Protestantism

Protestantism is an umbrella term used to describe a group of Christian sects whose varying doctrines are united in rejection of the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Protestants account for over 900 million people, about 11 percent of the world population, and form majorities in several countries in Europe as well as the United States. Protestants affirm the priesthood of all believers as well as the principles of the "three solae": justification by faith alone (sola fide), salvation only through God's grace (sola gratia), and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth (sola scriptura).

Acording to Marxist thought, the Protestant Reformation was a historically progressive event which broke the aristocratic ideological-political formation that had monopolized European society for centuries, making way for the ascendancy of Enlightenment bourgeois ideas such as humanism, rationalism, and liberalism, and thereby modern philosophies like atheism, nihilism, and Marxism. Protestantism is not to be confused with heterodox Christian movements such as the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the Moonies, or others.

History

Reformation

Protestants trace their lineage to the 1517 Ninety-five Theses and other works published by German theologian Martin Luther criticizing key Church doctrines. Although movements opposed to Catholic orthodoxy had occasionally arisen in vacuums of Church control throughout the Late Middle Ages ― such as the Cathar movement in southern France, the Hussites in Bohemia, and the Lollards in England ― conditions in the 16th century had developed enough to enable a widespread insurgency rejecting the Church's authority. In 1520, Pope Leo X officially condemned Luther's ideas and, after Luther refused to recant, excommunicated him from the Church. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V declared Luther an enemy of the state and announced that anyone could kill him without reprisal; however, Luther was shielded by the supportive Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, and found favor among the bourgeoisies and urban populations of several German states. For his own safety, Luther would remain in Wittenberg, Saxony almost continuously until his death.

Luther's ideas were popular not only among the middle classes but among peasants, who viewed them as a radical repudiation of the existing social order. Preachers inspired by Luther's writings began agitating peasants against the ruling classes, culminating in the uprising known as the German Peasants' War of 1524-5. However, Luther himself, due to his middle-class, educated background, violently and vehemently condemned the movement, and it was quickly suppressed.

The new technology of the printing press enabled the rapid spread of Protestant ideas and debates, and a flowering of new movements spread across Europe advocating different ideas on how to interpret Christianity. One of the most radical and notable religious reformers was John Calvin, who fled repression in France and made the mercantile Republic of Geneva his the headquarters of his movement. After the German peasants had been routed, Reformation ideas became the province of the bourgeoisie, taking the strongest hold in mercantile areas like Switzerland, England, and the Netherlands. Henry VIII of England, after a battle with the Pope concerning his right to a divorce, took advantage of the Protestant fervor to throw off the Church's control in England, declaring the new Church of England with himself at its head and expropriating church lands for private use. A violent period of anti-Catholic repression ensued and would last into the 17th century. In response to the new state support for Reformation ideas, Calvinism gained favor across England and Scotland, inspiring radical reformers who aimed to "purify" the relatively conservative English Church and which came to be known as Puritans. Puritan beliefs became central to the ideology of the bourgeois English Revolution. Protestant groups with their origins in Puritanism include the Separatists, Diggers, Levellers, Shakers, and Quakers.

Evangelicalism

In the early 20th century, a new movement known as evangelicalism arose in England and the United States. Evangelical and fundamentalist groups are some of the most politically active reactionary forces in the United States and provide a key base of support for imperialist policies such as Zionism. In a poll, 34% of Americans polled considered themselves an Evangelical or Born-Again Christian, although such estimates can be based on ambiguous criteria.