Quote Originally Posted by Don Corleone View Post
This isn't an English/Irish phenomenon, though I'm sure there's an aspect of that there.

Quite frankly, it's not really about England itself very much at all anymore. By all appearances, the English people themselves have 'moved on', and are quite open and tolerant of differing viewpoints. Nobody called for Tony's head on the Tower gate when he converted after leaving office.

What I find interesting however is that everywhere the English went and instilled a sense of "us-versus-them" antithesim (is that a word), it's more or less alive and well. Nowhere is that more true than in the good ole US of A, with our friends down at Bob Jones University.

But you see it in Ulster, in Scotland, in Canada and in Australia too. It's my belief that the original hatred dates back to ole Henry VIII, who understanding what shaky ground he was on by breaking from the bishopric of Peter, had to demonize those he left, without really ever 'leaving'. Let's face it, theologically and dogmatically, the Church of England has a lot more in common with the Church of Rome than it does with say the Lutherans or the Presbytarians. Somewhere down the road, this propaganda against the Roman church got infused into the National character. I'm sure Guy Fawkes and the wars with France, a predominately Catholic nation (at least at the time) helped.
Wasn't it the Scots who were particularly evangelical and fundamentalist about their beliefs? Philippvs might know more about the details of the history of Christianity in Britain, but that's the impression I got.