THE BUTT UGLY REFORMATION

The original Protestants were exponents of the state as a religious society.
The later Protestants became the allies of individualism and the secular state.
At the back of everything...was the tragedy of the Reformation, the havoc caused by the co-existence of two forms of religion in the same society.
Butterfield, p 86-7

We of the present-day can be thankful for the religious quarrels of the 16th century, as we are thankful for the Black Death and the Fire of London...p 89