Conflict between Catholics and Protestants in England?

Answer 1

A most famous conflict between protestants and catholics was the spanish armada.

Elizebeth led England into battle against catholic Spain and won the amada despite having less ships.

The Armada was defeated as much by the weather as the British navy.The British had small nimble ships that could get in between the larger Spanish galleons.The Brits sent in fire ships that caused havoc amongst the Spaniards.Also the Spanish were relying on Dutch forces to bolster their numbers.The final straw was the awful weather the Spanish had to deal with.They had to travel around trhe British Isles up the East coast around Scotland & into the Irish sea.They suffered more losses to the weather etc than to actual fighting.

Answer 2

The "fight", as worded in this question, was over a matter Henry VIII started. In England at least but other countries religious historical matters pertain to more than this question implies the want to answer.

Henry VIII was tiring of his wife Queen Katherine of Aragon's inability to produce a male heir to the throne. The Queen was now too old to produce more children and had only given him the Princess Mary as an heir presumptive(she had male children but all died in infancy). As the result of this - and the persistence of mistress and future wife Anne Boleyn - Henry sought a divorce from his wife to marry the aforementioned Anne as a matter of lust and at the prospect of gaining a male heir. The Pope and he engaged in such a lengthy battle that Henry grew tired and made himself the head of the English church, creating the Protestant Church of England(though Henry himself remained a private Catholic for the rest of his days.)

When Henry VIII passed away, his daughter Mary I(commonly nicknamed as Bloody Mary and not to be confused with Mary Queen of Scots) became Queen after the death of her brother by her father's third wife Jane Seymour(Edward VI) and the controversial nine day rule of Lady Jane Grey. Mary had been appalled at her father's later treatment of her mother and, indeed, herself. She held on to the Catholic religion that England and her Spanish mother once held and attempted to change England back into a Catholic country by burning many Protestants for heresy.

After her death, her sister(the daughter of Anne Boleyn) Elizabeth I succeeded her as monarch. Her personal religious views were Protestant, thus changing the religion of the monarchy once more. Though Elizabeth was not tyrannical in her religious views as her late sister had been, this nonetheless will have added to later conflict.

Essentially, the vicious "topsy-turvy" nature of the English national religion during the Tudor Dynasty caused a divide between the two religions that would cause problems later, such as the banning of Catholic monarchs in England, which still stands today.

Answer 3

Roman Catholic AnswerThere are a number of reasons for the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Protestants, for the most part, have been raised with an instinctive distrust of Catholics. Remember there is a reason they are called "Protestant" because their religion did not come from Jesus Christ, but from "reformers" who were "protesting" the Catholic Church. The very first principle in Protestant theology, even if not openly stated is: The Catholic Church is wrong.

In addition, particularly in England, the Protestant Church - The Church of England was founded (unlike the other Protestant churches) by the government and nonconformity wasn't a sin, it was treason against the crown. Therefore the Catholics, who just wanted to continue in their age old faith were condemned as traiters against their own country.

In Ireland, the scene was even worse as conquerers from Another Country not only took over the country, but suppressed, often quite violently, the Holy, Catholic faith of the country.

Personally, I think that there is always a lingering doubt in any Protestant's mind when faced with the fact that Jesus Christ, quite obviously, and vocally, only established one church and promised to be with it until the end of time, has to leave a nagging doubt in one's mind when one realizes that one's church only goes back to the sixteenth century and was founded by a man or a government, not be God.

John 15:18-25 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love what is its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I have spoken to you: No servant is greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them works such as no one else has done, they would have no sin. But now they have seen, and have hated both me and my Father; but that the word written in their may be fulfilled, They have hated me without cause.

from Radio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942:

280. To what do you attribute the seemingly incurable hostility of Protestantism to Catholic claims?

I attribute it to the growth of indifference to all religion, to lack of knowledge of the Catholic Church, to inherited prejudices against that Church, to wrong ideas of the Christian faith, and to mistaken ideas of national loyalty. There is no doubt that Protestantism in general has led to a widespread indifference to the claims of religion. People don't bother about it. At the same time, whilst Protestantism has failed to hold the multitudes who have been deprived of the Catholic Faith, it has left a lingering poison of prejudice against the Church it abandoned. So it is that Protestants, who have no particular love for their own Churches, have an instinctive dread of Catholicism. It is not reasonable, and they cannot account for it. If they attempt to do so, they have to invent reasons which will not bear analysis. But the dread is there. And the more Protestant a country is, the greater its hostility towards the Catholic Church. Nonconformity, therefore, as a rule, is more hostile than Anglicanism. But besides inherited prejudices, all forms of Protestantism have a wrong idea of Christian faith. For Protestants, Christianity has become merely a subjective way of life to the exclusion of an objective acceptance of truth. They have had it drilled into them from pulpit after pulpit that "creed does not matter." That practically means that truth does not matter. They have the idea that not what a man believes, but what he does, is the sole criterion of goodness. Reason, therefore, takes a very secondary place, and religion is better measured by feelings of piety and devotion. Consequently, if Protestants have no religious feelings, they banish the whole problem. On the other hand, if they have religious feelings, they are content where they are, and do not bother to inquire as to whether the form of religion they profess is right in itself, or not. Finally, Protestantism and patriotism have long been associated in the mere thought of Catholicism. In any case, to become a Catholic is to violate the conventions. That is one of the things "not done." This is but a brief survey, and incomplete. But all these things, singly or collectively, with many others, contribute to the apathy or hostility of Protestants toward the Catholic claims.