"Hence, Christ never said to His Apostles, "Go and write Bibles and distribute them, and let everyone judge for himself." That injunction was reserved for the Sixteenth Century, and we have seen the result of it. Ever since the Sixteenth Century there have been springing up religion upon religion, and churches upon churches, all fighting and quarreling with one another."
That's not an accurate statement of history. I challenge you to find instructions of any Protestant Reformer from the 16th and even 17th Centuries, which called for a free-for-all of individualistic interpretations. The Protestant creeds developed at the time (and there are actually very few...and they all agree on 90%+ of doctrines) show that Protestant leaders were trying to call for consistent, communal (not individualistic) interpretation--written and agreed upon by the leading Christian scholars of the day.
The Reformation period only saw 3 bodies... (Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican) (based as much on geography as belief) with a 4th, catch-all category of "Anabaptists", or "Radicals", which the main Reformers (Luther, Calvin, et als) regarded as fanatics. Historians agree that 90%+ of the Protestants in the 16th and 17th Centuries belonged to those 3 main groups--not exactly evidence of a free-for-all of interpretations.
Of course in Spain, France, Italy and other parts of Europe Protestant ideas were heavily suppressed...at the behest of Rome, through the power of the state. And in the Eastern churches too--it was always considered normal and necessary to suppress heresy using government sanction. That same sort of repression...in a much milder way, still exists in traditional Orthodox countries.
It took the religious freedom of America (spreading to other places, and back to Europe, too)(along with the freedom of the press...to print bibles) to really allow for the spawning of the multitudes of denominations we see today.
So in order to stem the tide of denominational splits, all good Roman Catholics have to do is reinstate the Inquisition, then we can have back the good-old days of medieval Roman Catholic hegemony.
Show me countries where 90%+ are Christians of one denomination and I'll show you countries where freedom of religion, and of the press, and of expression, are either currently compromised, or, are relatively new phenomena.
"Show me countries where 90%+ are Christians of one denomination and I'll show you countries where freedom of religion, and of the press, and of expression, are either currently compromised, or, are relatively new phenomena."
I suspect as a general proposition you're probably right if you want to call the past 100 years or so "relatively new".