Quote from the article:
“In addition to the dramatic loss of these cherished protector figures, the parishes were also deprived of around 40 to 50 saints’ “holy days” (holidays) a year, when no servile work was allowed from noon the previous day. This was a dramatic change to the rhythms of life the country had known for centuries. The reformers were keenly aware this would boost economic activity, and welcomed the increase in output it would bring.”
Protestantism was supported by governments because, like Communism, it amassed wealth through theft and squeezing the peasants ever harder. In the process some Protestant governments banned begging which effectively starved out those viewed as unproductive.
“But by the late 1400s and early 1500s, religion had been taken over by the people — most notably in the form of the religious guilds that had mushroomed in every parish. For instance, King’s Lynn had over 70; Bodmin had more than 40.”
Yep, and the participation of common lay people in the religious life of the parish all but disappeared with the coming of Protestantism having been reduced to only formal worship services that everyone had to attend by law.
We have disappearing parishes right here in Indy!!
http://www.chron.com/news/article/3-Catholic-parishes-in-Indianapolis-set-to-close-5494743.php
especially in the case of Anglicanism, this lost the connection between the people and the Church, paving the wave for Methodism and now atheism in England