“The Peace of Westphalia, also known as the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, is the series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War and "officially" recognized the United Provinces and Swiss Confederation. The Spanish–Dutch treaty which ended the Eighty Years' War was signed on January 30, 1648. The treaty, (Peace of Westphalia) signed October 24 1648 comprehended (?) the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand III, the other German princes, France, and Sweden.”

http://www.hallencyclopedia.com/Peace_of_Westphalia

Essentially, this treaty symbolized the end of the total control of Catholicism in the Holy Roman Empire that centered in the numerous German states, but included many other fiefs, dukedoms and provinces of Europe. Europe became a “shared” region, religiously speaking. An individual could choose his or her religion if they could reach where it was practiced. However, this was made difficult by language differences and continued serfdom…in which a family was practically enslaved to the land holdings of the nobility. The slowness of the movement of news and information also worked against the religious liberation of serfdom.

The Peace of Westphalia was a ray of light of religious freedom, but was still not the enlightened state of Humanity that Jesus envisioned for us all.

The new paths to God were almost as intolerant and deadly as the old had been. But they did tend to cancel each other out in religious power struggles…until the new world of “Turtle Island” was discovered. Then the religious struggle of competing to build power through its adherents took place within the new nationalistic structures that emerged after the “Peace of Westphalia” in 1648. Generally speaking, the Protestants came with the British, Dutch and Germans. The Catholics with Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. Though all of this was mixed and with exceptions.

It did offer opportunities for individual and familial freedom, especially in the New World. Even more than the American Colonies, which were well known in Europe, a profound opportunity for total freedom of the people existed in the large “We the People Islands”, which, for the most part were unknown to Europe…and therefore less influenced and controlled by the forces of state power loosed upon the Earth.

This could change with time, as vessels from East Island, made there way back to the mainstream of Human endeavor and revealed what was happening in these secret islands.

Also, these islands were geologically unstable and could self destruct eventually.

How long did the People have to build their new world? How much time did they have, before the “old world” or the Earth erased their golden opportunity?

MacJon