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The famous King James Version of the English Bible is named in his honor. He believed in the “divine right of kings” to rule, that this was a God-granted right, and this belief put him at odds with the English Parliament, which had a long tradition of power-sharing with the crown. James also tried to enforce religious conformity on the Puritans and other dis- Historical Background 25 senters with mixed results. James was succeeded by his son Charles I in 1625. Like his father, Charles wanted not only to rule England largely without the English Parliament, but he also wished to impose the Anglican religion on both England and Scotland.

S. Supreme Court in City of Boerne v. Flores overturned the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a case involving a church that wanted to expand its building despite city zoning rules prohibiting the expansion. The Court ruled that the statute was unconstitutional because it did not merely enforce the right to practice religion, but in legislatively overruling the Smith decision, the law also attempted to make an unconstitutional substantive change in that constitutional protection. By overturning the law, the Supreme Court opened the door to more regulation of religion by Congress.

On Henry VIII’s death his ten-year-old son Edward became regent for seven years and English Protestants gained power. However, on Edward’s death at the age of seventeen, Henry’s eldest daughter, Mary, a Catholic, became queen. Daughter of Catherine of Aragon, Mary had strong Spanish and Catholic ties and married Phillip, the king of Spain, who nominally became the king of England. Mary attempted to re-Catholicize England. ” There were mass executions, including three hundred burned at the stake as heretics.