Ozment heavily discusses the political side of Protestantism. He argues that the Protestants had just as many political and financial issues with the Church as they did spiritual conflicts. For one, the Pope would assign people positions of power within the Church, regardless of their capability to handle such a position, to the highest financial pledge. The way to be forgiven for sins was to travel to Rome and pay off the sins in an amount of gold. This was something the lower classes could not afford to do. Therefore, this movement started with the lower classes and later grew when the upper classes converted to Protestantism. The nobility of the time recognized the support they would gain from such a conversion since many Protestants were from more rural areas and were of lower income. Such an act would gain popularity amongst the masses, resulting in more political and social power.
This reading was an interesting contrast between the memoir (at least that is what it seemed like to me) written by Keillor. Here, Protestantism is described more in a moral light than in a political one. However, the dynamic between the Catholics, The Brethren, and The Cox Brethren in St. Cloud is really interesting. Keillor describes a moral hierarchy between the three aforementioned groups. The small group at Aunt Flo’s house (The Brethren) had no television whereas the St. Cloud Brethren had televisions in the places that they worshiped. This made The Brethren morally better than the St. Cloud group. However, the two Protestant groups were still considered to be better than the Catholics and the Lutherans because they were simpler.
The memoir reinforces Ozment’s claim that the separation of the Protestants from the Catholic church had just as much of a socio-economic motive as it had a morality conflict. In fact, it shows the intertwined result of the two by combining the expression of wealth with a more negative image while living and worshiping humbly is seen as more morally upright. This stigma is hundreds of years old and is still held to be true today as Keillor points out.