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Protestantism took various forms at the time of the Reformation
and that's why the faith is rich in its diversity to this
day.
There was a laughable contribution to a discussion on Protestantism
recently on BBC 'Talkback' programme when a person phoned
in to advance the theory that the Protestant faith owed its
origins to Henry the Eighth's quarrel with Rome over his attempt
to divorce one of his wives and re-marry another.
It's a hoary old argument pulled out like the proverbial
chestnut every now and again by Roman Catholics seeking to
denigrate or undermine the Reformation.
Fortunately, at least one listener phoned in to the programme
to explode this theory, pointing out that even if this applied
to the origins of the Church of England, it certainly did
not apply to Protestantism in other European countries.
Any student of history will know that Protestantism in Europe
owed a lot to Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Switzerland,
and John Knox in Scotland.
Protestantism certainly did not owe its origins to Henry
the Eighth, although the break between England and Rome certainly
centred around this.
The Church of England may be in the forefront of the ecumenical
movement today, but until the middle of the last century it
was one of the bulwarks of Protestantism. There was a great
pride in the part played by the Protestant martyrs at Smithfield
in London, in Oxford, Essex and other places.
The names of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer are deeply engrained
in the English psyche, and England's rise to greatness as
a nation owed a lot to Protestantism. Protestantism fired
great leaders like Elizabeth the First, James the First, and
Oliver Cromwell, and it is interesting to reflect that England,
during the rule of the Lord Protector, and its only period
as a republic, was a stronghold of Protestantism.
Cromwell was a far-sighted and liberal man, in spite of his
fierce reputation and his undoubted greatness as a military
leader and strategist. It was Cromwell, for instance who was
responsible for inviting the Jews back into England, surely
one of the most generous acts by any leader.
He recognised the Biblical aspect of Judism, and also reckoned,
quite correctly, that any country where the Jews settled,
tended to prosper due to their expertise in many fields.
England in those days was a haven for Protestants fleeing
the terrible persecutions of the counter-Reformation on the
Continent. The Huguenots, the great and talented Protestant
people of France, suffered dreadfully for centuries under
the intolerance of Roman Catholicism.
The cruel massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes, and the forced conversion of many
Protestants, the murders of countless others, and finally
the explusion of tens of thousands of others is one of the
greatest blots on the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
The persecution of the brave Waldensians, and of course,
the brutal attempts by Spain to impose Roman Catholicism on
Protestant Holland are other terrible examples of this period.
All this explains the reasons why Protestantism in many countries
had different origins to that of England, and clearly shows
that the people of Northern and Central Europe who suffered
such persecution, did so out of religious conviction, and
certainly not due to a fickle reason like a monarch wanting
to marry another woman.
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