How did the Reformation set the stage for the modern world? Give examples.

Hostilities between religions following the Reformation led many to leave their native lands and start over in the New World and later to stage new rebellions.

The 1517 publication of Martin Luther's "95 Theses" dates the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Observers always noted certain congeniality between Protestantism and Capitalism. The reform never had a chance at a Catholic region (where the church was such a strong native industry) even though the great banking families and merchant houses first emerged in the Italian city-states.

The sober, industrious lifestyle followed by most Protestants went well with the demands of making money in trade and industry. Economically, the northern countries and the Atlantic-based trade prospered during this time and many of the nations on the economic upswing were Protestant.

In the Netherlands, the southern towns like Antwerp (where Catholicism was imposed by the Spanish) lost out to the growing economic power of the Protestant. Northern provinces as many refugees fled the Spanish wars to make new lives in places like Amsterdam. Those towns and provinces that preferred to do business rather than enforce religious purity on their subjects did better in the emerging modern world.

In the news: A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for her Christianity gives birth in prison. Read more at CNN World.