Hitting Google today I note small Jewish settlements beginning in 1654 - pretty much makes them part of the fabric and maybe why we called it "Judeo-Christian" when I was growing up.
Also when growing up I had Catholic friends whose grandparents sniffed a bit at my De Molay membership but never ragged on me for it.
Living in small towns and again in the military I knew I could find good conversation among ministers, rabbis, and brothers from most any sect in country.
So much for the past.
Today it seems that the left pines for the same religious strife that so many people left 300 - 350 years ago, the same newly legitimized strife that the news presents us from Indonesia, Iraq/Iran/Sudan/'Palestine' and dozens of other poster places for 'diversity'.
If there is a war to be fought, it's a war for the inclusion of differences and assimilation of the best of each group.
It's pretty easy to see where the opposition is and it is absolutely clear that they are in the minority - these senseless attacks on long accepted symbols are only a means of dividing the majority into fragments.
PS: I go to church for weddings and funerals but this is getting personal anyway!
Howarth suggests/implies that De Molay et al regretted Beziers and all the destruction upon southern France and Aragon. They certainly didn't see the same thing happen to them later by Philip.
O'Shea and Weiss painted a picture of relative harmony in the regions controlled by the Cathars and the Templars. There was secular republicanism. Jewish and oriental thought flourished. They all made a fortune economically, which is probably the true reason for the invasions and the double-cross.
Isn't that always the case for such dark adventures: Greed, jealousy, and power. Thankfully, out of the ashes of Beziers and the double-cross rose the Phoenix of the United States, which ironically is the greatest contributor to Catholic wealth. What goes round goes round and round and round and...
Aubrey
It is a leftist belief that for a communist revolution to happen in developed countries, first the old order has to be destroyed. That is why the left pushes for things that inevitably lead to chaos. If people have a tolerant, live-and-let-live attitude toward religion, that does not help the "revolution." So you get everybody condtioned to be offended at everyone else untl people do not feel like they have citizenship in common. Then when people start fighting and blowing up things, in march the neo-communists who will offer "peace" by banning all religion or by making up a pseudo-religion that everyone must belong to.