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The Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on the Counter-Reformation contains the following, which I found provocative:

For the principles of the Protestant Reformation are to Catholics principles leading to deformation and to the perpetuation of abuses, such as the subservience of Church to State, or the marriage of the clergy, to say nothing of doctrinal error.

Is it really valid to say that Protestantism made the church subservient to the state? Doesn't Luther's doctrine of the two kingdoms sound a lot like separation of church and state rather than subservience? Is this just a back-handed slap at Henry VIII, as opposed to a realistic appraisal of the Reformation in general?

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  • I would think it's mostly directed at the Church of England. Calvin, for example, had a pretty good hold over the State, not the State over Calvin.
    – user1973
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 20:41
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    Take this as you would anything coming from the mouth of a politician or anyone with their own axe to grind. Note the phrase "leading to...". This is someone's fearful warning of a perceived slippery slope, not a reflection of reality.
    – user18963
    Commented Jun 28, 2016 at 22:48

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