What if~The Protestant Reformation never happened?

Throughout the history of the world, Christianity has changed from a small, insignificant sect to one of the most practiced religions in the world. There are many types of Christianity.

There's Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestantism. Protestantism is what we're going to focus on in this alternate scenario.

It all began with a Christian Monk in the 16th Century named *Martin Luther,*he has seen the corruption from within the Catholic Church and tried to reform it.

In the 16th century, if you had the Gaul to speak out against the Catholic Church, well you'll soon find yourself in hot water, and Luther eventually suffered this fate, and eventually, his teachings would bring about what is known as the Protestant Reformation which helped Europe go on the path of the modern nation-state.

So, this brings up an alternate scenario. What if the Protestant Reformation never happened?

This is what this page will try to cover, but first (and always) some historical context, just scroll down to the "What if?" section of this page if you just want to read about the scenario.

## Real History

Martin Luther was born in the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany) and he was raised to become a Christian Friar. But as he began to learn more what is going on from within the Church, this is where he began to question the Church's motives as (during this time) had their fingers in many European Pies as they (publically) held charities and even had control over the wealthy elite, but was corrupt from the inside.

This is when we wrote up his protests against the Church which were called *"The 95 Theses"*, and nailed it to the Doors of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg.

Though, he didn't nail his theses to the door of the Church, contrary to popular thought.

In Luther's teachings, he believed that religious salvation can be achieved in faith in Christianity alone and not necessarily through religious practice. He was also against the *Sales of Indulgences* which is.....like an insurance policy for the afterlife for peasants.

Eventually, the Catholic Church brought in Luther to discuss his claims and teachings. Unfortunately, by this time Luther became more radical in his own beliefs and even went to the extent of believing that the Papacy was evil.

Well, congratulations Mr. Luther, you just found yourself in hot water.

Eventually, in 1521 Luther would be permanently excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

Nevertheless, his teachings would continue to spread all over Europe, turning nations at the time such as Germany, Scandanavia, and even Great Britain would convert to Protestantism, this would create a rift between Catholicism and Protestantism, and soon we have the Protestant Reformation, and with it, a series of other events would happen. One of them is the *"Thirty Years War"* where nearly half of the Holy Roman Empire's population would be killed (and begin a fierce rivalry between Germany and France.

Soon, Catholics would increase persecution towards Protestants, and thus a *"Counter-Reformation"* occurred in European nations such as Spain, Portugal, and Italy. But then, the Thirty Years War turned from being about religion and more about politics. But eventually, the fighting would end as both sides realize that what they were doing was pointless, and the fighting ended as did the Protestant Reformation.

## One thing

One thing before we talk about the alternate scenario is that Martin Luther wasn't the first person to question the teachings of the Catholic Church, there were others but the Church silenced them before they could make a large scale impact.

This didn't happen with Luther as he had the aid of (for the time) a new invention, the Printing Press (made by Johannes Gutenberg) which helped him spread his teachings easy, quick, and on a large scale.

He also translated the bible into German (and eventually into other languages such as English, Spanish, French, and Italian), before that the Bible was written only in Latin, and since for the time Latin was an exclusive language for Church Officials and the Clergy, the people only knew of the bible from what Church Officials told them. But with Luther's help to mass-produce the Bible, the people began to learn what the Bible meant and came up with their very own beliefs (like Luther) and this is where the Reformation began.

## What if?

So now, the question of the day. What if the Protestant Reformation never happened? What would Europe and eventually the world would be like?

In this alternate reality, Luther either was never born or suffered the same fate as other reformists before him, before he could get his teachings to the masses.

What does this do? Well, not only would it keep the Church stable, but also it's corrupt secrets, well......a secret.

One thing that would be different is that the Thirty Years War would never happen and thousands of German people never die, and a Counter-Reformation where thousand more people would be persecuted for their beliefs.

Other reformists besides Luther (such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli) would more than likely be silenced or never send out their teachings.

We go now to Great Britain as this concerns them too.

### In Britain

During the reign of Henry the 8th, and because his first wife, Catherine of Aragon failed to give him a male heir, he wanted his marriage to Catherine to be annulled, but the Pope quickly denied his request.

This would make Henry create Britain's church (the Church of England) and changed England (and eventually Great Britain) from a Catholic Nation to a Protestant one, but it was more about getting his marriage annulled (and marry Anne Boleyn) and less about reforming the Church.

In this alternate reality without the Reformation, Henry the 8th would be married \*only\* to Catherine of Aragon and not to 6 women, especially Anne Boleyn who was a hardcore Protestant, and because of this wasn't very popular in Henry's court (meaning other members). This would also change the entire destiny of Great Britain, even though it wasn't directly involved in the protestant reformation, but Henry changing Britain's primary religion, Britain was very much a part of the Protestant Reformation

This can have some ramifications as whoever becomes the next ruler (whether it be a man or a woman) would not only continue the Tudor period but also Spain (which was Britain's big rival during the early period of colonization) wouldn't go to war as the next ruler of Britain wouldn't be Protestant.

What about the Americas?

### The Americas

Not much would change in Europe's desire for colonization, there's reason to believe that nations like Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and others would try to travel and colonize the Americas, but without a reformation, more than likely, North, Central, and South Americas would be Catholic.

This can also have an effect on religion in the USA (once it forms), religions such as Southern Baptism and Mormonism would either be very different or not exist at all.

### Other Things

Now, it's difficult to say what kinds of conflicts would take place. As said earlier on this page, the Protestant Reformation put Europe on the path of the Modern Nation-State as well as other things as well, but some religious conflict could occur, but several centuries later than in our reality. Possibly in other parts of the world, and it's difficult to predict what could happen after that and how Catholicism would get along with other religions as Europe tries to spread its influence in other parts of the world.

Well, that'll do it for this page, what do you think would happen if the Protestant Reformation never happened?

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