Colonial Protestants yoked Islam and Catholicism together as twin Antichrist powers

Evidence

The earliest evidence, from the 1560s, shows that Drake’s religious convictions were not only deep but extreme and uncompromising. In time he would find himself a spiritual home among the Elizabethan Puritans, for to Drake the Roman Church was not merely corrupted by the excrescences of the centuries and in need of reform; it was a false church, administered, as he said, by Antichrist, and fit only to be eschewed and condemned. — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 56 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Luther weaponized images of Islam to attack Catholicism as well as Turks — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 154; Medieval Christians identified Muhammad with Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Antichrist; In colonial America, many Protestants associated Islam and Catholicism with the Antichrist. Indeed, Prideaux related the rise of Muhammad and the bishop of Rome’s claim to reign over all churches. Hence, the ‘Antichrist seems at this time to have set both his Feet upon Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in the West.’ (+7 more)

Related

• Prideaux related the rise of Muhammad and the bishop of Rome’s claim to reign over all churches. Hence, the Antichrist seems at this time to have set both his Feet upon Christendom together, the… (similarity 0.90)
• In colonial America, many Protestants associated Islam and Catholicism with the Antichrist. Indeed, Prideaux related the rise of Muhammad and the bishop of Rome’s claim to reign over all churches.… (similarity 0.90)
• Drake viewed the Roman Catholic Church as a false church administered by Antichrist (similarity 0.89)
• Luther and the Reformers saw the Turk as a sharper Antichrist than the Pope (similarity 0.79)
• Early Protestant writers framed Islam’s rise as divine punishment for corrupted churches. (similarity 0.79)
• Since the early medieval period, Christendom largely viewed Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a false prophet, a servant of Satan, or the Antichrist. (similarity 0.79)
• Luther conflated the Pope and the Turk as twin Anti-Christs despite thin resemblance (similarity 0.79)
• Early Protestant polemicists linked Islam with Catholicism and Judaism as apocalyptic rivals. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Drake viewed the Roman Catholic Church as a false church administered by Antichrist #corroborates (0.60) — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 56
• Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that… #expands (0.50)