Editing History of Europe (section)

===Religion===
{{main|Christianity in the 19th century}}
By the 19th century, governments increasingly took over traditional religious roles, paying much more attention to efficiency and uniformity than to religiosity. Secular bodies took control of education away from the churches, abolished taxes and tithes for the support of [[State religion|established religions]], and excluded bishops from the upper houses. Secular laws increasingly regulated marriage and divorce, and maintaining birth and death registers became the duty of local officials. Although the numerous [[Religion in the United States|religious denominations in the United States]] founded many colleges and universities, that was almost exclusively a state function across Europe. Imperial powers protected [[Christian mission]]aries in African and Asian colonies.<ref>[[James Harvey Robinson]] and [[Charles A. Beard]], ‘'The Development of Modern Europe Volume II The Merging of European into World History'’ (1930) v. 2 pp 88–89. [https://archive.org/details/developmentofmod007381mbp online]</ref> In France and other largely Catholic nations, [[Anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] political movements tried to reduce the role of the Catholic Church. Likewise briefly in Germany in the 1870s there was a fierce [[Kulturkampf]] (culture war) against [[Catholic Church in Germany|Catholics]], but the Catholics successfully fought back. The Catholic Church concentrated more power in the papacy and fought against [[secularism]] and [[socialism]]. It sponsored devotional reforms that gained wide support among the churchgoers.<ref>Kenneth Scott Latourette, ''Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, Volume I: The Nineteenth Century in Europe:  Background and the Roman Catholic Phase''  (1958) pp. 321–23, 370, 458–59, 464–66.</ref>