Religion in Early Modern Europe
Further information: Witch trials in Early Modern Europe and Christian debate on persecution and tolerationThe time between 1550 and 1650 is commonly described as age of religious wars. The Protestant Reformation had divided western Christianity into Catholicism and Protestantism. The divide between the new denominations was deep. Protestants commonly alleged that the catholic Pope was the Antichrist. Conflict between Christian factions reached its height in France with the French Wars of Religion and the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
Outbreaks against Catholics also occurred in Protestant countries, leading to endemic conflicts in some areas, such as Ireland, where the British government imported Protestants and expelled Catholic landowners following a long period of conflict over control of the island.
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“It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion.
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