"I'm In Love With a Church Girl."

[TheRealNorth]

4. I guess my view on the Protestant Reformation is that it was corrupted early on

I think the Protestant Reformation was corrupted pretty much from its inception by Kings and Princes who wanted to limit the influence of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. In essence, it was used from the very beginning for political ends.

Later, you had the Puritans and Calvinists who took it a step further where they tried to justify people who had political and economic power had that power because it was "God's will." It was essentially a decentralized version of the Chinese "Mandate of Heaven" where political and economic success is interpreted as having God's favor.

Not saying that Martin Luther didn't have a point when he nailed up his 95 Theses, but he would never have survived the Catholic Inquisitors if it wasn't for the German princes who saw the opportunity to weaken papal influence over their rule, and therefore protected Luther.