Convert, leave, or die.
That’s the trio of awful options ISIS is giving to Christians in Iraq.
Sadly, there’s an all-too-familiar ring to this ultimatum.
These were the exact options given to all Catholic clergy in Ireland when England instituted the penal laws against Catholics several hundred years ago.
When William of Orange defeated his father-in-law, the deposed King James II, along with his Irish Catholic allies at the Boyne in 1690, Parliament was determined that an Irish Catholic uprising never threaten their rule again, and so they passed penal laws, or “papist codes.”
As author Thomas Keneally put it, these codes were “aimed at keeping the native Irish powerless, poor, and stupid.”
The details of these laws should still shock us.
All Catholic bishops, and religious clergy ( friars, etc), had to leave the country or face death.
Any bishops coming from foreign countries were to be killed.
All remaining Catholic priests were to sign an oath that was abominable to their conscience, or be killed.
Catholic priests caught “perverting” a Protestant (i.e. receiving them into the Church, or marrying them to a Catholic) were to be killed.
Ordinary Catholics could not have schools, could not teach in schools, and could not be the guardian of a child.
They could not travel abroad to attend schools. They could not own a horse worth more than five pounds. They could not accept substantial gifts from Protestants.
Catholics could not live within five miles of incorporated towns. (This law applied to 80 percent of the island’s population.)
Any decent Catholic church building was confiscated and given to the official “Church of Ireland.”
Catholics were to be whipped if they refused to work on Catholic holidays or visited holy sites. Continue reading
Source
- Michael Brendan Dougherty in The Week
Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com.
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