Protestantism in the United Kingdom

Protestantism is the most popular religion practiced in the United Kingdom.

For centuries, it has played a primary role in shaping political and religious life throughout the region. Although a German, Martin Luther, was responsible for the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century, the United Kingdom, and especially England, developed the Reformation further and produced many of its most notable figures. Protestantism influenced many of England's monarchs in the 16th and 17th centuries, including Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, and James I. Violence was commonplace, and persecution was largely dependent on whether the monarch was Catholic or Protestant. Reformers and early church leaders were greatly persecuted in the first centuries of the Reformation, but the non-conformist movement survived. As a result of the Reformation, Protestantism is the most widely practiced religion in the modern United Kingdom, although participation in the church has weakened in recent years.

Before Protestantism reached England, the Roman Catholic Church was the established state church. Wales and Ireland were also closely tied to Roman Catholicism, but Scotland had been dominated by many pagan religions that the Celts practiced.

In Catholic England, the only Bible available was written in Latin Vulgate, a translation of proper Latin considered holy by the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, only clergy had access to copies of the Bible. Countrymen were dependent on their local priests for the reading of scripture because they could not read the text for themselves. Some believe the Pope arranged this to hide truth from the common people. Early in the Reformation, one of the fundamental disagreements between the Roman Church and Protestant leaders was over the distribution of the Bible in the people's common language.

...
Wikipedia