Protestantism

===Puritanism, English dissenters and nonconformists===
{{Main|Puritans|English Dissenters|Independent (religion)|Nonconformist (Protestantism){{!}}Nonconformism|English Presbyterianism|Ecclesiastical separatism|17th-century denominations in England}}
The [[Puritans]] were a group of English Protestants in the [[Christianity in the 16th century|16th]] and [[Christianity in the 17th century|17th centuries]], which sought to purify the [[Church of England]] of what they considered to be Catholic practices, maintaining that the church was only partially reformed. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some of the returning [[Marian exiles|clergy exiled under Mary I]] shortly after the accession of [[Elizabeth I of England]] in 1558, as an activist movement within the [[Church of England]].

Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within, and were severely restricted in England by laws controlling the practice of religion. Their beliefs, however, were transported by the emigration of congregations to the Netherlands (and later to New England), and by evangelical clergy to Ireland (and later into Wales), and were spread into lay society and parts of the educational system, particularly certain colleges of the [[University of Cambridge]]. The first Protestant sermon delivered in England was in Cambridge, with the pulpit that this sermon was delivered from surviving to today.<ref>{{cite web|title=Latimer's Pulpit|url=https://www.50treasures.divinity.cam.ac.uk/treasure/latimers-pulpit/|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Faculty of Divinity 50 Treasures|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205203447/https://www.50treasures.divinity.cam.ac.uk/treasure/latimers-pulpit/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2020-06-25|title=Despite Cambridge's Protestant history, Catholic students are at home here|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/despite-cambridges-protestant-history-catholic-students-are-at-home-here/|access-date=2020-09-21|website=Catholic Herald|language=en-GB|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927001656/https://catholicherald.co.uk/despite-cambridges-protestant-history-catholic-students-are-at-home-here/|url-status=live}}</ref> They took on distinctive beliefs about clerical dress and in opposition to the [[Episcopal polity|episcopal]] system, particularly after the 1619 conclusions of the [[Synod of Dort]] they were resisted by the English bishops. They largely adopted [[Puritan Sabbatarianism|Sabbatarianism]] in the 17th century, and were influenced by [[millennialism]].

They formed, and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of [[worship]] and [[doctrine]], as well as personal and group [[pietism|piety]]. Puritans adopted a [[Reformed theology]], but they also took note of radical criticisms of Zwingli in Zurich and Calvin in Geneva. In church polity, some advocated for separation from all other Christians, in favor of autonomous [[gathered church]]es. These separatist and [[independent (religion)|independent]] strands of Puritanism became prominent in the 1640s. Although the [[English Civil War]] (which expanded into the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]]) began over a contest for political power between the [[King of England]] and the [[House of Commons]], it divided the country along religious lines as [[Episcopalianism|episcopalians]] within the Church of England sided with the Crown and Presbyterians and Independents supported ''Parliament'' (after the defeat of the Royalists, the [[House of Lords]] as well as the Monarch were removed from the political structure of the state to create the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]). The supporters of a [[Presbyterian polity]] in the [[Westminster Assembly]] were unable to forge a new English national church, and the Parliamentary [[New Model Army]], which was made up primarily of Independents, under [[Oliver Cromwell]] first purged Parliament, then abolished it and established [[The Protectorate]].

[[English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms|England's trans-Atlantic colonies in the war]] followed varying paths depending on their internal demographics. In the older colonies, which included [[Virginia]] (1607) and its offshoot [[Bermuda]] (1612), as well as [[Barbados]] and [[Antigua]] in the West Indies (collectively the targets in 1650 of [[An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego]]), Episcopalians remained the dominant church faction and the colonies remained Royalist 'til conquered or compelled to accept the new political order. In Bermuda, with control of the local [[Government of Bermuda|government]] and the ''army'' (nine infantry companies of Militia plus [[coastal artillery]]), the Royalists forced Parliament-backing religious Independents into exile to settle the [[Bahamas]] as the [[Eleutheran Adventurers]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Langford Oliver |first=Vere |date=1912 |title=Pym Letters. Caribbeana: Being Miscellaneous papers Relating to the History. Genealogy, Topography, and Antiquities of the British West Indies. Volume II. |location=London |publisher=Mitchell Hughes and Clarke, 140 Wardour Street, W |page=14 |quote=The Government is changed. Within twenty days after his arrival, the Governor called an assembly, pretending thereby to reform certain things amiss. All the ministers in the island, Mr. White, Mr. Goldinge, and Mr. Copeland, were Independents, and they had set up a Congregational Church, of which most gentlemen of Council were members or favourers. The burgesses of this [[House of Assembly of Bermuda|assembly]] were picked out of those who were known to be enemies to that way, and they did not suffer a Roundhead (as they term them) to be chosen.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lefroy |first=Major-General Sir John Henry |date=1981 |title=Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515-1685, Volume I |location=Bermuda |publisher=The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (the first edition having been published in 1877, with funds provided by the Government of Bermuda), printed in Canada by The University of Toronto Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eleuthera-map.com/eleuthera-island.htm |title=Eleuthera Island: History Notes |work=eleuthera-map.com |access-date=2021-10-17 |archive-date=1 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101125402/http://www.eleuthera-map.com/eleuthera-island.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Episcopalian was re-established following the [[Stuart Restoration#Church of England settlement|Restoration]]. A century later, non-conforming Protestants, along with the Protestant refugees from continental Europe, were to be among the primary instigators of the [[American War of Independence|war of secession]] that led to the founding of the United States of America.

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File:John.Cotton.cropped.jpg|[[John Cotton (minister)|John Cotton]], who sparked the [[Antinomian Controversy]] with his [[free grace theology]]
File:Landing-Bacon.PNG|[[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrim Fathers]] landing at [[Plymouth Rock]] in [[Plymouth, Massachusetts]] in 1620
File:OldShipEntrance.jpg|Built in 1681, the [[Old Ship Church]] in [[Hingham, Massachusetts]] is the oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|last = Butterfield|first = Fox|title = The Perfect New England Town|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/14/travel/the-perfect-new-england-village.html?sec=&spon=|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = 14 May 1989|access-date = 30 May 2010|archive-date = 18 November 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181118230017/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/14/travel/the-perfect-new-england-village.html?sec=&spon=|url-status = live}}</ref>
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