Who Won the Reformation?
by Ross Douthat, Nov 1, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/opinion/protestant-reformation.html?comments&_r=0#permid=24674932
I generally try to stay away when Douthat writes one of his "religion" columns, but this heading intrigued me.
Working my way through all the gobbledygook of this column, the statement that takes the prize for "The Rediculous" is:
"But it [a unified Catholic Church] might have served as a stronger moral check on the new powers, a stronger countervailing force against greed and secular absolutism, than the divided churches that Europe had instead."
The Church, either in the time of Luther or now, is anything but a "moral check", but was and is morally bankrupt -- I have great respect for most individuals who profess the Christian faith of any denomination, but The Church is morally bankrupt (which includes the "religious right" - mostly Protestant - supporting the crazy person in the White House).
Even today the Church hides its culpability for eons of child molestation, even having various Diocese declare bankruptcy rather than acknowledging their culpability. And the graveyards still being discovered (e.g. In Ireland) with the bodies of babies born to unwed mothers is just abhorrent - I guess for these Catholics killing babies after they are born is better than abortion -- how do you like that for "the sanctity of life"???
Any large power structure, such as "The Church", will always find rationalizations to justify their terrible deeds, out of greed for money or greed for power.
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