Why did some Protestants remove statues from formerly Catholic Churches? The reformers such as Luther, Zwingli and Calvin wanted to stay true to the Bible- the word of God, and to eliminate errors and authorities that seemed to be in contradistinction to the word of God. That is easy. Luther opposed the sale of indulgences that was ubiquitous and corrupting, the sale of relics that were normally bogus, the veneration of idols/statues and other items that had to much in common with pagan idolatry and so forth.
Since Martin Luther believed in a priesthood of believers that all Christians are priests he was inclined to be more egalitarian in his approach to reading the word of God. Since the Catholic church had eliminated the married priesthood about 400 years before, and because the New Testament elaborates that marriages is o.k. for Christians, though Paul said it is better to be as he was (single), Luther supported married priests (as apparently has the Catholic Pope recently as he suggested that be allowed again). About Protestants buying Catholic Churches- I think there is quite a lot of ecclesiastical history people are missing- such as the Smalcaldan War, the 100 years war etc that was more important to ecclesiastical structure control than real estate markets. Napoleon made St. Peters a stable for a time, yet consider what iconoclasts and others such as Muslims did to Orthodox and catholic structures alike- The Hagia Sophia- The Church of Holy Wisdom- was converted into a mosque, and communists converted churches into museum-while in Juneau Alaska, a Protestant Church was converted into a public radio building until the public radio network were able to buy a television station.
Since Martin Luther believed in a priesthood of believers that all Christians are priests he was inclined to be more egalitarian in his approach to reading the word of God. Since the Catholic church had eliminated the married priesthood about 400 years before, and because the New Testament elaborates that marriages is o.k. for Christians, though Paul said it is better to be as he was (single), Luther supported married priests (as apparently has the Catholic Pope recently as he suggested that be allowed again). About Protestants buying Catholic Churches- I think there is quite a lot of ecclesiastical history people are missing- such as the Smalcaldan War, the 100 years war etc that was more important to ecclesiastical structure control than real estate markets. Napoleon made St. Peters a stable for a time, yet consider what iconoclasts and others such as Muslims did to Orthodox and catholic structures alike- The Hagia Sophia- The Church of Holy Wisdom- was converted into a mosque, and communists converted churches into museum-while in Juneau Alaska, a Protestant Church was converted into a public radio building until the public radio network were able to buy a television station.
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