How did the religious reformation in England affect the colonization efforts in the new world?

The Protestant Reformation led to the stratification of western Christianity. Throughout the Middle Ages, there were numerous conflicts, but the Catholic Church acted as a sort of permanent "referee" and intermediary, since all Christian nations in the West submitted (at least nominally) to the authority of the Church. The Protestant Reformation ended that era. Protestants no longer acknowledged the authority of the Church, and individual Protestant sects did not acknowledge the authority of any other sect. This led, as mentioned elsewhere, to New World settlement as an escape from persecutions by Catholics or other Protestants.