If England stayed Catholic would the industrial revolution have happened?

Question

If Henry VIII hadn't got rid of the back wards looking catholic church, would people have been able to make the scientific and social advances necessary to have an industrial revolution and invent todays world?

Answer 1

The Catholic church was/is notorious for stopping free thought in the name of religion so the little breathing room might have helped. To be honest, if you look at any society that is overly religious you will see a society that becomes trapped at a certain level of technology (usually the level at which the society goes overboard for religion). After this level, technological advances are slow. This is how Christian/Western society became more technologically advanced then the formerly advanced Muslim world. It is also how our now more atheistic society is moving at a super fast level of advancement and the only things holding back progress are moral concerns like stem cell research and electronic safety (protests of which come from the religious camp). This isn't to say that those aren't valid concerns (they are).

Answer 2

As an economist, I would say yes. The question of the Church might be irrelevant because the causes had more to do with changes of how farms were managed leading to a larger workforce and more food than with intellectual property. The social advances necessary may have occured sooner or later under the Catholic Church, it is impossible to know the answer. It wasn't Calvinism but rather social disintegration from Civil War that set the process in motion. The Civil War ended feudalism or in essence communal thinking. That isn't something a Church can influence. You see this very same effect today in developing countries. Those that break up communal thinking move forward, the others get trapped. It has more to do with property rights than religion. In particular, the English Common Law was pushing forward in important ways that did not previously exist and was the result of case law, not religion. In many ways, the Reformation may have slowed the Industrial Revolution. The social instability stole resources useable otherwise by industry. Futher, the seizing of property and denial of property rights to Catholics most likely slowed the Industrial Revolution. Any risk to property rights, from an academic's perspective, has the effect of raising the cost of capital making many projects impossible on the margin.

Henry VIII was a sociopath in the clinical sense. The leaders of the Catholic Church and the leaders of the Anglican Church were mostly the same people. It wasn't science which pushed the Industrial Revolution through. There is a great example from our own period. The video phone has been available for almost fifty years but no one would buy one. Who wants people to be able to see you when you talk. Now look at web cams. The difference was not technology but social norms.

I am pretty sure it would have occured because religion is only a backdrop to the events. It may have happened sooner because greater social stability would have created greater competition for resources and lower costs of capital. It may have happened later because of different alignments of social institutions, particularly feudalism. This is impossible to answer, this question assumes all the same actors would be in all the same roles, but with different ties. We do not even know which people would be alive or dead had things occured differently.

Answer 3

The industrial revolution did begin and advance in Britain. The rate of advance probably has much more to do with the necessity of keeping almost half of the globe in subservience coupled with an inexhaustible supply of raw materials from the "Empire". Military development has also been responsible for the acceleration of technological development. England was and arguably remains, one of the most militarily aggressive nations on Earth. Religion is not a factor.

Answer 4

Of course. again it shows lack of understanding of the faith. What council took place in the Catholic Church after the split? What did it do? what also happened after the pinning of the notice by that other reformer in Central Europe? i am not going to give you the answers, but look it up? Catholic and Protestant.... there is no real and substantive difference between the ordinary believers.....and less you think otherwise, some of the brightest men in the world today are in the Catholic Church. Some of the biggest eejits are there too. As a Catholic I am reasoned enough to know that the same applies to all denominations and none.

Answer 5

Hmmm, actually, this is a very good question. There were some remarkable thinkers who were Catholic - I mean, Da Vinci, and Galileo (Not that he was given a vast deal of choice, really!)
But would the theory have translated into practise and taken off in the same way without the 'protestant work effort'?
Dunno. Maybe not

'Where 'ere the Catholic Sun doth shine
There's laughter, song and good red wine
at least I've always found it so
Benedicto Domino!'

as Hilare Belloc said (I think). Perhaps it needed the austere, Calvinistic atmosphere of ;must do' and tomorrow must be better' to kick start the IR. Dunno. It's interesting. Have to think about it over a bottle of Tempranillo. Pax vobiscum!

Answer 6

Not as fast. The rebellion against the catholic church led to free men, working for money. And, the people making these things were satisfied with working without chains, so they came up with better and more efficient ways to speed up manufacturing. You are right. The Catholic church and others, held back from it because it upset the status quo. Most liked the fiefdom/servant world. The War of the Roses and other events helped people go from servants to employees and tradesmen

Answer 7

Probably yes, but in a much slower and covert pace.
Even Galilaeo was nearly murdered by the church because he dared 'rock the boat'. The only way he saved his skin was to lie through his teeth and discount all his findings that made the church dead scared that the uneducated earthlings would actually realise that all this religion lark is nothing more than fantasy driven by a multi-authored novel.

Answer 8

Never. All inspiration and ideas would have been crushed at birth. And all the money in the land, other than the Royalty's spoils, would still be being sent to Rome. Progress requires inquisitiveness, something not allowed by religion - just ask Satan!

Answer 9

Nope, probably wouldn't have. Now we have to take the next step and get rid of all religions so that we can become the Borg!

www.godisimaginary.com

Answer 10

Neither is an indication of the other. Look at the present. Directly related to the past.