Just war – when is war just? Does religion lead to violence and religious wars?
Here’s one example. I could list many right up to our day. In 1561, Catherine organized a seminar in Poissy, near Paris, at which Catholic and Protestant theologians met. In the edict issued in January 1562, Catherine granted Protestants freedom to assemble for worship outside of cities. Catholics were incensed! This set the stage for what occurred two months later—the massacre of Protestants at the barn in the village of Vassy, as described earlier. The First Three Wars The slaughter at Vassy touched off the first in a series of eight religious wars that submerged France into a horror of mutual killing from 1562 until the mid-1590’s. Although political and social issues were also involved, the bloodbath was primarily motivated by religion. After the Battle of Dreux in December 1562, which claimed 6,000 lives, that first war of religion drew to a close. The Peace of Amboise, signed in March 1563, granted Huguenot nobles limited freedom to worship in certain places. “The second war was
