[HarleyD]

History ping...

[Tainan]

I am reminded of the very old quote:
"No one has killed more Frenchmen than the French themselves."...I do not know who originally said this, but I remember my Father quoting it in the mid-50s when I was a young spud. And I think it was very old then.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Half the settlers of Nieuw-Amsterdam were Huguenots. My last name traces to a Huguenot settler in Nieuw-Amsterdam recorded in the 1664 Dutch census, living in Brunswick, part of what is now Brooklyn and owning a goat. By 1695 he was Dutch Reform minister in Staten Island.

My father's middle name was Bartholomew and my grandfather was anti-Catholic, although he married an Irish girl, he forbad the family from entering a Catholic church. This may have been in part shaped by the experiences of his grandfather who commanded a Police precinct in New York during the July, 1863 draft riots, mainly fueled by Irish immigrants.

[SES1066]

Yes and this massacre (1572) was by no means the end of it - the War for Netherlands's Independence (1568-1648) had severe religious roots and was ongoing right at this time. A generation later came the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in the German Nations and through Central Europe that probably had some of the worst killings in their mutual Savior's name.

Throughout history, ruthless and or desperate people have seized upon 'otherness' to rally towards desired goals. The deeper the emotion, the more force it generates and for that religion is hard to beat!

This is what our FOUNDERS were thinking when they penned the FIRST AMENDMENT clause for FREEDOM OF RELIGION! They saw the history of the state-mandated religion and these abuses and made it clear that our government would have no such thing for our country. It is the recent generations of illiberal de-constructists who have turned it into "Freedom from Religion"!

[Vermont Lt]

Funny, you never hear very many Gaspards in the roll calls at kindergarten these days

[PapaBear3625]

Makes me wonder what happens when the French get truly fed up with their Muslim immigrants.