American Religious History 1 The United States was and is regionalized The religious context was is different in different parts of the country 2 The separation of church and state was a long process from the Protestant Reformation to the early US Republic a Protestant Reformation i The imperial church converts into the national church ii The holy roman empire turns into Anglicans iii Lutherans and Calvinist do not bring about separation of church and state iv Enlightenment comes about b Series of bloody wars as your region king so your religio religion c d John Locke s Letter on Toleration Idea that individuals matter i Religion becomes more private and in your conscience ii What is religion Government s problem iii Protestant Diversity iv Who is in charge 3 The United States is always making decisions about religion Often they address the question Are we a secular nation or a pluralist nation Massachusetts Bay Colony Plymouth bay and MBC are both Puritans reformation movement inside the church of England Purify because they feel it s still too Catholic Believe in countries having their own state church Even after the reformation their religion is not exactly a separation from the church and state but mainly separation from the Church of England Believe in predestination from John Calvin belief that when you are born God has already determined if you are damned or saved leads to a strict way of living so that they can prove they are saved Freedom for themselves not for individuals Common Law you are to be a good Puritan You have to work hard You have to work hard live a hard life and struggle referred to as the Protestant Work Ethic Puritans Effort to purify the Church of England of the remnants of Catholicism in church vestments Oliver Cromwell sought to unite Congregationalists Presbyterians and Baptists in a Puritan state church Predestination The notion based on faith in God as all powerful and all knowing that God anticipates or controls human actions and foreordains every individual to either salvation or damnation Protestant Work Ethic Work hard Max Weber argues capitalism can flourish in America before Europe because our first colony religion and economy are growing up together The Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism Think of the weather in unsettled New England work hard for the sake of working hard essentially Particularly comes from NE because winter was harsher and had to work harder to survive and eat New Canaan colonizers are invaders used the Bible to claim Promised Land New World is a New Canaan Virginia Virginia is a cash company Pro Anglicanism must go to church once a month even if not Anglican in Virginia Non Anglicans Presbyterians Scots Irish and Baptists immigrate into Virginia and this becomes problematic Rhode Island Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were exiled in believing in a slightly more lenient God Pennsylvania Mennonites fled Europe Withdrew from their movement gave up Establishment First clause of the First Amendment s section on freedom of religion prohibiting Congress from passing a law supporting the establishment of religion This has come to be interpreted as forbidding the federal government from supporting any one religion over another Some argue it forbids supporting in any way any religion at all Anglicans Henry VII wanted a male heir but his wife only had a daughter The Catholic Church did not allow him to divorce her so he created the Anglican church Church of England Known in the US as Episcopalian Presbyterians Calvinist churches in England are called Presbyterian as is the established church of Scotland Reformed churches do not have bishops instead the regional representative assembly the presbytery corporately performs the traditional tasks of a bishop including the supervision examination and ordination of candidates for ministry Presbyterians call a multi presbytery gathering a synod the old term for a meeting of bishops Presbyterianism has taken root on other continents through migration Presbyterians from England and Scotland settled in eastern Canada and the middle Atlantic American states as well as in New Zealand and Australia Dutch reformed settlers carried their tradition to South Africa and to New Amsterdam New York and Michigan In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Presbyterian missions from Britain and North America reached many parts of Asia and Africa Baptists Baptism was meant for adults not for young children because they are too young to decide or understand Believed the choice of religion should be kept private and beyond any interference by the state Real growth of Baptists began after the revivalist movement Great Awakening Held a large black population Official Toleration State s permission to be of a different religion Baptist would rather go to jail for making churches instead of asking for state s permission James Madison Develops idea of the separation of church and state Thomas Jefferson President in 1800 1st Democratic Republican President Believes that everybody has power people should rule for themselves and was contrary to the federalists N E Also loves enlightenment free inquiry Believes that Truth is in a rational Christianity Sees Jesus as the greatest moral philosopher and thinks that people will stray away from the miraculous teachings of Jesus Disestablishment advocated by Thomas Jefferson means the disestablishment of the official churches of the colonies An effort to separate church and state Adds to the theme of weakening the government and moving away from the strict official rule of Britain Enlightenment ideas about religion separation of powers in the government government should be formed based on the area they operate give people more freedom abolish huge wealth gap all are religious equal no absolute rule Wall of Separation Concept by Jefferson A letter to Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut established congregationalism Religion was out of public space Religion is protected from the state Basically protects religion from the state or vice versa Pluralism the principle that all religions are equally valuable should be treated with equal respect and should have an equal opportunity to play a role in public decision making Secularism Religion becomes more of a personal matter the principle that no religious group or institution should receive public support or play any role in public decision making The Jefferson Bible also known as The Life and Morals of Jesus
View Full Document
Unlocking...