Protestant culture
Protestant culture refers to the cultural practices that have developed within Protestantism. Although the founding Protestant Reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of life: marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts.
Protestantism has promoted economic growth and entrepreneurship, especially in the period after the Scientific and the Industrial Revolution. Scholars have identified a positive correlation between the rise of Protestantism and human capital formation, work ethic, economic development, the rise of early experimental science, and the development of the state system.
The role of families, women, and sexual minorities
All Protestant churches allow their clergy to marry, in contrast to the Catholic Church. This meant that the families of many members of the Protestant clergy were able to contribute to the development of intellectual elites in their countries from about 1525, when the theologian Martin Luther was married.Historically, the role of women in church life, the Protestant clergy, and as theologians remained limited. The role of women expanded over time and was closely associated with the movements for universal education and women's suffrage. Political and social movements for suffrage and sobriety in the English-speaking world of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were closely associated with Protestant Christian women's organizations.
While particular Protestant churches such as the Methodists involved women as clergy or assistants since the late 1700s, the ordination of women as clergy dates from the 1940s in the Lutheran churches, and from the 1970s in the Anglican Communion. Since about 1990, many more women have assumed senior leadership roles in several Protestant churches, including the Anglican Communion and the Church of England.
Despite increasing acceptance for female pastors, in 2023, the Southern Baptist Convention -- the U.S.'s largest Protestant denomination -- voted by an overwhelming majority to restrict the role to men. In doing so, the Convention ejected five congregations with female pastors. To add this rule to the church's constitution, a second vote had to be held in 2024 and reach a two-thirds majority. The measure narrowly failed with 61% voting in favor. This prevented the preliminary ban from being added to the denomination's constitution, but did not change its doctrinal position. Some members felt it was not necessary to add to the constitution, since the denomination has adopted the practice of expelling offending churches. The Convention voted again by a 92% majority to expel a church which had allowed a female pastor to serve women and children congregants.
Since the 1990s Protestant churches have encountered controversy regarding the Church's response to persons of minority sexual orientations. The sometimes divisive nature of these discussions was exemplified by the formation of dissenting groups within the Anglican Communion that rejected reforms that were intended to make the Church more inclusive. In the 21st century, debates over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have led to splits within the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the American Baptist Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention. While in some cases individual congregations have left their denomination, in others, separate denominations have been formed in opposition to church policy.
Education
Since Reformers wanted all members of the church to be able to read and study the Bible and catechisms, support for education at all levels increased over time in Europe, the Americas, and in other parts of the world that were influenced by contact with European educators and missionaries. Compulsory education for both boys and girls was introduced. For example, the Puritans who established Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628 founded Harvard College only eight years later. About a dozen other American colleges followed in the 18th century, including Yale University. Pennsylvania also became a centre of learning. By initiating translations of the Bible into various national languages, Protestantism supported the development of national literatures.Some of the first colleges and universities in America, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Amherst, all were founded by mainline Protestant denominations.
Thought and work ethic
The Protestant concept of God and man allows believers to use all their God-given faculties, including the power of reason. That means that Protestant believers are encouraged to explore God's creation and, according to Genesis 2:15, make use of it in a responsible and sustainable way. Thus a cultural climate was created that greatly enhanced the development of the humanities and the sciences. Another consequence of the Protestant understanding of man is that the believers, in gratitude for their election and redemption in Christ, are to follow God's commandments. Industry, frugality, calling, discipline, and a strong sense of responsibility are at the heart of their moral code. In particular, John Calvin rejected luxury. Therefore, craftsmen, industrialists, and other businessmen were able to reinvest the greater part of their profits in the most efficient machinery and the most modern production methods that were based on progress in the sciences and technology. As a result, productivity grew, which led to increased profits and enabled employers to pay higher wages. In this way, the economy, the sciences, and technology reinforced each other. The chance to participate in the economic success of technological inventions was a strong incentive to both inventors and investors. The Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. This idea is also known as the "Protestant ethic thesis."Some mainline Protestant denominations such as Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Congregationalists tend to be considerably wealthier and better educated than most other Christian denominations in America, having a higher proportion of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita. Protestants are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business, law and politics, especially the Republican Party. Large numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families such as the Vanderbilts and Astors, Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Roosevelts, Forbes, Whitneys, Mellons, Morgans and Harrimans are Mainline Protestant families.
According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Episcopalians ranked as the third most financially successful religious group in the United States, with 35% of Episcopalians living in households with incomes of at least $100,000, while and Presbyterians ranked as the fourth most financially successful religious group in the United States, with 32% of Presbyterians living in households with incomes of at least $100,000. According to the same study there is correlation between education and income, about 59% of American Anglican have a graduate and post-graduate degree, followed by Episcopalians and Presbyterians.
Science
Protestantism had an important influence on science. According to the Merton Thesis, there was a positive correlation between the rise of Puritanism and Protestant Pietism on the one hand and early experimental science on the other. The Merton Thesis has two separate parts: Firstly, it presents a theory that science changes due to an accumulation of observations and improvement in experimental techniques and methodology; secondly, it puts forward the argument that the popularity of science in 17th-century England and the religious demography of the Royal Society can be explained by a correlation between Protestantism and the scientific values. In his theory, Robert K. Merton posited that English Puritanism and German Pietism were responsible for the development of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. Merton explained that the connection between religious affiliation and interest in science was the result of a significant synergy between the ascetic Protestant values and those of modern science. Protestant values encouraged scientific research by allowing science to study God's influence on the world and thus providing a religious justification for scientific research.According to Harriet Zuckerman's review of American Nobel Prize laureates from 1901 to 1972, 72% were of Protestant background. According to Zuckerman, Protestants featured among the American laureates in a slightly greater proportion than their prevalence within the general population. Overall, Protestants have won a total of 84.2% of all the American Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, 60% in Medicine and 58.6% in Physics between 1901 and 1972.
According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes, a review of Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 2000, 65.4% of Nobel Prize laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. While 32% have identified Protestant in its various forms. although Protestant comprise 11.6% to 13% of the world's population.
Government
In the Middle Ages, the Church and the worldly authorities were closely related. Martin Luther believed that the spiritual and secular worlds were governed by different authorities. This was significantly influenced by the fact that in his time, Lutherans were considered heretics and persecuted under Catholic rule. He believed that "true Christians" obeyed God's will without need for laws, while the secular authorities had no choice but to rule by force, dictated through laws and enforced by violence. Luther's doctrine of the priesthood of all believers upgraded the role of laymen in the church considerably. The members of a congregation had the right to elect a minister and, if necessary, to vote for his dismissal. Calvin strengthened this basically democratic approach by including elected laymen in his representative church government. The Huguenots added regional synods and a national synod, whose members were elected by the congregations, to Calvin's system of church self-government. This system was taken over by the other Reformed churches.Politically, John Calvin favoured a mixture of aristocracy and democracy. He appreciated the advantages of democracy: "It is an invaluable gift, if God allows a people to freely elect its own authorities and overlords." Calvin also thought that earthly rulers lose their divine right and must be put down when they rise up against God. To further protect the rights of ordinary people, Calvin suggested separating political powers in a system of checks and balances. Thus, he and his followers resisted political absolutism and paved the way for the rise of modern democracy. 16th century Calvinists and Lutherans developed a theory of resistance called the doctrine of the lesser magistrate which was later employed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Under Calvinist leadership, the Netherlands were among the freest countries in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It granted asylum to philosophers like René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Pierre Bayle. Hugo Grotius was able to teach his natural-law theory and a relatively liberal interpretation of the Bible.
Consistent with Calvin's political ideas, Protestants were key in forming both the English and the American democracies. Later, the British imposed their democratic ideals upon their colonies. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the British variety of modern-time democracy, constitutional monarchy, was taken over by Protestant-formed Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands as well as the Catholic countries Belgium and Spain. In North America, Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony practised democratic self-rule and separation of powers. These Congregationalists were convinced that the democratic form of government was the will of God. The Mayflower Compact was a social contract.
Protestants have always played a decisive role in British and American politics. The Act of Settlement stipulated that all British monarchs and their spouses must be Protestants. Except for John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden, both Catholics, all presidents of the United States have been members of Protestant churches or have had a Protestant background.