For Brianna Gittens' comment, a) Wow, you would be the first one to post something, and the church members did not fear persecution because they were smarter and wealthier than the peasants who lived down below. You need to remember, during this time period, there was no such thing as persecution because of the PLAGUE. The PLAGUE scared people and they believed this corrupt officials because they promised them a rite-of-passage to heaven. However, I do like the rest of your comment.