<span>One way that Rhode Island colony differed from the Massachusetts bay colony was that Rhode Island had religious tolerance. Although only puritans could worship publicly and have sermons and similar, they didn't bother other people of other faiths.</span>
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Wars of Religion, (1562–98) conflicts in France between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The spread of French Calvinism persuaded the French ruler Catherine de Médicis to show more tolerance for the Huguenots, which angered the powerful Roman Catholic Guise family. Its partisans massacred a Huguenot congregation at Vassy (1562), causing an uprising in the provinces. Many inconclusive skirmishes followed, and compromises were reached in 1563, 1568, and 1570. After the murder of the Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Coligny in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day (1572), the civil war resumed. A peace compromise in 1576 allowed the Huguenots freedom of worship