[George W. Bush]

Oh that France could recreate one of its great moments from history-Saint Batholomew's Day.

Massacring Protestants would probably not solve the Muslim problem. And France's Catholics are largely old women. Beyond that, it could be argued that it was the bloodthirstiness of France's Catholics toward the Huguenots which has led to the present apostasy of France and its imminent conquest by the pagan Muslims.

But let's revisit the aftermath of the cold-blooded massacre of these 100,000 Protestant martyrs that you seem to so admire. What was the aftermath?

Contemporary accounts report bodies in the rivers for months afterwards, so that no one would eat fish. Pope Gregory XIII's reaction was jubilant: all the bells of Rome pealed for a public day of thanksgiving, the guns of the Castel Sant'Angelo sounded a joyous salute, a special commemorative medal was struck to honour the occasion, and Gregory commissioned Giorgio Vasari to paint a mural depicting the Massacre, which is in the Vatican. In Paris, the poet Jean-Antoine de Baïf, founder of the Academie de Musique et de Poésie, wrote a sonnet extravagantly praising the killings.

The savage bloodlust of Rome against the martyrs of France is being repaid. It was through many incidents like this that the authority of the Roman establishment was overthrown and the entire reputation of Christianity in Europe so damaged by Rome that the populace turned to atheism or paganism.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Bump to an important, accurate and far-ranging post by GWB.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

One wonders what modern Europe would have been like if the French Protestant Huguenots had not been slaughtered and thus, erased from the face of France.

France might have grown more like the English and Dutch, and less like the Spanish.

[robowombat]

I was thinking of a St Bart's Day for another confessional group. Western man needs to recover some of the ferocity with which he used to handle disputes. The Islamos have it in spades.