Protestantism is a form of Christian faith and practice. It began in northern Europe in the early 16th century.
It started as a protest against some aspects of Roman Catholicism.
Martin Luther, a monk, thought that the Church had gotten away from its original teachings. He wanted the Church to return to its ‘roots’. This included focusing more on the Christian Bible.
Luther published 95 theses (statements) criticising the Catholic Church of his time.
Protestantism became one of the largest forms of Christianity (along with Orthodoxy and Catholicism).
There are many branches of Protestantism. Different branches have different beliefs, practices, and ways of organising. The branches do not share a single leadership, unlike the Catholic Church.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Number of Protestants per country by Svenskbygderna using data from Pew Forum. Map via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0
