It’s 1521. Martin Luther is at the Diet of Worms. In the face of all of the legal, political, and military might of the Holy Roman Empire, and the intellectual power of the Catholic Church, Luther stands on his conscience, and refuses to recant. Can you imagine the courage that would require? It boggles the mind.
As the German peasants will soon learn, to their cost, Luther is no liberal. Liberalism as we know it, however, could hardly exist without this moment.
Move forward to 1535. Sir Thomas More is on trial for his life for allegedly denying that Henry VIII is the head of the English church. Unlike Luther, More is no hick from the sticks, but one of the finest lawyers in the land; and yet, his task had to be terrifying. After being convicted–possibly on the basis of perjured testimony, but we will never know–More lets loose, and argues forcefully that he has a thousand years of history and tradition on his side, while his opponents have nothing of equal weight to balance the scales.
More is often portrayed as a prisoner of conscience, but that’s misleading, as he explicitly rejected the primacy of the individual conscience; he actually was a conservative, and died for his conservative views during a time of revolution.
The legacy of these two cases and men continues today. More is the clear inspiration for William Barr and Brett Kavanaugh and the CD faction of the Republican Party. Luther’s influence can be found throughout our political system, in the CL faction of the GOP, and in the Democratic Party. They will continue to do battle for the foreseeable future.
Happy Easter!