2006-07-06 07:53:34 · 10 answers · asked by citizen high 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In the early years of the Reformation, the term Protestant applied to a group of princes and imperial cities who "protested" the decision by the 1529 Diet of Speyer to reverse course, and enforce the 1521 Edict of Worms. The 1521 edict forbade Lutheran teachings within the Holy Roman Empire. The 1526 session of the Diet had agreed to toleration of Lutheran teachings (on the basis of Cuius regio, eius religio) until a General Council could be held to settle the question. However, by 1529, the Roman Catholic authorities felt they had gathered enough power to end toleration without waiting for an official pronouncement from any council.
In a broader sense of the word, Protestant came to be used as the collective name for those individuals and churches who advocated a formal separation from the Roman Catholic Church. The roots of this movement are typically accredited to Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. However, following Luther's posting of the 95 Theses at Wittenburg, significant contributions to the Protestant cause were made by reformers like John Calvin, Zwingli, Thomas Cranmer, and John Knox.
2006-07-06 07:59:02 · answer #1 · answered by davidmi711 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well originally protestants "protested" against the Catholic Church - against what they saw as unnecesary pomp and ceremony in the worship of God - the Latin, the decoration of churches with gold and statues, the structures and hierarchy and so on. The definition gets a little hazy after that because there were a number of protestant groups that believed specific things, but essentially the opposition to Catholicism was a great driver for early protestants because in most of the Christian world, they were reviled and not allowed to practice their faith in their own way. This for instance is largely why the Pilgrims started settling in America.
2006-07-06 15:03:05 · answer #2 · answered by mdfalco71 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Protestants are a diverse group so it is difficult to say in a paragraph what all Protestants were protesting.They were mostly protesting who has the earthly authority to guide the church. They rejected the claim of the Catholic Church that the Pope had authority to lead because he came from a line of hand picked successors leading back to Jesus. They wanted leaders who were more in touch with local circumstances and most wanted Christianity to follow the Bible more closely.
2006-07-06 15:06:00 · answer #3 · answered by Huey from Ohio 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the begining of The Reformation it was against the corruption of the Roman Catolic papacy.... most, Like Luther did not want to leave The RC cult... they just wanted to clean it up... lots of info on all this with not so hard online search
Not every one has bowed to the decption of the RC... There have always been those who are of the true Christian Faith from the founding of The Church of Which Jesus The Christ is the Head.
Those of the true Christian Faith have protested RC corrupt domination from the begining...long before any "reformation" of the protestants....
2006-07-06 15:02:34 · answer #4 · answered by IdahoMike 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"protestant" basically refers to any church that can trace its roots directly back to the catholic church. They "protest" the things that they believe the catholic church is doctrinally incorrect about. Martin Luther, who started the first protestant church, did so because (among other things) the Catholic priests were selling indulgences, which was "you pay the church money, and you go to heaven, no matter how evil you are" (they didn't say it like that but that was Luther's interpretation.) He thought that that was wrong, so he wrote the 95 theses, which was a list of 95 complaints he had with the Catholic church's doctrine.
2006-07-06 15:04:32 · answer #5 · answered by annoying_bookworm23 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Martin Luther was a Catholic monk - he became upset when he realized the catholic church's teaching were often contrary to the Bible. Hoping to point this out and bring the church closer to Bible in teaching and philosophy, he wrote the 99 theses - a list of errors and changes to be made. Of course, he was excommunicated. hence, birth of the protestant movement.
2006-07-06 16:27:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They protested Catholicism!
2006-07-06 14:57:05 · answer #7 · answered by love_2b_curious 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they protest all those things that martin luther nailed to the door of the church. there were 95 of them.
he didn't like indulgences, the fact that priests were the only ones who could read and interpret the bible, that you couldn't talk to god directly and needed a priest, and that churches were too damn pretty. among other things of course, but those are just the most important, i think.
2006-07-06 14:58:56 · answer #8 · answered by Aleks 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a) that question makes no grammatical sence...
b) protestants are protestant because they broke with the catholic church... which was the leading/only christian church at the time....
2006-07-06 14:57:25 · answer #9 · answered by Jonny Propaganda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They broke off from the Catholic Church because of the Catholic Churchs' unbiblical Doctrines.
2006-07-06 15:02:22 · answer #10 · answered by Kitten 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋