<P> Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, who issued a protest or dissent against the edict of the Diet of Speyer, were the first to be called Protestants . The edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier . </P> <P> During the Reformation, the term was hardly used outside of the German politics . The word evangelical (German: evangelisch), which refers to the gospel, was much more widely used for those involved in the religious movement . Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them (e.g. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod). Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German - speaking area, such as the EKD . In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist . The German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism . The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore not to Protestantism as a whole . It traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States . The word reformatorisch is used as an alternative for evangelisch in German, and is different from English reformed (German: reformiert), which refers to churches shaped by ideas of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and other Reformed theologians . </P> <P> Protestantism as a general term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i.e. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy . </P> <P> Initially, Protestant became a general term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans . Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ . French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed (French: réformé), which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists . </P>

What does it mean to be a protestant christian