beleifs of one

Religious beliefs
Cromwell's understanding of religion and politics were very closely intertwined. Cromwell was a committed Puritan, and as such an opponent of the High Church innovations of Charles and Archbishop Laud. His main point of reference was the Bible, and he placed considerable emphasis throughout his life on liberty of conscience. He strongly believed that all "true" Christians (from which he excluded Roman Catholics) had a right to worship as they pleased. He welcomed followers of many radical sects into the ranks of his New Model Army, including Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchists and gave them toleration during his Protectorate. As Protector, he disestablished the Church of England and abolished the Anglican Hierarchy. He also re-admitted Jews into England in this period and tolerated the practice of their religion. One of the main reasons for Cromwell's opposition to Charles I before the Civil Wars was the persecution of radical Protestant groups.
He was passionately opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of the Bible in favour of Papal and Clerical authority, and which he blamed for tyranny and persecution of Protestants in Europe. Cromwell's feelings of association between Catholicism and persecution were deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641. This rebellion was marked by massacres by Irish Catholics of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, which were wildly exaggerated in Puritan circles in Britain. This would be one of the reasons why Cromwell acted so harshly in his later military campaign in Ireland. Addressing the Irish defenders of New Ross in 1649, while negotiating the surrender of the town, Cromwell stated, "if by liberty of conscience you mean the liberty to exercise the Mass... where the Parliament of England has authority, that will not be allowed of." In a letter to the Irish Catholic Bishops later that year he wrote, "you are part of the Anti-Christ and before long you must have, all of you, blood to drink."
He became associated with the Independents, those who argued for religious freedom for all Protestants in a post-war settlement. His belief in both liberty of conscience and liberty of congregations caused him to reject the Scottish model of Presbyterianism, which threatened to replace one authoritarian hierarchy with another.
Finally, Cromwell was also a firm believer in "Providentialism" - the belief that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of 'chosen people' (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction.