stability and peace which seemed to be so firmly established by the brilliant monarchy of Francis I vanished with the terrible outbreak of the Wars of Religion.
Strong religious identities survive and thrive. But more than ever before, even in their most conservative iterations, they are chosen.
One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown.
All the religious wars that have caused blood to be shed for centuries arise from passionate feelings and facile counter-positions, such as Us and Them, good and bad, white and black.
Every religious pioneer, including Jesus Christ, was persecuted by his contemporaries. But once people understand me, their turn can be dramatic like Saint Paul's.
I don't see any holy wars being fought in the name of Satan.
No opposing quotes found.