You are definitely right that both sides were guilty of horrors in the name of the same Bible.
My point should've been narrowed on the subject of the RCC not allowing English translations of the Bible in a time where most of the general populace did not understand Latin.
Ignorance of what was actually in the Bible was a source of power for the RCC. One had to rely on the Priests to protect one's soul - important in a time when life was generally hell to live through.
My point should've been narrowed on the subject of the RCC not allowing English translations of the Bible in a time where most of the general populace did not understand Latin. As Sir Thomas More notes in his Dialogue Concerning Heresies, pre-Tyndale translations of the Bible were certainly permitted. Considering literacy levels of the time, such translations were largely redundant, since the literate classes could already understand Latin. Most of the general populace couldn't understand written English.