Osama bin Luther ...

Hilaire Belloc, bellwether historian and prolific author of the early 20th century, observed that moderns often assume wrongly that actors who took part in what we know commonly as the Reformation knew what they were doing and what the outcomes would be. Did the German peasants who picked up cudgels and mattocks -- and who had family (read: tribal) allegiances -- know what would come of their violence? Did Elizabeth of England know that by keeping her throne by allowing Lord Cecil and the new millionaires their new wealth and power from the looting of Church property, the Mass would disappear from Mary's Dowry within fifty years?

No. None of the petty actors in this play could see the outcome of the Reformation. It was merely a time of vast social and psychological upheaval. This isn't to say that the "leaders" of it were not pleased by what was happening, but none could see what has happened to present-day Europe, and -- I hope -- none would be pleased by it.

Likewise, many hope today for a "reformation" of Islam led by "moderate Muslims." I fear they are not looking closely enough at the facts of our present-day turmoil. The "reformation of Islam" is taking place now. And the "Luther" of it is Osama bin Laden. We do not see this as the Islamic Reformation, because it does not meet our paradigm for what we expect from it in terms of results. Like the people of 15th-16th century Europe (and England, though that was a false dichotomy at the time), we do not understand the ramifications of what this Muslim "Luther" is doing. We see the same kind of violence taking place, and do not understand what it will do to the structures of sanity and civility we take so much for granted.

Pity. The Catholic Church salvaged what it could of Europe with the Council of Trent, the heroic work of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his Jesuits, and the martyrs like Saint Edmund Campion. Time and time only will tell what will happen as the outcome of this "Reformation".