Politics And Religion
(This is about the Protestant Reformation,
i believed that it
has always existed strictly as a political event) Politics
and Religion
Political and social struggles causes many religious
uprising. Even though
Religious Reformations are major breakthroughs in
the Catholic Church, its
premises remained strictly as a political event.
Protestantism was a technique
used by noble princes as well as emperors to
break away from the control of the
Catholic Church and also a reason to
gain dominancy over other nations. However,
the foremost reason that
Reformations remains primarily as a political event is
because it served as a
reason for conflict between church and state. The first
reason that the
Reformation was a political event was the alliance between
religious group
and the state. Protestant groups, especially Lutherans and
Calvinists,
sided with national authorities to create international political
upheaval.
One mentionable historical event was the Hapsburg-Valois War. To gain
control
of Italy and the Burgundian realms, Francis I of France, being
a
Catholic, did not hesitate to form an alliance with the Protestants in
his
objective to crush Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, the fall heir of
the
Burgundian territories. On the other hand, the Protestant card was
also played
by Charles when he repressed Francis with the help of the Henry
VIII, head of
the Church of England. Thus, this showed that Protestants
during the Reformation
was created ideally to and was manipulated by strong
political powers in their
conquest to gain dominancy over other states.
Another reason for the
governmental event was its usage by the noble princes
to gain political freedom
for their states by breaking away from the control
of the supreme governer. What
was a religious struggles between the
Protestants and the Church became a
movement towards a politically freed
state. One example would be the internal
conflict between Charles V and his
German princes and their states. During the
disorder of the Reformation,
princes were emboldened to seek autonomy for their
states, thus, creating a
civil war between them and the Emperor. The Peace of
Ausburg was signed
by Charles by which gave the princes the right to determined
the core
religion in his territories. However, the political side to it was
the
Peace of Westphalia, a reinstatement of the Asburg's. Signed some
years later by
the empire, the Peace of Westphalia gave the princes the right
to supreme
authority over their territories. This showed that in the essence
of most
religious struggles, the main objective is to gain political
advantage among
other dominant powers. But the foremost cause that led to the
belief that the
Protestant Reformation was a political event was the
private issues between the
king and the pope. Supremacy of state, judicial
authoratives, and noble marital
problems were raised to the level of national
predicament. These issues were
presented with the conflict between Henry VIII
and the Church. During Henry's
reign, many of his marriages went down the
drain because he was cursed without a
healthy, male heir to the English
thrown. But years later, having fallen in love
with Anne Boleyn, a noble
woman who promised him a son, Henry tried to get his
marriage to Catherine of
Aragon annulled. But when the Church rejected his
order, Henry broke away and
formed The Church of England. In his documents. The
Act of Restraint of
Appeal and the Supremacy Act, Henry declared himself the
supreme ruler and
judicial authority of England and noted that there are
absolutely no
political interference from the Church allowed. This showed that
the biggest
contribution to the Protestant Reformation are the selfish desires
of kings
and the Church. Behind most religious disorder, the roots of conflict
was
always political struggles between church and state. These ideas
were
expressed by many rulers who were tangled in the web of international
religious
struggles. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VIII of
England, German
Protestant princes, rulers of all background manipulated
Protestant Reformations
and had used it to their own advantage such as to
gain political powers and
their other personal needs. Thus, the roots of
existence of most Protestant
Reformation has always been, a political
event.