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G:Like I said earlier, Luther’s Roman Catholics roots were showing.
And he certainly didn’t persecute Jews, like the Papists of his day did.

Luther posted his complaints in public; changed the Bible to accommodate his views on Purgatory; threw out dogmas and Sacraments; married a nun; began his own church bearing his name: I'd say the man was definitely an independent thinker.
If your statement about his Catholic roots holds true, then would it not follow that our fellow FReepers who are former Catholics would still maintain their Catholic roots as well? I don't think that argument really works. We are all a product of our past, but it is unreasonable to credit the man for his virtues and blame the Church for his flaws.

Whatever Luther was, in all honesty, I never realized how he felt about the Jewish people.

Luther on Jews

At the beginning of his career, Martin Luther was apparently sympathetic to Jewish resistance to the Catholic Church. However, he expected the Jews to convert to his purified Christianity; when they did not, he turned violently against them.

Luther used violent and vulgar language throughout his career. While we do not expect religious figures to use this sort of language in the modern world, but it was not uncommon in the early 16th century.

The following are excerpts from Luther's work entitled "The Jews & their Lies":

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians

Take away their freedom of worship?

Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies.

Destroy their homes? There are 7 items in this series, to be found on the link above.

Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did in the wilderness, slaying three thousand lest the whole people perish. They surely do not know what they are doing; moreover, as people possessed, they do not wish to know it, hear it, or learn it. There it would be wrong to be merciful and confirm them in their conduct. If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs, so that we do not become partakers of their abominable blasphemy and all their other vices and thus merit God's wrath and be damned with them. I have done my duty. Now let everyone see to his. I am exonerated.

I'll read the bulls, and dust off my encyclicals, as I know the latter will better reflect the Church's current position.
I don't agree with Luther and what he did in his life. I can't see into his conscience; but I felt that, however misguided, he was trying to do the right thing. Whatever belief system a person subscribes to, however, his promulgation of this and other horrible things he encouraged others to do is intrinsically wrong- especially when done in the name of Christianity. I gave Luther more credit than that.

I'm sorry, but I am pro-Israel, pro-Semitic and I believe that the Jews are the Chosen People of God, from whom came Jesus, through His descent from the line of Judah, soon of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. They did not kill Christ: mankind in his sins did. They have not yet found their Messiah, and so, together, we wait: the Jews for His first coming, and we for His second. God bless them and keep them free from their enemies.