Let's not spread false rumors. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 pretty
much set up the nation state system we wound up with until the era of
the 2nd Reich. This system had religious overtones as it was intended
to solve 30 years of war basically about lay versus ecclesiastic power
with religion as the excuse. The many principalities run by
prince-bishops were not designed to be dynastic. The militarily
stronger lay states had designs on these states so that they could
pass them on to their heirs and increase their territorial power base.
At its core the peace gave equality to the Lutheran, the Reformed and
RC religions in the HRE. The Netherlands could do their own thing and
were split off the HRE and the Spanish crown. The term "cuius regio,
eius religio" was confirmed as the law of the land and set back to the
stand of 1624. The term roughly means 'whoever (runs/owns) the land,
sets the religion'. So it was that the lord of the land set the
religion of his subjects. That is why people beleive in one religion
or another. Henry VIII had set the example which is why we have the
Episcopal Church.
Within the neutral prince-bishopric of Osnabrück a special law was set
up whereby the rulers would switch from Protestant to RC with each new
ruler. The religious state of the people was thereby frozen in time
and they were not permitted to build new churches of another faith if
a church already existed. Otherwise church building thruout the HRE
was pretty much handled by the local rulers in conjunction with
discussions with the ecclesiastic bodies.
Prussia was the most liberal of the German states as the rulers let
their citizens decide on their own what God or religion to believe in.
Later that changed as a sort of Lutheran state church emerged.
In Northern Germany the prince-bishops of Münster had already
reestablished the Catholic faith among its subjects. The Niederstift
or lower part became part of the Grandduchy of Oldenburg in 1803 as a
totally RC entity. It is to this day part of the Diocese of Münster
even though it is surrounded by the Diocese of Osnabrück. While
Osnabrück and Hannover had its share of RC citizens from the 1648
treaty on, it can be said that other then the Westphalians and the
South Oldenburgers everyone else was Protestant and had no need of a
church for the other faith. All this changed as a result of the
refugee influx of post WWII. The last 50 years have seen a mixed up
population were religious domination of one over the other is no
longer a fight anyone engages in. Churches are built or closed as
needed by the population. More are closed then opened as religion has
receeded from public consciousness especially among the newer
generation. Less then 20% of young people think it matters as to which
religion one belongs to if any.
Fred