It was really a no-brainer.
Government has no business doing anything but protecting us from other countries and each other.
The Protestant arguments were fraudulent because their whole purpose was anti-Catholic, anti-Jew etc. and seeking to impose a Protestant religious view on everyone through government. Most people were and are bigots of one sort or another looking to use government to indulge them, something not possible before about the 1850s.
Everybody wants to be Constantine. Government MUST be made too small for it. Bigots must not be able to use the state.
Those leading the charge sure held that point of view even if average folks were fooled by the propaganda about how much better society would be as a result. Well, fooled a bit and anxious to have a "free" education for their kids. There's always some sort of payoff to hook the average folks, right? Like being shed of the responsibility of taking care of your elderly parents or Home Equity loans to keep everyone using the loaded dice at the craps tables for as long as possible.
These days, Protestant folk are either just Secular Humanists with a tinge of a guilty conscience or social isolationists convinced they'll be extracted from the battle zone before the real fighting starts. Catholics, of course, are so busy trying to recover from those who really wanted to be Protestant savaging the Church since the sixties that their hands are full with internal battles.
One thing for sure, it's good tactical timing on the part of the fascists now running the country.