A Column of Fire (Kingsbridge, #3)

by Ken Follett

Ebrima wished the Protestants would go quiet, too, but they seemed to have become more confident, not to say arrogant. They demanded tolerance, and the right to worship as they wished, but they were never satisfied with that, he thought with exasperation. They believed their rivals were not just mistaken but evil. Catholic practices—the ways in which Europeans had worshipped for hundreds of years—were blasphemous, they said, and must be abolished. They did not practice the tolerance they preached.

They discussed a rumor that Queen Elizabeth might standardize a mile at 5,280 feet instead of 5,000.

He was what the English called a “politician”—in French un politique—meaning that he made decisions about religion according to what he thought would be good for his country, rather than the other way around.

But Margery at forty-five no longer believed that Protestantism was evil and Catholicism perfect. For her the important divide was between tyranny and tolerance; between people who tried to force their views on everyone else, and people who respected the faith of those who disagreed with them. Rollo and Bart belonged to the authoritarian group she despised. Ned was one of the rare people who believed in religious freedom. She would trust him.