View source for Principal Christian denominations in the UK since the Reformation

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Principal Christian denominations in the [[UK]] since the [[Reformation]]. (As AWE is written primarily for students in [[Higher Education]] in the [[British Isles]], we make no apology for the narrowness of the focus of this page.) 

Since the time of the [[Protestant]] [[Reformation]] the [[Anglican]] Church (or [[Church of England]]) has been the [[established]] church in England, and until the last century has been the [[denomination]] to which the majority of the population belonged. However, since the sixteenth century other churches have been founded in the United Kingdom by those who were unable, for one reason or another, to remain within the [[Church of England]]. Of these [[non-conformist]] [[denomination]]s, i.e, [[Protestant]] [[denomination]]s other than the [[Church of England]], the three principal ones are:

*the '''[[Congregational Church]]''', which traces its origins to the ideas of a sixteenth century [[Anglican]] clergyman, Robert Browne (c1550-c1633), who believed that each congregation (i.e., each group of Christians in a particular locality) had the right to choose its own clergy independently of any oversight by a higher ecclesiastical authority (such as a bishop). In 1972 the [[Congregational Church]] in England and Wales merged with the [[Presbyterian Church]] in England to form the [[United Reformed Church]].

*the '''[[Baptist Church]]''', which owes its foundation to an Anglican clergyman, John Smyth (c1570-1612), who at the beginning of the seventeenth century was influenced by the views of Jacobus Arminius (Jacob Harmensen, 1560-1609), a Dutch theologian strongly opposed to John Calvin's doctrine of [[predestination]]. The first [[Baptist Church]] was built in London in 1612.

*the '''[[Methodist Church]]''', which grew out of the activities of John Wesley (1703-1791), an [[Church of England|Anglican (member of the Church of England)]] clergyman who led a revivalist movement within the [[Church of England]]. The formal break between Wesley's followers, the 'Methodists', and the [[Church of England]] occurred in 1795 after Wesley's death.

*the [[Church of Scotland]], the [[established]] church in its own country and guaranteed independence by the [[Act of Union]]. The '[[Kirk]]' of Scotland is a [[presbyterian]] church. It has had its own splits, and such sub-denominations as the Free Church of Scotland, the United Free Church of Scotland, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Associated Presbyterian Churches and the Free Church of Scotland still exist.

**The '''Church of Ireland''' is a branch of the Church of England. Unlike the Church in England, it has not been the [[established]] church in its own Province since 1971. It operates throughout the island of Ireland; but in the Republic of Eire, by far the majority of Christians belong to the [[Roman Catholic]] church. Other denominations, chiefly [[presbyterian]], have vigorous existence in Northern Ireland.

**The '''Church <u>in</u> Wales''' (a name adopted almost accidentally rather than the favoured 'Church <u>of</u> Wales') is another branch of the Church of England. It was dis[[established]] in 1920

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