After four seasons, a cadre of great actors, and quite a bit of dramatic license, the Showtime series “The Tudors” has now ended. Although the story of Henry the VIII makes for prime dramatic fodder, I do hope no one will think all the juicy bits of history ended with his passing. The power struggle after his passing was a series of events that would put any missing ballots to shame and the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth the I, has been the subject of numerous TV programs, books, film and even video games. Probably the most current well-known telling of Elizabeth’s story are the two films directed by Shekhar Kapur: “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: the Golden Age.”
As with many things that retell history, these pieces were not without controversy. One point of contention was the portrayal of the Catholic Church using ruthless tactics in an attempt to overthrow Elizabeth’s rein and portrayed her polices on Catholicism as being very moderate. Kapur has defended both movies saying that, although many policies during that time could be seen as punitive to Catholics, she routinely rejected calls from her advisors and parliament to wipe out all adherents to the “old religion” and make no concession for them. Although I’m sure people who’s knowledge of the subject comes from actual history and not from film could argue both sides of the issue until they are blue in the face, it did cause me to think about the subject of religious tolerance and what it means in this day and age.
Those of us here in the US are largely tolerant of beliefs different from our own and often point out that such tolerance is mandated by our constitution. I would go one step further and say that our religious freedom makes it so we often cannot fully appreciate how there are other places in the world where what you believe can get you into serious trouble. That being said, I don’t think any person can (and should be) completely tolerant to different beliefs. After all, many people try to use religion to justify their actions that would, otherwise, be completely unacceptable. The most obvious example of this is the tragedy of 9/11 that was carried out by Muslims believing it was ok to commit such acts because of their interpretation of the Koran. Another example is the persecution of Protestants in England in the 16th century by Mary Tudor (Elizabeth’s predecessor) as part of her attempt to restore England to a Catholic country.
Furthermore, even though religious tolerance is something that is part of our laws that does not mean that individual people treat you with the same tolerance the laws of our land would. An example of this was the well-publicized story of Jeremy Hall, a soldier serving overseas in Iraq, who encountered hostility from other soldiers for his Atheist beliefs. Although Israel is supposed to be a country for all Jewish people, stories have come to light of Ultra-Orthodox Jews vandalizing stores for selling items that don’t meet with their standards of modesty and attacking people who they feel are conducting themselves inappropriately. The 2006 case of Abdul Rahman brought to light that, even after the Taliban government was overthrown in Afghanistan, conversion to another religion from Islam remains a capitol offense in that country.
Getting back to the story of Elizabeth, in the beginning of “The Golden Age,” she is counseled by her advisors to regard every Catholic in England as a potential assassin given the Pope action against her and the attempts of other nations to raise Mary Stewart (a Catholic) to the throne. She disregards this advice saying that she will not punish her people because of their beliefs, only for their deeds.
You probably have your own ideas about God or a higher power and it is no my attempt to sway you one way or the other. However, my question to you is how do you act out those beliefs? Do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should help those in the world who face difficulty, treat other people with respect, and show that love by being the best people we can be?” On the other hand, do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should harass people who don’t share our beliefs, destroy that we believe are not acceptable, or make having a different belief illegal?” The former sounds like a better idea than the latter to me and, as Elizabeth pointed out, it’s what our faith moves us to do that makes a difference.