Monday, July 25, 2016

The Reformation offers a good lesson for Brexit

From The Telegraph-

One month on from the Brexit vote, and we’re doing fine. The fundamentals are unchanged: a strong economy, a cohesive society and, lest we forget, we haven’t actually left the EU yet. Despite this, some people still talk as though Britain detached itself from the Continent and sank into the ocean. They need to relax – open a beer and enjoy the sunshine. History suggests that ruptures in geopolitics can be the start of something beautiful.

Take the 16th-century Reformation. As a Catholic, I am duty-bound to say that Henry VIII’s divorce and the subsequent establishment of the Anglican Church was a disaster. The enormity of its changes – the abolition of the monasteries, sectarian conflict – dwarfs Brexit, implying that leaving the EU just isn’t the big deal that Remainers insist.

But the Reformation does have two characteristics that hold out hope for a brighter future in 2016: continuity and the unleashing of the English imagination.


More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/24/the-reformation-offers-a-good-lesson-for-brexit/

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