Rise Above Childish Ideas

On August 23, 1572, French Catholics attacked communities of French Protestants. Both of these groups accepted Christ’s divinity and His gospel of compassion and love; however, they disagreed about the nature of this love. Protestants believed God’s love for humans was so great that He incarnated, was tortured, and, by doing so, enabled them to go to heaven. Catholics also believed that. But added that you also have to participate in church rituals and do good deeds to go to heaven.

This event later became known as the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Between 5,000 to 10,000 Protestants were slaughtered in less than 24 hours. When the Pope (the leader of the Catholics) heard the news, he organized festive prayers to celebrate the occasion and ordered a painting of the massacre inside one of the Vatican rooms, which is now closed to the public. One might wonder why.

How absurd and atrocious is this? People who believe in a God of love and compassion and kill others who disagree with them, all in the name of that same God? What? What’s even worse, we still have conflicts and wars because of this. Humans have always prosecuted others because they had different mental images or conceptions of God.