Reddit reviews Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History

>After all, this hierarchy had exploited the poor horrendously by the massive sale of indulgences, and he bishops were living lives of excessive luxury. Anyone who spoke out against it was subjugated, either burned at the stake or forced to repent. And the abuse continued on. The very best that we Catholics can do is say "well, yeah bad stuff happened but the teachings of the Church didn't change!" and stick our fingers in our ears.

You got memed on.

https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-False-Witness-Debunking-Anti-Catholic/dp/1599474999/

https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-False-Witness-Debunking-Anti-Catholic/dp/1599474999


Granted it's not just about the Spanish Inquisition, but it is very relevant to this thread.

>How can I proceed?

It sounds like you've started attending Mass again, but I'm not sure if you've developed a regular practice. You'll need to make a confession before you receive the Eucharist again, but going to Mass will still give you great graces even if you can't receive.

Increase your devotional life through the rosary, or adoration, or lectio divina, or some other devotion that attracts you.

You mentioned Elizabeth's persecution of Catholics and your past involvement with anti-Catholic groups, so I thought I'd mention Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History as a reading suggestion.

It all comes back to the empire that conquered the world: Britain.

Let's take a look at the foreign relations of early modern Britain. So, they're subjugating the Catholic Irish, they've always hated the Catholic French, and their biggest rivals for naval dominance were the uber Catholic Spanish.

Add that on top of the fact that Protestantism naturally defines itself as a rejection of Catholicism, and it's not hard to see why the English speaking world is so rife with anticatholic sentiment.

If you're interested in learning more, check out this book: Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599474999/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oQNtDbBHXQX0Z

The "history" can be studied (see Bearing False Witness) but one of the things to consider is that the colonial areas under Catholic control did better for the natives than the ones not - see, for example, the Jesuit reductions.

Recently, this is the only other book that blew my mind. I am a huge reader lol.
It is written by an agnostic/Protestant historian. Basically turns everything one learns about history on its head with historically proven facts. It kind of pissed me off, because why aren't we taught the true way of things?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1599474999/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_17?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WXM65MS202YNP154XN18

The book you want to read on this topic is Rodney Stark, Bearing false Witness

Basically protestants from Holland and England and later enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire and Gibbon were anti-catholic and this influenced the main historical narrative on things like slavery and the Spanish inquisition. Historians have been increasingly aware of this but generally haven't been very keen on pointing this out to a general audience.

All of their "atrocities"? What atrocities do you speak of? The debunked Dark Ages, Spanish Inquisition, or Crusades? Please read this book and come back to me on what atrocities you speak of.

Systematically hurting defenseless people? Have you read the Catechism? Nowhere in the Catechism does it say or mandate to hurt defenseless people, on the contrary, it teaches to defend the helpless and defenseless, like the elderly and the unborn. Anyone who calls themselves a Catholic and hurts a defenseless person is not following the Law of Christ.