FOUNDED: 1517 C.E.
RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 5.8 percent

Overview

Along with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism is one of the three major branches of Christianity. It is divided into numerous groups, often called "denominations," that are marked by their own institutional characteristics. Each denomination has its own history, and each possesses unique beliefs, emphases, organizations, and practices that set it apart from other groups in the Protestant family. These extensive differences make Protestantism appear fragmented compared with the highly centralized structures of authority that mark Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. A common conviction of Protestantism is that humans are saved not by good deeds or other actions but by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Humans receive this salvation though the work of the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the readers of Holy Scripture with the gift of faith.

The early Protestant groups emerged in sixteenth-century Europe...