[Kerberos]

"He got the great majority of the Catholic vote anyway and that outweighed the anti-Catholic vote."

Yea but what was the big deal about him being a Catholic? I never did get that outside of something I come across years ago that alluded to the perception that since he was Catholic, his allegiance might be to Rome.

[RobbyS]

Goes back to the reign of Elizabeth I. When she became queen England was still a Catholic country, but during the next generation it became Protestant. The war with Spain capped the matter, and after the Catholic plot to blow up Parliament, Catholicism was regarded as unEnglish. The protesrant majority was suspecious of any move toward Catholicism. The struggle between Parlaiment and the Stuarts was caused in part by the fear that the monarch was about to become Catholic. Since the rule was that the ruler determined the religion of the country, this was big deal. James I was deposed because he seemed about to restore Catholicism. The Test Act barred Catholics from political life and the act of settlement in 1700, which is still in effect, bars a Catholic from the throne. The act of toleration allows freedom of worship for all Christians, except Catholics. The test Act was not repealed until 1829.
All this hostility toward Catholicism passed on to America.