Protestantism

==Protestant culture==
{{Main|Protestant culture}}
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|caption1=The [[Berlin Cathedral]], a [[United and uniting churches|United Protestant]] cathedral in [[Berlin]]
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|caption2=[[Max Weber]]'s ''[[The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]''}}
Although the [[Reformation]] was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of life, including marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts.<ref name="Karl Heussi 1956 pp. 317–319"/> Protestant churches reject the idea of a celibate priesthood and thus allow their clergy to marry.<ref name = "Encyclopedia of Protestantism" /> Many of their families contributed to the development of intellectual elites in their countries.<ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', p. 319</ref> Since about 1950, women have entered the ministry in most Protestant churches, and some have assumed leading positions (e.g. [[bishop]]s).

Protestantism has promoted economic growth and entrepreneurship, especially in the period after the [[Scientific Revolution|Scientific]] and the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cantoni |first=Davide |date=2015 |title=The Economic Effects of the Protestant Reformation: Testing the Weber Hypothesis in the German Lands |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24539263 |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=561–598 |doi=10.1111/jeea.12117 |jstor=24539263 |hdl=10230/11729 |s2cid=7528944 |issn=1542-4766|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait|first=Reinhard|last=Bendix|year=1978|isbn=978-0520031944|page=60|publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> Scholars have identified a positive correlation between the rise of Protestantism and [[human capital]] formation,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Boppart|first1=Timo|last2=Falkinger|first2=Josef|last3=Grossmann|first3=Volker|date=1 April 2014|title=Protestantism and Education: Reading (the Bible) and Other Skills|journal=Economic Inquiry |volume=52|issue=2|pages=874–895|doi=10.1111/ecin.12058|s2cid=10220106|issn=1465-7295|url=https://www.cesifo-group.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp3314.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cesifo-group.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp3314.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Protestant work ethic|work ethic]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schaltegger|first1=Christoph A.|last2=Torgler|first2=Benno|date=1 May 2010|title=Work ethic, Protestantism, and human capital|journal=Economics Letters|volume=107|issue=2|pages=99–101|doi=10.1016/j.econlet.2009.12.037|url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32407/1/COVERSHEET_C32407.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32407/1/COVERSHEET_C32407.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[economic development]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Spater|first1=Jeremy|last2=Tranvik|first2=Isak|date=1 November 2019|title=The Protestant Ethic Reexamined: Calvinism and Industrialization|journal=Comparative Political Studies|volume=52|issue=13–14|pages=1963–1994|doi=10.1177/0010414019830721|s2cid=204438351|issn=0010-4140}}</ref> the rise of early [[experimental science]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Cohen | first =  I. Bernard |title = Puritanism and the rise of modern science: the Merton thesis|publisher = Rutgers University Press | location = New Brunswick, New Jersey | year = 1990 | isbn = 978-0-8135-1530-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Cohen | first = H. | author-link = H. Floris Cohen | title = The scientific revolution: a historiographical inquiry | publisher = University of Chicago Press | pages = [https://archive.org/details/scientificrevolu00cohe/page/320 320–321] | location = Chicago | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-226-11280-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/scientificrevolu00cohe/page/320 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=2iieLX7nrEAC&dq=Merton+thesis&pg=PA320 Google Print, pp.&nbsp;320–321]</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Ferngren | first = Gary B. | author-link = Gary B. Ferngren | title = Science and religion: a historical introduction | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | page = 125 | location = Baltimore, Maryland | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-8018-7038-5 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=weOOCfiDhDcC&dq=Merton+thesis&pg=PA125 Google Print, p.125]</ref> and the development of the [[Government|state system]].{{sfn|Becker|Pfaff|Rubin|2016}}

As the Reformers wanted all members of the church to be able to read the Bible, education on all levels was strongly encouraged. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the literacy rate in England was about 60 percent, in Scotland 65 percent, and in Sweden 80 percent.<ref>Heinrich August Winkler (2012), ''{{lang|de|Geschichte des Westens. Von den Anfängen in der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert}}'', Third, Revised Edition, Munich (Germany), p. 233</ref> Colleges and universities were founded. For example, the [[Puritans]] who established [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1628 founded [[Harvard College]] only eight years later. About a dozen other colleges followed in the 18th century, including [[Yale]] (1701). [[Pennsylvania]] also became a center of learning.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead (1960), ''History of Religion in the United States'', Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, pp. 69–80, 88–89, 114–117, 186–188</ref><ref>M. Schmidt, ''Kongregationalismus'', in ''Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', 3. Auflage, Band III (1959), Tübingen (Germany), col. 1770</ref>

Members of [[mainline Protestant]] denominations have played [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant|leadership roles in many aspects of American life]], including politics, business, science, the arts, and education. They founded most of the country's leading institutes of higher education.<ref name=mainline2000>McKinney, William. "Mainline Protestantism 2000." ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 558, Americans and Religions in the Twenty-First Century (July 1998), pp. 57–66.</ref>

===Thought and work ethic===
{{See also|Protestant work ethic}}
The Protestant concept of God and man allows believers to use all their God-given faculties, including the power of reason. That means that they are allowed to explore God's creation and, according to Genesis 2:15, make use of it in a responsible and sustainable way. Thus a cultural climate was created that greatly enhanced the development of the [[humanities]] and the [[sciences]].<ref>[[Gerhard Lenski]] (1963), ''The Religious Factor: A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life'', Revised Edition, A Doubleday Anchor Book, Garden City, New York, pp. 348–351</ref> Another consequence of the Protestant understanding of man is that the believers, in gratitude for their election and redemption in Christ, are to follow God's commandments. Industry, frugality, calling, discipline, and a strong sense of responsibility are at the heart of their moral code.<ref>Cf. [[Robert Middlekauff]] (2005), ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789'', Revised and Expanded Edition, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-516247-9}}, p. 52</ref><ref>Jan Weerda, ''{{lang|de|Soziallehre des Calvinismus}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Evangelisches Soziallexikon}}'', 3. Auflage (1958), Stuttgart (Germany), col. 934</ref> In particular, Calvin rejected luxury. Therefore, craftsmen, industrialists, and other businessmen were able to reinvest the greater part of their profits in the most efficient machinery and the most modern production methods that were based on progress in the sciences and technology. As a result, productivity grew, which led to increased profits and enabled employers to pay higher wages. In this way, the economy, the sciences, and technology reinforced each other. The chance to participate in the economic success of technological inventions was a strong incentive to both inventors and investors.<ref>[[Eduard Heimann]], ''Kapitalismus'', in ''Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', 3. Auflage, Band III (1959), Tübingen (Germany), col. 1136–1141</ref><ref>Hans Fritz Schwenkhagen, ''Technik'', in ''Evangelisches Soziallexikon'', 3. Auflage, col. 1029–1033</ref><ref>Georg Süßmann, ''{{lang|de|Naturwissenschaft und Christentum}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band IV, col. 1377–1382</ref><ref>C. Graf von Klinckowstroem, ''{{lang|de|Technik. Geschichtlich}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band VI, col. 664–667</ref> The [[Protestant work ethic]] was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated [[mass action (sociology)|mass action]] that influenced the development of [[capitalism]] and the [[Industrial Revolution]]. This idea is also known as the "Protestant ethic thesis".<ref name="SEP">{{cite web | url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/ | title=Max Weber | publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University | website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | date=Fall 2008 | access-date=21 August 2011 | author=Kim, Sung Ho | archive-date=27 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527021109/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

However, eminent historian [[Fernand Braudel]] (d. 1985), a leader of the important [[Annales School]] wrote, "all historians have opposed this tenuous theory [the Protestant Ethic], although they have not managed to be rid of it once and for all. Yet it is clearly false. The northern countries took over the place that earlier had been so long and brilliantly been occupied by the old capitalist centers of the Mediterranean. They invented nothing, either in technology or business management."<ref>Braudel, Fernand. 1977. Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism. Baltimore: Johns Hopskins University Press.</ref> Social scientist [[Rodney Stark]] moreover comments that "during their critical period of economic development, these northern centers of capitalism were Catholic, not Protestant—the Reformation still lay well into the future",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/protestant-objections/protestant-modernity.html|title=Protestant Modernity|last=Manager|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120113716/https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/protestant-objections/protestant-modernity.html|url-status=live}}</ref> while British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (d. 2003) said, "The idea that large-scale industrial capitalism was ideologically impossible before the Reformation is exploded by the simple fact that it existed."<ref>Trevor-Roper. 2001. The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. Liberty Fund</ref>

In a [[factor analysis]] of the latest wave of [[World Values Survey]] data, [[Arno Tausch]] ([[Corvinus University of Budapest]]) found that Protestantism emerges to be very close to combining religion and the traditions of [[liberalism]]. The Global Value Development Index, calculated by Tausch, relies on the World Values Survey dimensions such as trust in the state of law, no support for shadow economy, postmaterial activism, support for democracy, a non-acceptance of violence, xenophobia and racism, trust in transnational capital and Universities, confidence in the market economy, supporting gender justice, and engaging in environmental activism, etc.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/63349.html|title=Towards new maps of global human values, based on World Values Survey (6) data|first=Arno|last=Tausch|date=31 March 2015|via=ideas.repec.org|journal=Mpra Paper|access-date=27 May 2015|archive-date=14 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174710/https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/63349.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalians]] and [[Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)|Presbyterians]], as well as other [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant|WASPs]], tend to be considerably wealthier<ref name="THE EPISCOPALIANS">{{cite news |author=B. Drummond Ayers Jr. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html |title=The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back To Jamestown |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612230306/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and better educated (having [[Academic degree|graduate]] and [[post-graduate]] degrees per capita) than most other religious groups in [[United States]],<ref>Irving Lewis Allen, "WASP – From Sociological Concept to Epithet", ''Ethnicity'', 1975 154+</ref> and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American [[business]],<ref>{{cite journal |first=Andrew |last=Hacker |title=Liberal Democracy and Social Control |journal=[[American Political Science Review]] |year=1957 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=1009–1026 [p. 1011] |doi=10.2307/1952449 |jstor=1952449|s2cid=146933599 }}</ref> [[law]] and [[politics]], especially the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Baltzell |title=The Protestant Establishment |url=https://archive.org/details/protestantestabl00baltrich |year=1964 |page=[https://archive.org/details/protestantestabl00baltrich/page/9 9]|publisher=New York, Random House }}</ref> Numbers of the most [[Old money|wealthy and affluent American families]] as the [[Vanderbilts]], the [[Astor family|Astors]], [[Rockefeller family|Rockefellers]], [[Du Pont family|Du Ponts]], [[Roosevelt family|Roosevelts]], [[Forbes family|Forbes]], [[Ford family|Fords]], [[Whitney family|Whitneys]], [[Mellon family|Mellons]], the [[Morgan family|Morgans]] and Harrimans are [[Mainline Protestant]] families.<ref name="THE EPISCOPALIANS"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression|first=Peter|last= W. Williams|year= 2016| isbn= 978-1469626987| page =176|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|quote=The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees.}}</ref>

===Science===
{{See also|Merton thesis}}
[[File:Butler Library - 1000px - AC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Columbia University]], an [[Ivy League]] university in [[New York City]], was initially established by the [[Church of England]].]]
Protestantism has had an important influence on science. According to the [[Merton Thesis]], there was a positive [[correlation]] between the rise of English [[Puritanism]] and German [[Pietism]] on the one hand and early [[experimental science]] on the other.<ref name=sztompka2003>{{cite book|last=Sztompka|first=P.|author-link=Piotr Sztompka|chapter=Chapter 1. Robert K. Merton|title=[Extract from] the Blackwell ... Social Theorists|pages=12–33|publisher= Wiley|date=2003|doi=10.1002/9780470999912.ch2|isbn=978-0470999912|chapter-url=http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405105958_chunk_g97814051059584|via=blackwellreference.com}}</ref> The Merton Thesis has two separate parts: Firstly, it presents a theory that science changes due to an accumulation of observations and improvement in experimental technique and [[methodology]]; secondly, it puts forward the argument that the popularity of science in 17th-century England and the religious [[demography]] of the [[Royal Society]] (English scientists of that time were predominantly Puritans or other Protestants) can be explained by a [[correlation]] between Protestantism and the scientific values.<ref name=gregory1998>{{cite web|last=Gregory |first=Andrew|year=1998|title=Lecture&nbsp;14|type=course handout|series=215 – The Scientific Revolution|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/gregory/215/handouts/h14_srel.doc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513160014/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/gregory/215/handouts/h14_srel.doc|archive-date=2006-05-13}}</ref> Merton focused on English Puritanism and German Pietism as having been responsible for the development of the [[scientific revolution]] of the 17th and 18th centuries. He explained that the connection between [[religious affiliation]] and interest in science was the result of a significant synergy between the [[ascetic]] Protestant values and those of modern science.<ref name=becker1992>{{cite journal|last=Becker|first=George|date=December 1992|title=The Merton thesis: Oetinger and German Pietism, a significant negative case|journal=[[Sociological Forum]]|volume=7|issue=4|pages=642–660|doi=10.1007/bf01112319|s2cid=56239703}}</ref> Protestant values encouraged scientific research by allowing science to identify God's influence on the world—his creation—and thus providing a religious justification for scientific research.<ref name=sztompka2003/>

According to ''Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States'' by [[Harriet Zuckerman]], a review of American [[Nobel Prize]]s awarded between 1901 and 1972, 72% of American [[Nobel Prizes|Nobel Prize]] laureates identified a Protestant background.<ref name="Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United Statesh">[[Harriet Zuckerman]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HAHCzJfmD5IC Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523003039/https://books.google.com/books?id=HAHCzJfmD5IC |date=23 May 2020 }}'' New York, The Free Press, 1977, p. 68: Protestants turn up among the American-reared laureates in slightly greater proportion to their numbers in the general population. Thus 72 percent of the seventy-one laureates but about two-thirds of the American population were reared in one or another Protestant denomination-)</ref> Overall, 84% of all the Nobel Prizes awarded to Americans in [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]],<ref name="Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United Statesh"/> 60% in [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]],<ref name="Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United Statesh"/> and 59% in [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]]<ref name="Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United Statesh"/> between 1901 and 1972 were won by Protestants.

According to ''100 Years of Nobel Prize (2005)'', a review of Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 2000, 65% of [[Nobel Prizes|Nobel Prize]] Laureates, [[List of Christian Nobel laureates|have identified Christianity]] in its various forms as their religious preference (423 prizes).<ref name="Nobel prize">Baruch A. Shalev, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3jrbmL-DgZQC 100 Years of Nobel Prizes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523003140/https://books.google.com/books?id=3jrbmL-DgZQC |date=23 May 2020 }}'' (2003), Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, p. 57: between 1901 and 2000 reveals that 654 Laureates belong to 28 different religion Most 65% have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.
While separating Catholics from Protestants among Christians proved difficult in some cases, available information suggests that more Protestants were involved in the scientific categories and more Catholics were involved in the Literature and Peace categories.

Atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers constitute 11% of total Nobel Prize winners; but in the category of Literature, these preferences rise sharply to about 35%. A striking fact involving religion is the high number of Laureates of the Jewish faith—over 20% of total Nobel Prizes (138); including: 17% in Chemistry, 26% in Medicine and Physics, 40% in Economics and 11% in Peace and Literature each. The numbers are especially startling in light of the fact that only some 14 million people (0.02% of the world's population) are Jewish. By contrast, only 5 Nobel Laureates have been of the Muslim faith—1% of total number of Nobel prizes awarded—from a population base of about 1.2 billion (20% of the world's population)</ref> While 32% have identified with Protestantism in its various forms (208 prizes),<ref name="Nobel prize"/> although Protestants are 12% to 13% of the world's population.

===Government===
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During the [[Middle Ages]], the Church and the worldly authorities were closely related. Martin Luther separated the religious and the worldly realms in principle ([[doctrine of the two kingdoms]]).<ref>Heinrich Bornkamm, ''{{lang|de|Toleranz. In der Geschichte des Christentums}}'' in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band VI (1962), col. 937</ref> The believers were obliged to use reason to govern the worldly sphere in an orderly and peaceful way. Luther's doctrine of the [[priesthood of all believers]] upgraded the role of laymen in the church considerably. The members of a congregation had the right to elect a minister and, if necessary, to vote for his dismissal (Treatise ''On the right and authority of a Christian assembly or congregation to judge all doctrines and to call, install and dismiss teachers, as testified in Scripture''; 1523).<ref>Original German title: ''{{lang|de|Dass eine christliche Versammlung oder Gemeine Recht und Macht habe, alle Lehre zu beurteilen und Lehrer zu berufen, ein- und abzusetzen: Grund und Ursach aus der Schrift}}''</ref> Calvin strengthened this basically democratic approach by including elected laymen ([[church elder]]s, [[presbyter]]s) in his representative church government.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 4–10</ref> The [[Huguenot]]s added regional [[synod]]s and a national synod, whose members were elected by the congregations, to Calvin's system of church self-government. This system was taken over by the other reformed churches<ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', 11. Auflage, p. 325</ref> and was adopted by some Lutherans beginning with those in [[United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg|Jülich-Cleves-Berg]] during the 17th century.

Politically, Calvin favored a mixture of aristocracy and democracy. He appreciated the advantages of [[democracy]]: "It is an invaluable gift, if God allows a people to freely elect its own authorities and overlords."<ref>Quoted in Jan Weerda, ''Calvin'', in ''{{lang|de|Evangelisches Soziallexikon}}'', 3. Auflage (1958), Stuttgart (Germany), col. 210</ref> Calvin also thought that earthly rulers lose their divine right and must be put down when they rise up against God. To further protect the rights of ordinary people, Calvin suggested separating political powers in a system of checks and balances ([[separation of powers]]). Thus he and his followers resisted political [[Absolute monarchy|absolutism]] and paved the way for the rise of modern democracy.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', p. 10</ref> Besides England, the Netherlands were, under Calvinist leadership, the freest country in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It granted asylum to philosophers like [[Baruch Spinoza]] and [[Pierre Bayle]]. [[Hugo Grotius]] was able to teach his natural-law theory and a relatively liberal interpretation of the Bible.<ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', pp. 396–397</ref>

Consistent with Calvin's political ideas, Protestants created both the English and the American democracies. In seventeenth-century England, the most important persons and events in this process were the [[English Civil War]], [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[John Milton]], [[John Locke]], the [[Glorious Revolution]], the [[English Bill of Rights]], and the [[Act of Settlement 1701|Act of Settlement]].<ref>Cf. M. Schmidt, ''{{lang|de|England. Kirchengeschichte}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band II (1959), Tübingen (Germany), col. 476–478</ref> Later, the British took their democratic ideals to their colonies, e.g. Australia, New Zealand, and India. In North America, [[Plymouth Colony]] ([[Pilgrim Fathers]]; 1620) and [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] (1628) practised democratic self-rule and [[separation of powers]].<ref>Nathaniel Philbrick (2006), ''[[iarchive:mayflowerstoryof00phil_0|Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War]]'', Penguin Group, New York, {{ISBN|0-670-03760-5}}</ref><ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 65–76</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/ccflaw.html|title=Plymouth Colony Legal Structure|website=The Plymouth Colony Archive Project |first1=Christopher |last1=Fennell |access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=13 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413182727/http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/ccflaw.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.hanover.edu/texts/masslib.html|title=The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) |website=Hanover College History Department |access-date=13 March 2013|archive-date=20 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020095602/http://history.hanover.edu/texts/masslib.html|url-status=live}}</ref> These [[Congregationalist]]s were convinced that the democratic form of government was the will of God.<ref>M. Schmidt, ''{{lang|de|Pilgerväter}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3. Auflage, Band V}}'' (1961), col. 384</ref> The [[Mayflower Compact]] was a [[social contract]].<ref>Christopher Fennell, ''Plymouth Colony Legal Structure''</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and David Rubel (2002), ''The Story of America: Freedom and Crisis from Settlement to Superpower'', DK Publishing, Inc., New York, {{ISBN|0-7894-8903-1}}, p. 61</ref>

===Rights and liberty===
[[File:JohnLocke.png|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] philosopher [[John Locke]] argued for individual conscience, free from state control and helped influence the political ideology of [[Thomas Jefferson]] and other [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]]]
Protestants also took the initiative in advocating for [[religious freedom]]. Freedom of conscience had a high priority on the theological, philosophical, and political agendas since Luther refused to recant his beliefs before the Diet of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] at Worms (1521). In his view, faith was a free work of the Holy Spirit and could, therefore, not be forced on a person.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', p. 5</ref> The persecuted Anabaptists and Huguenots demanded freedom of conscience, and they practiced [[separation of church and state]].<ref>Heinrich Bornkamm, ''{{lang|de|Toleranz. In der Geschichte des Christentums}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band VI (1962), col. 937–938</ref> In the early seventeenth century, Baptists like [[John Smyth (Baptist minister)|John Smyth]] and [[Thomas Helwys]] published tracts in defense of religious freedom.<ref>H. Stahl, ''{{lang|de|Baptisten}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band I, col. 863</ref> Their thinking influenced [[John Milton]] and [[John Locke]]'s stance on tolerance.<ref>G. Müller-Schwefe, ''Milton, John'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band IV, col. 955</ref><ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', p. 398</ref> Under the leadership of Baptist [[Roger Williams]], Congregationalist [[Thomas Hooker]], and Quaker [[William Penn]], respectively, [[Rhode Island]], [[Connecticut]], and [[Pennsylvania]] combined democratic constitutions with freedom of religion. These colonies became safe havens for persecuted religious minorities, including [[Jews]].<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 99–106, 111–117, 124</ref><ref>Edwin S. Gaustad (1999), ''Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America'', Judson Press, Valley Forge, p. 28</ref><ref>Hans Fantel (1974), ''William Penn: Apostle of Dissent'', William Morrow & Co., New York, pp. 150–153</ref>

The [[United States Declaration of Independence]], the [[United States Constitution]], and the American [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] with its fundamental human rights made this tradition permanent by giving it a legal and political framework.<ref>Robert Middlekauff (2005), ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789'', Revised and Expanded Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, {{ISBN|978-0-19-516247-9}}, pp. 4–6, 49–52, 622–685</ref> The great majority of American Protestants, both clergy and laity, strongly supported the independence movement. All major Protestant churches were represented in the First and Second Continental Congresses.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 192–209</ref> In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the American democracy became a model for numerous other countries and regions throughout the world (e.g., Latin America, Japan, and Germany). The strongest link between the American and [[French Revolution]]s was [[Marquis de Lafayette]], an ardent supporter of the American constitutional principles. The French [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] was mainly based on Lafayette's draft of this document.<ref>Cf. R. Voeltzel, ''{{lang|de|Frankreich. Kirchengeschichte}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band II (1958), col. 1039</ref> The [[Declaration by United Nations]] and [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] also echo the American constitutional tradition.<ref>Douglas K. Stevenson (1987), ''American Life and Institutions'', Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart (Germany), p. 34</ref><ref>G. Jasper, ''{{lang|de|Vereinte Nationen}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band VI, col. 1328–1329</ref><ref>Cf. G. Schwarzenberger, ''{{lang|de|Völkerrecht}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band VI, col. 1420–1422</ref>

Democracy, social-contract theory, separation of powers, religious freedom, separation of church and state—these achievements of the Reformation and early Protestantism were elaborated on and popularized by [[Age of Enlightenment]] thinkers. Some of the philosophers of the English, Scottish, German, and Swiss Enlightenment—[[Thomas Hobbes]], [[John Locke]], [[John Toland]], [[David Hume]], [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]], [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]], [[Immanuel Kant]], and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]—had Protestant backgrounds.<ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', 11. Auflage, pp. 396–399, 401–403, 417–419</ref> For example, John Locke, whose political thought was based on "a set of Protestant Christian assumptions",<ref>Jeremy Waldron (2002), ''God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, New York, {{ISBN|978-0521-89057-1}}, p. 13</ref> derived the equality of all humans, including the equality of the genders ("Adam and Eve"), from Genesis 1, 26–28. As all persons were created equally free, all governments needed "the [[consent of the governed]]".<ref>Jeremy Waldron, ''God, Locke, and Equality'', pp. 21–43, 120</ref>

Also, other human rights were advocated for by some Protestants. For example, [[torture]] was abolished in [[Prussia]] in 1740, [[slavery]] in Britain in 1834 and in the United States in 1865 ([[William Wilberforce]], [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], [[Abraham Lincoln]]—against Southern Protestants).<ref>Allen Weinstein and David Rubel, ''The Story of America'', pp. 189–309</ref><ref>Karl Heussi, ''{{lang|de|Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte}}'', 11. Auflage, pp. 403, 425</ref> [[Hugo Grotius]] and [[Samuel Pufendorf]] were among the first thinkers who made significant contributions to [[international law]].<ref>M. Elze,''Grotius, Hugo'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band II, col. 1885–1886</ref><ref>H. Hohlwein, ''Pufendorf, Samuel'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band V, col. 721</ref> The [[Geneva Convention]], an important part of humanitarian [[international law]], was largely the work of [[Henry Dunant]], a reformed [[pietist]]. He also founded the [[Red Cross]].<ref>R. Pfister, ''{{lang|de|Schweiz. Seit der Reformation}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band V (1961), col. 1614–1615</ref>

===Social teaching===
Protestants have founded hospitals, homes for disabled or elderly people, educational institutions, organizations that give aid to developing countries, and other social welfare agencies.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 484–494</ref><ref>H. Wagner, ''{{lang|de|Diakonie}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band I, col. 164–167</ref><ref>J.R.H. Moorman, ''{{lang|de|Anglikanische Kirche}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band I, col. 380–381</ref> In the nineteenth century, throughout the Anglo-American world, numerous dedicated members of all Protestant denominations were active in social reform movements such as the abolition of slavery, prison reforms, and [[woman suffrage]].<ref>Clifton E.Olmstead, ''History of Religion in the United States'', pp. 461–465</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and David Rubel, ''The Story of America'', pp. 274–275</ref><ref>M. Schmidt, ''{{lang|de|Kongregationalismus}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band III, col. 1770</ref> As an answer to the "social question" of the nineteenth century, Germany under Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] introduced insurance programs that led the way to the [[welfare state]] ([[health insurance]], [[accident insurance]], [[disability insurance]], [[old-age pension]]s). To Bismarck this was "practical Christianity".<ref>K. Kupisch, ''Bismarck, Otto von'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', 3. Auflage, Band I, col. 1312–1315</ref><ref>P. Quante, ''{{lang|de|Sozialversicherung}}'', in ''{{lang|de|Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}'', Band VI, col. 205–206</ref> These programs, too, were copied by many other nations, particularly in the Western world.

The [[Young Men's Christian Association]] was founded by Congregationalist [[George Williams (YMCA)|George Williams]], aimed at empowering young people.

===Liturgy===
{{main|Protestant liturgy}}

===Arts===
{{further|Reformation#Music and art}}
The arts have been strongly inspired by Protestant beliefs.

[[Martin Luther]], [[Paul Gerhardt]], [[George Wither]], [[Isaac Watts]], [[Charles Wesley]], [[William Cowper]], and other authors and composers created well-known church hymns.

Musicians like [[Heinrich Schütz]], [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], [[George Frideric Handel]], [[Henry Purcell]], [[Johannes Brahms]], [[Philipp Nicolai]] and [[Felix Mendelssohn]] composed great works of music.

Prominent painters with Protestant background were, for example, [[Albrecht Dürer]], [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], [[Lucas Cranach the Younger]], [[Rembrandt]], and [[Vincent van Gogh]].

World literature was enriched by the works of [[Edmund Spenser]], [[John Milton]], [[John Bunyan]], [[John Donne]], [[John Dryden]], [[Daniel Defoe]], [[William Wordsworth]], [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe]], [[Friedrich Schiller]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[Matthew Arnold]], [[Conrad Ferdinand Meyer]], [[Theodor Fontane]], [[Washington Irving]], [[Robert Browning]], [[Emily Dickinson]], [[Emily Brontë]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], [[Thomas Stearns Eliot]], [[John Galsworthy]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[William Faulkner]], [[John Updike]], and many others.
<gallery>
File:Martin-Luther-Denkmal, Worms.JPG|[[Luther Monument (Worms)|Luther Monument in Worms]], which features some of the [[Reformation]]'s crucial figures
File:ReformationsdenkmalGenf2.jpg|The [[Reformation Wall|International Monument to the Reformation]] in [[Geneva]], Switzerland.
File:Albrecht Dürer - Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altar) - Google Art Project.jpg|The ''Adoration of the Trinity'' by [[Albrecht Dürer]]
File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - The Lamentation of Christ - The Schleißheim Crucifixion - Alte Pinakothek.jpg|The ''Crucifixion of Christ'' by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]]
File:Lucas Cranach d. J. - Adam and Eve - WGA05729.jpg|''Adam and Eve'' by [[Lucas Cranach the Younger]]
File:Huguenot lovers on St. Bartholomew's Day.jpg|''A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge'' by [[John Everett Millais]].
File:Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn - Return of the Prodigal Son - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Return of the Prodigal Son]]'', a 1669 portrait by [[Rembrandt]]
File:Vincent van Gogh - The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the Chevet - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Church at Auvers]]'', 1890. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, by [[Vincent van Gogh]].
</gallery>