Religious Toleration Dbq Essay

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Prior to the 16th century all of Europe was Catholic. Because of the Protestant Reformation during the 16th, 17th, and 18th century, more religious minorities came about throughout Europe. This led to the French Wars of religion and to the topic of religious toleration, how much religious freedom the religious minorities should have. Some people had arguments and performed practices, both for and against religious toleration, some did it for personal gain and others for the concern of society. Many used writing to argue their side. Sebastian Castello, a French Protestant theologian, wrote about how different branches of Christianity are fighting and killing each other, stating who would want to be Christian with all this infighting (Document …show more content…

King Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes (1598), giving the religious minorities freedom to practice their religion in private (Document 3). Henry was a politique, meaning he believed political importance was above religion, so he issued the Edict of Nantes trying to gain support of his subjects. In 1691, a group of regents issued a contract with the Franciscan friar Egidius de Glabbais, authorizing him to open a new Catholic church in the city of Amsterdam, but with the building of the new church came some rules the people had to follow. No one was allowed to pass by the church in groups, with a church book, rosary or other item that can be considered offensive. Also, the entrance would be in the alley and not in the main street to not give any offense to other religions (Document 6). This gave a bit of religious freedom to the people of the town, allowing them the ability to practice their religion in peace. In 1583, the Catholic church chapter and the municipal council of Bautzen, Saxony agreed on a contract to allowing Lutherans of the town to practice their religion between a certain time in the town’s upper gallery of the church (Document 2). This, again, gave the people of the town some religion freedom to practice the religion they want in peace without being disturbed or harassed. King