While some may consider Sir Thomas More a paragon of virtue and an "Everyman," per Mary Walsh's column on Aug. 12 ["Let no man rid us of our 'meddlesome' conscience"], the six men burned at the stake during his chancellorship under Henry VIII, who were deemed by Sir Thomas to be Protestant "heretics" (Hilton, Bilney, Bayfield, Tewkesbery, Dusgate, and Bainham) undoubtedly disagreed.

During his chancellorship he allied with Cardinal Wolsey in preventing Lutheran texts from being imported into England, in spying on suspected Protestants, and in arresting those who held, transported, or sold similar texts.

He vigorously tormented traveling country ministers who used "Tyndale's English Translation of the New Testament." Rumors circulated that he employed torture to extract confessions.

I can buy into praising and respecting the actions of Archbishop Thomas Becket. I have some difficulty feeling likewise about Sir Thomas More.

Gary Long

Spotsylvania