Where was the protestant religion stronger?

Answer 1

the protestant religion was stronger within areas such as Switzerland, where a sect called Calvinism was started by John Calvin in the 16th century AD. Martin Luther spread his ideas with the printing press throughout the whole of the Holy Roman Empire. Many of the German states of the Holy Roman Empire were either Catholic or Protestant, which was based on the religion of the noble in the region. The Netherlands were also Protestant, which is one of the reasons why it revolted from the Spanish.

Answer 2

Protestantism can be said to have flourished best in northern Europe at its outset, during a time when there was an increase in dissatisfaction with feudalism, an increase in nationalism and a growing resentment toward the religious centre of Rome -- where a geographically remote city made arbitrary decisions for outlying areas of a different cultures and languages. Furthermore, the influence of the Enlightenment cannot be underestimated; it gave people the inspiration to question the religious, scientific, and political status quo.

If one argues that the reform movements of Lutheranism and Anglicanism are separate from protestantism, by virtue of their theological and liturgical catholicity, we can examine protestantism as originating out of the Calvinist and Zwingli-based anti-clerical, anti-sacramental, anti-Roman movements that gave us Dutch and Swiss Reform, Presbyterian, and anabaptist churches.

So beyond northern Europe and Britain, protestantism also flourished quite well in the fledgling USA, where the freedom of religion led to a freedom for people to create any manner of protestant churches and religious cults. When missionaries from these groups reached out to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia and Africa, their evangelism reached areas untouched by Catholicism (colonies of France, Spain, and Italy in North & South America, southeast Asia, and parts of North Africa).

Today, protestantism has morphed into evangelical fundamentalism as a dynamic source of conversions, and this movement is spreading throughout many parts of the world. But be warned that this is not necessarily a good thing.