The Reformation Mistake

I'm becoming increasingly confused. We've been reading a book called The Voices of Morebath in my Christian History class as a tool to discuss the English reformation. The more we talk about it, the more confused I get - I'm sort of torn between "it was a good reformation that had to happen" and "what dumbass got it in his head to let this happen?"

The views are both valid, and I hate that I'm thinking either of them. To make matters worse, it turns out that England is like, the second most secular country in Europe, right after Sweden (who knew, it's NOT France!). I'm more or less convinced at this point that there was a reformation that HAD to happen, but it didn't, and in it's place, a bastardized reformation that screwed the English people out of church leaders who had backbone or religious stamina.

This is not to say that the Anglicans or Episcopalians (their American counterparts) are terrible or un-Godly people. I'm sure a bunch of them have a spirited heart for God, the same way that lots of Catholics and lots of Protestants have a heart for God. But, I'm pretty sure that, moreso than in Protestantism or even Catholicism, the Anglican church is a place of Sunday Christians. I'm in no way claiming that ANY church is devoid of this problem (the problem of devotion dates back to ... well, Adam and Eve), I'm simply saying that the more I read, the more I worry that the Anglican/Episcopalian churches are founded on the whim of a ruler who couldn't wait to bed a new wife, and eventually (at my last count) had a total of six of them, most of whom ended up dying in some grisly fashion or another.

I'm not sure what to do with this information. Does this mean that I judge the Anglicans in a way that's different from the way I judge a Protestant or a Buddhist or a Jew? No - I'm not supposed to judge anyone - that's God's job, and frankly, He can HAVE it. But man, it's way disappointing to read Christian history - God came all the way down here to help us, and in return, we screw up His church something awful. It's like taking a bonfire and dumping a bucket of water on it, then a hose, and then aww heck, let's just unplug the dam and let the lake put it out.

So I guess the point is to learn from our past mistakes. And man, we've got a LOT of them. Back to the books.