The Catholic Church before the Reformation
Up until the time of the Reformation, many people accepted the Church’s authority on religious matters. The Catholic laity not only controlled matters of religion, they also governed areas of politics and economics. Many Catholic priests and clergy grew rich by allowing people to pay money in order to be forgiven for their sins. Another problem that was occurring was the Catholic Church’s close involvement with the political affairs of Europe. The Catholic Church had immense power all throughout Europe, because it was closely connected to powerful rulers and kingdoms.
The Pope was authorizing monarchs to freely divorce their wives and to marry other women in order to strengthen their alliances and their kingdom’s political position. These were but a few of the problems that many people began to take notice of and speak out against. Martin Luther became a Catholic monk in 1505 because of a life-changing event. A lightning bolt had struck near him on his way home, and he started to look at his life as though God was going to judge him harshly for his sins. He chose to be a monk because of the promise that he made to a St. Anna to keep him from Christ’s judgment. He soon became a well renowned monk by his peers.
Spreading the Ideas that Led to Protestantism
In 1517, Martin Luther posted a 95-page thesis on the door of the Church of Wittenberg. Once this thesis was attached to the door, the ideas contained within it began to spread to the many different parts of Europe. People everywhere used Luther’s ideas to help form their own ideas about God and to start their own church denominations. Protestantism sprang up from this movement and the prominent idea behind this branch of Christianity was justification by faith: that God saved people by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Conflicting Beliefs
The Catholic Church did not like Luther’s ideas, nor did many kings and emperors. Within a few years, many people all over the continent were breaking away from the Catholic Church and began to worship God in their own way. Many European rulers were making themselves the head of their own churches, and the Pope was also doing everything in his power to maintain the Church’s control. Many people lost their lives during this chaotic period and many religious wars broke out all over Europe. The primary problem was that the Catholic’s were in charge and they didn’t want to let go of the people or their power. People were also being rounded up and killed or jailed. Many people who disagreed with the Catholic Church had to flee their homelands and travel to different parts of Europe to worship as they pleased.
The Spread of the Protestant Reformation
Meanwhile, Martin Luther was steadily promoting his new ideas and constantly printing information that was changing how Europeans believed in God. Luther fueled the Protestant Reformation during the time when European powers were starting to colonize America. The whole notion of leaving America and traveling to another world to worship God on their own terms began to appeal to many people. Many nations were already funding expeditions to the New World ever since Spain established the first American colony. Many European dissenters began to leave England and other parts of Europe in order to travel to America. Once they arrived, they began to separate into their own religious groups and constructed various societies based off their own beliefs and values.
Martin Luther also wrote about separating political power form church power. He espoused the idea that kingdoms should handle the affairs on the Earth but they should not mettle in matters of religion or spirituality. In some of the printed works that he created he spoke out about how kingdoms should wage wars against Turkish powers, but he stated that they should fight a spiritual battle against the Islamic belief through prayer and repentance. Luther’s views on church and governing powers helped to establish a principal for the separation of church and state. Luther’s work on this matter is one of the earliest printed materials about this subject. Luther’s views also helped to establish the doctrine of freedom. Before the Reformation, people did not live their lives according to personal rights to choose as they believed. They had to follow the established order of things from the time they were born up until the time they died but the Protestant Reformation had helped to change this by having people to realize that they were allowed to worship as they pleased. Other freedoms naturally sprang up from this concept as well. It could be argued that First Amendment rights such as the freedom of speech could be tied to Luther’s work.
