Page 211 - Prophet Jesus (Pbuh): A Prophet Not A Son, Of God

HARUN YAHYA 209

accounts between the two sides, the Thirty Years War (1618-
48), caused the deaths of more than a third of the European
population. The end result was a permanent mutual under-
standing that the new order, established under the Treaty of
Westphalia and signed at the end of the Thirty Years War, was
now the norm. And so it has remained, largely unchanged,
ever since.

After rejecting papal authority, however, the Protestants
were unable to replace it with another authority. Thus,
Protestantism developed as a dispersed and liberal religion
without a central hierarchical structure. Just about every
country established its own national church, and many sects
and movements emerged over time. As a result, today there
are hundreds of forms of Protestantism and churches. Most
of these are active in northern Europe and the United States.

The emergence of Protestantism was also important as
regards anti-trinitarian movements. After their overthrow of
papal authority, Christians were now able to read and inter-
pret the Good Book for themselves. The Catholic Church had
never allowed this freedom to its members. As a result of this,
some Protestants came to realize that there was no New
Testament foundation for the trinity, which constituted the
basis of Catholic belief. Indeed, it was evident that some pas-
sages rejected that belief. God is described as the One and
Only in these passages, and belief in the Three in One had no

place in the fundamental logic of the New Testament.
A very few Protestants therefore rejected the trinity. This
gave rise to the Unitarian Church.