e rise of Protestantism as a major religious world force. England after the transition, however, faced constant threats of revolution and plot attempts on their king's court. The tragic rule of Queen Mary illustrates this point best. Like Akhenaton and Ergamenes she attempts to change her people's religion but, unlike the previous two mentioned, Mary attempts to bring a religion that her people traditionally serve, Catholicism, back to England. Her reign was filled with people being burned at the stake with the charge of heresy. Queen Mary's marriage to Philip II of Spain did not contribute in her endeavor of bringing England back to Rome's control. Mary's tragic reign ultimately ends in her death in 1558. She alone is responsible for the destruction and tragedy she brings to her people as Stuart E. Prall in his book entitled Church and State in Tudor and Stuart England explains: The belief that the people and the monarch should share the same religion Was deeply ingrained throughout Western Europe. It was Mary and her advisors Who forced Cranmer and England to choose[Protestantism]. Once Mary Combined mass burnings at the stake with a pro-Spanish foreign policy, all In the name of the Roman church, the eventual triumph of a monarchial EnglishProtestantism appeared to be inevitable.(68) The issue at hand with the Protestant Reformation is the a homogeneous people had deep religious divisions internally due to a shift in religious practice. Religion has both united and divided societies since the beginning of history. As demonstrated with the ancient Ku*censored*e, Greek, and Egyptian cultures, homogeneous societies use religion as a bridge further developing the interconnectedness of the group of people. The second distinction made in discussing whether or not religion unites or divides is understanding the origins and plight of the Crusades. When two homogeneous groups of people with differing belief systems collide, the...
