What Does Protestant Mean?

Protestant or Protestantism is said to be one of the three main groups of Christianity, it refers to the three European churches that separated form the Roman Catholic Church, at the time of the Renaissance era of Protestant Reformation. Protestant can commonly be referred to as 'a Christian denomination which is not a part of the Roman Catholic Church or is an Orthodox Christian. During the early years of the reformation period the term protestant was used to describe a collection of princes and imperial cities who had protested against the decision of the 1529 Diet of Speyer and enforced the 1521 Diet of Worms.

In England however the word Protestant is also used to refer to the well established 'Church of England'. The Protestants who are not the members of this church are known as non-conformists.

A Protestant is a member of any of the Christian churches that separated from Roman communion (the Catholic Church) during the Reformation of the 16th century. A major founder of Protestantism was Martin Luther, a German priest who in 1517 wrote a "protest" attacking certain practices of the Catholic church such as the sale of indulgences (a system where rich people could pay to have their sins "forgiven" instead of doing penance.) He refused to retract any of his criticisms and publicly separated from the church.

Later in the same century, a number of new religious movements came into being, which refused to acknowledge the authority of the Catholic church and, therefore, of the Pope. One of these was the Church of England. These movements are still called Protestant, because they were founded on a protest. One version of Protestantism still in existence today is named Lutheranism after its founder.