Reformation limited church's power
Re: Taking On The Reformation, Dec. 29.
David Warren appears to suggest that the Protestant Reformation was a negative happening and left us with myths that are confused with the truth. The truth is the Reformation saved us from the chokehold the Catholic Church had on our secular life and, with its imperial power, telling countries what they could or could not do with their affairs. So, I say thank God for Martin Luther, a most courageous man, and for the Protestant Reformation. These developments, among other changes, helped to address the corruption in the Catholic Church and limit its imperial power. Warren seems to ignore this corruption while hitting on the polity for this very thing. To exonerate the church from corruption boggles the mind.
I would suggest Warren would benefit his readers if he considered separating the church from the religion it delivers to us. Therein is the real issue. The church is, indeed, corrupt. The Catholic religion based on Christ's message is free standing. It is the church that has dogmatized it and moved us away from its essence.
Look at the church's history and that of the Vatican. How did it manage the recent sexual abuse pandemic? Using a cloak of secrecy for years and providing a safe haven for its clergy to prey on and sexually abuse young boys while saving its institutional image, is only one of the manifestations of corruption in it.
To leave his readers with the distorted message that the Protestant Reformation has left us with "myths" that are wrong and Mother Church unfairly labelled as corrupt needs to be challenged. The sexual abuse pandemic and the Church's response to it woke me up from my "blind faith slumber." At least now I can enjoy the benefits of secularism without worrying about the wailing of the Vatican about all the unholy effects of secularism on my life.
J. Ormond Stanton
Gananoque
, PhD
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