Francis Foster

There are others who have similar devices, maybe not as good as his.

And he's printing the Bible, and he makes so much money printing the Bible in the vernacular, he can afford to take speculation in printing other things.

So he prints catalogs, he prints books,

opinions, he prints religious tracts, including for denominations that he doesn't share the values of, with the idea that even if it's banned in Mainz, he can bundle it down to the docks, put it on a boat, and the city that's paying for it further down the Rhine will take the cargo and he'll make the cash.

So as long as he's not caught with it, everything's fine.

So why does all this matter?

Well, it is competition of ideas.

And remember, in medieval times, all political ideas are really offshoots of religious ideas.

And the core Protestant idea at this time is that you have a personal relationship with God.

You discover who he is.

in your personal journey and you have, to use a horrible modern phrase, your truth.

And no one, and by the way, that's where that idea comes from.

And no one should be able, in the Protestant perspective, no one should be able to interfere in your exploration.

And part of your exploration is talking about it and thinking about it and reading about it.

So in this great, in these religious wars and this desire for social peace and just,

you know, you guys go worship over here, and we'll worship here, and these third guys will go worship over there, is this idea that free speech is necessary for social peace.

Let everyone have their say, let the ideas move up and down the Rhine about religion, but also increasingly about politics, about economics.

And believe it or not, we owe this

initial idea of free speech which is essential to the creation of news to these very tough-minded german protestants who were stubbornly insisting they were right and everyone else was wrong and also their great desire to make money and capitalism which is a lot like

you have an individual relationship with God is that you have the right to an individual relationship with your customers and your employees.