I was watching 'The Crown' on Netflix and decided to trace Queen Elizabeth's lineage back in time to William the Conqueror on Wikipedia, but once I got to Sophia of Hanover I read that she got the throne despite 50 some catholics ahead of her in line just because she was a protestant. The more I read about it the more confused I get... I just don't understand why protestantism was favoured so greatly that laws were written to prevent catholics from ruling, especially since I always believe england to be a very catholic place.
"I always believe england to be a very catholic place. " It's not, Catholics are a small minority in England. The majority of British Christians are Protestants. Today, baptised Catholics make up about 7% of residents of England and Wales, 15% of Scottish residents, and 40% of Norhtern Irish residents.
England became Protestant in the 16th century (because King Henry VIII wanted to take control of the Church). In the 17th century, several wars were fought between semi-Catholic monarchists and more hardline Protestant parliamentarians, and the Protestants won every single one. James II was overthrown by Parliament in 1688 for being too Catholic, and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband. A law was passed banning Catholics from inheriting the throne, which stopped James II's son (James the would-be III) from inheriting. After Mary died, her sister Anne (also a Protestant) inherited the throne. She died childless, and since her brother James (and his son and grandson) as well as all other Catholic cousins were all banned from inheriting the throne, the Protestant George I ended up inheriting.
Actually, anti-Catholicism was a very significant force in British history from the 16th century onwards. Catholics had to pay more tax, Catholic priests were at times hunted down, and Catholics were banned from voting until 1832. A group of Catholic terrorists tried to blow up Parliament with gunpowder and kill the King in 1605 (and British people celebrate the plot's failure every year at Bonfire Night, where effigies of the plot's ringleader are burnt, as are occasionally effigies of the Pope). Catholicism was one of the key reasons/justifications for the oppression of the Irish by the British; they were(/are) mostly Catholic, so were considered by the British to be backwards, supersitious savages who could not be trusted, as they might work with Britain's Catholic enemies (such as France and Spain) to try and overthrow the Protestant Monarchy. Since the 19th century, anti-Catholicism has declined significantly, but it was still a big issue in Northern Irish politics 20 years ago (which is as recent as we're supposed to talk about on this subreddit).