Today is St. Bartholomew's day, in case your are not familiar with it, you should realize that in 1572 a massacre of Hugenots (French Protestants) occurred in France on this day. Some Hugenots escaped the massacre and went to Belgium, Geneva and Holland to escape the resultant intolerance of their beliefs in France. I can count among my ancestors some who went to Holland. Today above all days we should reflect on religious intolerance, and the fact that because of this evil in the hearts of men (and some women too) some people even today must give up their homes and their nation, or their very lives simply and only because they believe differently.
We think that we have become more sophisticated in 2011 than we were in 1572, but are we? Think on Iraq, Iran, and all the religious bigotry of the 20th century, think on the Holocaust. What give anyone the right to cause harm to others on account of their personal and religious beliefs? Should not a democratic form of government have leaders who protect the minorities among us? Is that not the duty of a monarch? When I reflect on intolerance and bigotry, I wonder who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men, the shadow, or God? Surely if there is a God and he permits us to be intolerant, shall we not in the end pay and pay dearly, perhaps eternally, for the hatred, and bigotry which we harbor in our souls and our actions we commit based upon that intolerance.
I am working on a Thesaurus Liguae Graecae with the GLLP of the Estienne family who were Hugenots. Amazingly this large five volume work was published in the summer of 1572. It is the best Lexicon and Thesaurus of the Greek Language ever published. The Estiennes eventually were among those who went to Geneva.
And it is so hard to tolerate the intolerant! Amen and amen!
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