IT was on October 31, 1517 – 500 years ago this week – that Martin Luther so memorably nailed his 95 theses against the sale of ‘indulgences’ on the door of All Saints Church in Wittemburg, declaring, it is said: “Here I stand. I can do none other….”

The reality is that his theses were pretty academic stuff debating whether or not the church could sell ‘indulgences’ – pieces of paper which allegedly absolved you of your sins, sometimes even before you had committed them. It was a sort of religious ‘Get out of jail free card’.

The rest of Luther’s career and writings of course led to the Reformation, to the split in the church, the collapse in the power of Rome; eventually England’s split from Rome, and a host of other unforeseen consequences. It led to wars, bloodshed, martyrs. Yet at the time it was of such overwhelming theological importance that even if Luther had known of them, he would no doubt have carried on with it anyhow.

Was it really only 50 years ago that his namesake Martin Luther King equally famously described: “I have a dream…” which led, of course, to the racial equality we hold so dear today. But his speech, and his violent death, led to almost as much rioting, civil disobedience, international disturbances as had Martin Luther’s 95 theses. How glad we are, nonetheless, that Martin Luther King did it.

There are great moments in history when true visionaries nail their ideas to the metaphoric church door, tell the world of their ‘dreams’, no matter how remote or unlikely that dream may be. So having spoken up last week in favour of Nation states, and without deviating from that in any way, the memory of Luther does make one wonder whether the Catalonians, the Kurds and other visionaries around the world should at very least be deeply respected, even if we may not agree with the conclusions they come to.

Martin Luther’s vision led to bloodshed and troubles, the final ripples of which we feel today, for example, in the Northern Irish troubles which are directly attributable to the Reformation.

So how we wish that the Papacy in 1517, the American Government in the late 1960s, the Spanish and Iraqi Governments today, could realise the potential consequences of not listening to, not trying to accommodate, visionaries like the Presidents of Catalonia and Kurdistan.

We may disagree with them, we may seek a different end result to that which they are seeking. But the means by which we stop it may either help their cause or hinder it. The Spanish, and if they resort to violence the Baghdadis, are risking being the immovable objects which meet the unstoppable forces of visionary independents. If it is not handled properly, the Reformation and the sectarian troubles which followed it for 500 years, and the race riots which followed Martin Luther King’s death, may pale into insignificance by comparison.

The intransigence of the EU in our current Brexit negotiations are risking the very same thing – consequences of the process being greater than the actual matter in hand.