An unmarried female ruler was inconceivable to sixteenth-century Europeans. There were two major threats to the peace of her reign, the reigns of Edward and Mary had left England as a divided country religiously. Elizabeth’s religious ideals were unknown, but both Catholics and Protestants hoped for her support. She brought Protestants who had been exiled back into England. As for the religious divide, Elizabeth created a Church of England where Protestants and Catholics alike could go to pray and let people decide what religion they would like to follow.
This managed to break the circle of organization so the members had no one to follow. Elizabeth also pushed for the suppression of prophesying, as it would cause controversy if they were to discuss everything they believed wrong with her Settlement. However, Elizabeth’s current Archbishop, Grindal, refused to carry out her orders and instead supported the idea. In reaction to this, Elizabeth dismissed him from his post and instead found a new Archbishop in 1583 that would be loyal to her, Whitgift. He forbade unlicensed preaching, and religious practices with the Queen’s assent.
So why then, do many churches refuse women the right to serve as leaders? Why did God include passages of the Bible that restrict women’s leadership? 'Women should listen and learn quietly and submissively' (Timothy 2:11), 'I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner' (Timothy 2:12-14).
The middle policy won lots of support, she said, ‘I will not make a window into men’s souls, there is only one Jesus Christ, and all else is a dispute over trifles.’ This decision was so important to her and England because if she would of chose the wrong choice for example make England Protestant then there would have been a religious war and the Catholics would rebel. Over all I think Elizabeth handled religion the best way she could because she made two
Out of the eight main points of the settlement, I found that Elizabeth had rules that would please both Protestants and Catholic’s. For example one of her new laws was too be in charge of the church (pleasing Protestants), but not called ‘Head’ and was supported by bishops (pleasing Catholics). Another example of a Catholic based law was some church courts would remain. This is seen as pro-catholic because Protestants were against any form of church courts. Yet, the settlement was clearly not entirely favourable to Catholics.
This hypocrisy, in Voltaire’s view, needed to be stumped out so as to transform life in Europe. The church, as depicted in Voltaire’s work, is one of the most hypocritical places. Although the priests and other religious leaders preach the idea of a perfect world, created by a perfect God, they fail to practice this perfection. For example, as Candide and Cunegonde are talking to an old woman, the latter reveals that she is the daughter of Pope Urban X and of the Princess of Palestrina (Voltaire 24). The satire in this is that catholic priests are meant to be celibate, therefore, raising questions as to how a pope would sire a daughter.
This has been greatly debated and in the end he didn’t become more tolerant towards the Catholics, he started to suppress them. In 1604 the Hampton Court Conference took place, the conference was called in response to a series of requests for reform set down in the Millenary Petition by the Puritans, a document which supposedly contained the signatures of 1000 puritan ministers. The conference set off with a meeting between James and his bishops about some of the Puritan complaints detailed in the Millenary Petition. The King, after ending his talks with the bishops, claimed he was "well satisfied", and declared that "the manner might be changed and some things cleared". Private baptism, especially when administered by women, would prove to be a more intense argument between James and his bishops, but James eventually persuaded them that only ministers should administer baptisms.
It was the undermining of her by the Bishops across England whose allegiance is still to the Pope rather than to a Protestant English Monarch. Elizabeth, and Walsingham, realise that she must act swiftly to reduce the influence of the Bishops or meet the fate that Norfolk eagerly anticipates at the very beginning of the sequence. The action she decides upon is to persuade Parliament to pass an Act of Uniformity whereby the clergy will agree to the use of one common prayer-book and to her position as Supreme Governor of the Church in England. The Sequence Opens with a static shot from behind Norfolk as he stands in front of a mirror (vanity?) dressing for the day in Parliament.
Also, Mary struggled to re-establish the Catholic faith as she was unable to restore monasteries and chantries and unable to restore land due to rested interests. When Mary came to power, she was determined to crush the Protestant faith. It was part of her policy to reverse the religious changes made by Henry VIII and Edward VI, she wanted to restore Papal Supremacy and she supported a reconciliation with Rome. It could be viewed that this was a public display of force to impress the Pope and exiles such as Reginald Pole. Mary’s chief advisor, Gardiner, supported this policy.
While Pope Gregory VII did not introduce the celibacy of the priesthood into the Church, he did take up the fight against the indecency with greater energy unlike his predecessors. The image most often used to describe the role of the priest is one of marriage to the Church. Just as marriage is the total gift of self to another, the priesthood requires the total gift of self to the Church. One of the most powerful advocators of priest celibacy came from St. Augustine, the renowned philosopher of western thought, as he