@Walter Hinteler,
It was the established church, Walter. One could not hold public office unless one was a communicant of the Anglican Church. If you were to dig a little deeper, you'd find that the Restoration Parliament also took steps to exclude those professing any other religion from public office. There were a series of Test Acts, beginning in 1673, and the first was intended specifically to target James, Duke of York, who was (correctly) believed to be a secret Catholic. The RC Church later gave dispensation for Catholics to take Anglican communion to get around the Test Acts, so in the reign of Queen