Why Protestantism is linked to increased literacy?

Answer 1

Beacuse Protestantism was against several Catholic practices, for one ,people having to attend Mass - Which was spoken entirely in Latin by the priests & which of course, ordinary people could neither speak nor understand - during Mass, they were made to answer the priest's prayers by short Latin replies or prayers such as "Hail Mary" & "Our Father" but spoken in Latin; so they knew their prayers by rote, as well as the answers to the priests "Mea Culpa" prayers; but had no idea what they were saying. The Protestant Religion was in favor of religious services being conducted completely in the vernacular & Prayer Books equally being written in the vernacular . But MUCH more important - was the Protestant belief, that not only priests should have access to the Bible & be allowed to interpret it; but they believed it was the right & the duty of ALL Christians to read The Word Of God for themselves - not just resereved to a privileged few. This is why in many European countries & importantly; - during about the same period) religious men set out to translate The Bible; in order to make it accessible to all. And perhaps most important of all... This period happened to coincide with the invention of the printing press by Johan Gutenberg. Previously books had been painstakingly copied by hand - they were treasures reserved for only the very rich or were preserved inside churches & monasteries. . But after printing had been invented - it was possible to make thousands upon thousands of copies of the Bible at a price, even poor farmers could afford. The desire to read the Bible grew at a fantastic rate & because of the new invention - making reading the Bible not only desirable - but FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME POSSIBLE ALSO....Reading spread across Europe like wildfire. Everyone wanted to read ! They knew WHAT they wanted to read & could afford to do so. These were the main factors, why Protestanism played such a big part in setting the wheels of literacy in motion.