Setting up a protective wall around one’s beliefs by treating any and all disagreement as “anti-” when in fact it is most often pro-Biblical, is not a very constructive approach, in my opinion.
Are there individuals in the world who detest all things Roman Catholic merely because they’re Roman Catholic? Certainly. We’ve seen it in Ireland in more recent times, and in others going back through the centuries. Are there actually FReepers posting to this forum, who are? Possibly a few, but it’s a long, long way from predominating.
Speaking for myself, I don’t hate Catholics. I have many for friends and business associates, and a few who married into the family.
Do I hate the Roman Catholic Church? No to that as well, although she has seriously erred in recent times, just as surely as she did leading up to the Reformation, the resulting disunity of which would have been entirely unnecessary had it not been for arrogant dismissal, followed by, yes, setting up a protective wall by treating any and all disagreement as “anti-” when in fact it is most often pro-Biblical.
I’ve known Catholics who quietly and privately admit gratitude for the Reformation. We’ve done you good, and continue to do so, via honest and sound, Biblically based constructive criticism.
I do not hate the Reformation either. In some ways it accelerated changes already afoot. By far, the vast of Protestants I know are very fine, Christian people. I do thing the anonymity of the internet brings out the worst in some.
I do not begrudge Protestants worshiping differently than I do or even discussing those differences. What I cannot tolerate are those who, with no training or education, make false claims and assertions about what the Catholics do and do not believe and then argue when they are corrected by Catholics.
Both sides used politicians to defend their causes. Both Zwingli and Calvin exercised political power. Luther would not have survived except it was expedient for his sovereign—the Elector—to protect him. Germany divided into pro-and anti-Luther in order to keep the Emperor Charles from uniting the country under his rule. Religious questions were confused with political causes and with the Religious Wars in France, a century of slaughter began, to the final disgrace of both parties.