Now For the Catholic Version

I've read thousands of letters to the editor which push one or other element of the false Zionist historical narrative, but the following, from Sophie York, Turramurra, NSW in The Australian, is the first I've ever read in the ms press which pushes a false Catholic narrative:

Here it is, minus the first sentence: "It was determined Catholic monarchs who threw off 700 years of dictatorial Moorish oppression in 1492 at the Battle of Granada, freeing Europe which then developed into constitutional monarchies and democracies. Catholicism, with its belief in individual human dignity, was the seedbed for modern democracy, because it rejected caste systems and wealth dictating innate value. It thus championed the poor, disabled and working-class, it let women work (nuns were teachers and nurses) - and all these formerly disenfranchised groups were eventually given the vote." (29/110/14)

First, a brief perspectival corrective from Emeritus Professor of Hispano-Arabic Studies at the University of Exeter, Richard Hitchcock, taken from his 2014 study Muslim Spain Reconsidered:

"Christians had no 'divine' right of possession over [the Iberian Peninsula]. Furthermore, the Muslims were not an occupying power in Christian territory; they were a permanent presence in the continent of Europe. Their state was one which was governed by a different raft of beliefs, but this circumstance did not necessarily obstruct relations with other powers... In retrospect, one may observe objectively that, by a number of yardsticks, the level of civilisation, for want of a better word, as manifested in al-Andalus was superior to that found elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula and, in some periods, in the rest of Western Europe... The history of the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages has traditionally been presented as that of two opposing creeds, yet the sources do not support this interpretation. When there were major thrusts from the north southwards or vice versa, it was when political weaknesses were perceived by either side. Such incursions were not motivated by religious interests, except at the time of the Crusades... There was no inherent hostility existing between al-Andalus and other powers in the Iberian Peninsula because of differing religious beliefs, at least for the first three and a half centuries after [the Muslim conquest] of 711." (pp 194-95)

Second, just look at those factoids and sweeping generalisations.

1) Dictatorial? How so?
2) Muslim Granada was blocking the development of constitutional monarchies/democracies in Europe? Come again?
3) Catholicism, with its belief in individual human dignity? Except for Jews (forced conversions/expulsion), Muslims (ditto), Christian dissenters (hello, Inquisition)... need I go on?
4) The Catholic church as a champion of the working class? Pull the other.

As I always say: Only in The Australian.