Sound familiar???

In preparation for my church history class on Wednesday, I'm reading a passage from John Jewel's An Apology for the Church of England, written during the English Reformation to defend the Church of England against the charges of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.

As I read this passage where Jewel defends the Church of England by comparing the Roman Catholic Church's accusations against the Church of England to the erroneous statements about the early Christians by the larger pagan community -- both based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what the community (either the Church of England, in Jewel's case, or the early Christians, in his historical example) was really about, due to lack of knowledge and understanding and interactions with the stated "opponents" -- I couldn't help but think about the situation of Muslims in America today, who are often accused of many things, erroneously, by those who simply do not understand their faith and practice but criticize from afar.

If you're familiar with this modern phenomenon, does any of this sound familiar?

18. And, whereas they pretend we have departed from the unity of the catholic church; this is not only odious, but though it is not true, yet it hath an appearance and similitude of truth in it. But, then, not only those things which are true and certain find belief with the ignorant multitude, but those things also which may seem probable; and so we shall ever observe that crafty and cunning men who had not the truth on their sides, have ever maintained their cause with the resemblance of truth; that those who could not dive into the bottom of things, might be taken at least with the show and probability of their arguments. Because the primitive Christians, our forefathers, when they prayed to God, turned their faces towards the rising sun, there were some that said they worshipped the sun, and that it was their god. And because they said, that, as to their eternal and immortal life, they lived on nothing but the flesh and blood of the Lamb without spot, meaning thereby our Saviour Jesus Christ, envious men, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose only business it was to render the Christian religion by any means hateful, did thereupon persuade the people, that the Christians were impious men, that they offered human sacrifices, and drank man's blood. And when the Christians said, With God there is neither male nor female, that is, that, as to the obtaining of justification, there is no distinction of persons; and did salute one another commonly by the names of brother and sister; there were not wanting some who slandered the Christians thereupon, and said, they made no distinctions amongst them of sex or age, but acted like beasts. And when they met frequently in vaults and secret places, to pray and hear the gospel, which sort of private places and meetings had sometimes been made use of by conspirators against the government; there was thereupon a rumour spread abroad, that they conspired together, and had secret consultations about murdering the magistrates, and subverting the government. And because in celebrating the holy communion they made use of bread and wine, according to the institution of Christ, they were thought by many not to worship Christ, but Bacchus and Ceres; because those heathen deities were worshipped by the pagans with a like rite, with bread and wine. These things were then believed by many, not because they were true, for what could possibly be less so? but because they had a kind of resemblance of truth, and by that show of truth were fitted to deceive them.