US Religious History Overarching Ideas 1 2 America was is regionalized Creation of a shared identity and past A Separation of church and state was is a process A Made a law in the Constitution Took about 200 years from the first Colonists to Known as imagined communities 3 establish B Cases still made today based on this idea I New England and Religious Freedom 1 Massachusetts the Puritan colonies A Movement inside Anglicanism B Wanted to purify Church of England from Catholicism a b c Came from England to form a Commonwealth in the Colonies No idea of separating church and state yet Predestination god determines whether a person is saved or damned Good acts will not help Rigid behavior was practiced to show that God saves them 1 2 Working hard is considered a virtue Brings about the modern idea of the Protestant Work Ethic 3 Struggling in life will bring rewards weather sucked 2 Rhode Island became a colony when people were kicked out for being more lenient in 3 Puritanism Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson A Pennsylvania Mennonites A Fled Europe when they could not convert people created a form of withdrawal a Groups today include the Amish Pennsylvania Dutch Spread of dissenters Colonizers are invaders Europe was crowded but America has lots of land to disperse people idea of the Promised Land Canaan America is the New Canaan Used the bible as justification Another form of justification was economic ideas about land Wanted the Native Americans to use it or move it II Southern Colonies and Social Stability 1 Cash colonies European companies were sent to America for business The Virginia Company A Pro Anglicanism the established church of the colony a As the state church members must go to church a certain amount of time pay taxes to the church etc B Non Anglicans Presbyterians scots Irish Baptists anti monarchy a b Toleration the state s permission to be of a different religion a People sent to jail if do not get permission Baptists don t care to get approval Pre revolutionary fervor shown by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson politicians a b c 1776 the Declaration of the Rights of Man is passed 1786 disestablishes the Anglican Church in Virginia a Ideas of anti monarchy and separation from England emerge Virginia legislature passes Freedom of Religion law Politicians try to get the baptists and non Anglicans on the revolutionary side Church and state may be separated in Virginia but there are still state churches C D E F in other parts of America The imperial church evolves to become many national churches II Protestant Reformation 1 Holy Roman Empire Anglicanism Lutheranism Calvinism 2 A series of bloody wars as your regio king so your religion religio 3 Enlightenment period brings about new ideas of freedom 2 People should be allowed to not believe the national religion John locke s Letter on Toleration A Focus on the individual A B Religion is a matter based on the private conscience Idea found in many books from many philosophers Results on separating church and state 4 Defining what is religion Becomes an ongoing govt problem Religion is nearly impossible to define Protestant diversity People question who is in charge A 3 4 5 Kings argue that God chose them to be on the throne With no king in America who a b is in charge of the religion New England focuses on highly educated clergy 1 The South focuses on a personal experience Personal authority 1 Methodists baptists Result in the foundation of Harvard and Yale III Jefferson s Wall of Separation Letter to Danbury Baptist Assoc In 1802 Located in Connecticut which established Congregationalism The last state to have an established church Writes to this group as a way to have them support him actions of a politician The first Democratic republican political party that favors states rights 1800 Jefferson becomes President Jefferson highly values free inquiry People should have an opportunity to step away from authority so that they can find the truth rational Christianity in their own way Believes Jesus is the best moral philosopher but doesn t believe in the Resurrection Results on him making his own Bible by cutting out the parts this the thinks are truthful and rational Arguments on the Wall Religion is pushed out of public space favored by Secularism in France Religion is protected from the state favored by Pluralism Chosen by America Pluralism for all people religions can be in public space Indigenous Religions The problem with the word indigenous Meant for only local communities Called tribal small scale primitive However world religions come from local communities ie Hinduism Came from 19th century human Darwinism idea that Europeans are the stronger race Syncretism The definition assumes that religions are pure and unique from other religions All religions are technically syncretic ex Catholicism brought in Jewish customs Many key terms used to compare religions are from indigenous religions Ex Shaman is a Siberian word for someone who has an experience with the divine A prophet is the same name as shaman but in judeo Christian religions The sources are biased from foreign European explorers missionaries traders Anthropology study of humans Ethnography study of taking notes gathering info about particular groups of people One perspective you can only report what people claim about themselves Other perspective you can analyze what people can t see about themselves they take their customs and lifestyles for granted Indigenous is another way to say not Indo European which groups everything other than the religions in Europe together The specific group of indigenous people being discussed Native Americans specifically the Lakota 4 5 C Visions D E Lakota a confederation of tribes Located in the Plains Dakotas Black Hills northern Kansas 1 2 3 Wakan Tanka the creator god A B Has manifestations a polytheistic form Similar idea to Christian God Sacred space a practical relationship with nature their way of interacting with the divine Axis Mundi the line that connects the real world to the spiritual world Sweat lodge place to meditate and pray speak mantras a Sometimes perform self flagellation hitting oneself Dance a form of problem solving how to solve the world s problems ex A bad crop a b The Sun dance traditional Lakota practice Ghost dance a way to bring all the ancestors dead back 1 Way to bring back the buffalo 2 Way to have the white people to disappear 3 Reason for many of the economic political and military
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