Answer: in 1559 Elizabeth come up with the religious settlement. She passed the act of supremacy and the act of uniformity. the act of supremacy This made Elizabeth the Church's Supreme Governor. Since Christ was seen as the Head of the Church, the word 'Supreme Head' was avoided. In the English church, there was a strong ban on foreign leadership, so refusing Elizabeth's role in the Church was considered treason. The act of uniformity This made Protestantism the official faith of England and in a revised prayer book it set out principles of religious practice and worship. Some Catholic values were preserved, which Elizabeth hoped would make a successful compromise and keep her people happy.
The new treaty gained widespread support and very few declined to take the oath of allegiance to the queen. The accommodating approach of Elizabeth seemed to have succeeded on the whole, but it did not keep everyone happy and she received various attacks. Opposition came not only from Catholics but also from more radical Protestants, who rejected any agreement with Catholic ideas, known as Puritans.
Answer: By 1568 Elizabeth’s new religious settlement had been in place for nearly a decade. Her approach had been to avoid the kind of traumatic extremism of the reigns of her brother Edward VI (Protestant) and her sister Mary I (Catholic). The established religion under Elizabeth was Protestant, so the English did not acknowledge the authority of the Pope in Rome: the English monarch was to be the overall leader of the Church of England, but not a spiritual authority. However, there were some actual religious practices that were very similar to the Catholic Church, including the celebration of the mass (also known as Holy Communion) and the priests’ wearing of vestments.
To try to bring together these different groups and ease religious tensions, Elizabeth came up with what became known as the Religious Settlement. In 1559 she passed two laws: The Act of Supremacy and The Act of Uniformity.
