Religious Diversity In The 1800's Analysis

“They are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness.” Was the way people thought about religion in 1800s. Although religion is one of the most common topics it has changed during time but some actions have not.It has been difficult for people to gain respect on their own beliefs. However, not everything today has changed, people are still considering others people's beliefs are lower than theirs. Religion from the present time compared to the 1800s has changed drastically.

Many people see American religious behavior or movements as similar and even identical-looking (at some times) to each other. This understanding is, however, simply inaccurate as best. Religious stirrings have spread throughout history in various different ways and channels. It is evident that the first European settlers in America developed colonies that prized religion very dearly. Many new colonists had even formed their colonists due to persecution in other countries where they could not practice what they were strongly convicted of. Once free to worship in the way they wished, religion, in many colonies, became strict and ritualistic. Many believed in one single faith, such as Puritanism or Separatism, and would not allow any heretical or contrary behaviors to be pursued. The people who had resented religious oppression would not allow other people in minority to practice what they felt was true. On the other hand, the Second Great Awakening, which materialized during the late 1700s and early 1800s, was a stark contrast to the stringent values the Massachusetts colonies had nurtured. Free thinking and new ideologies arose and abounded in the early 19th century. These two religious movements were far from being alike, even though they both centered around Christianity. The differences arose in the various doctrines, denominations, and dogmas the people held to in those two situations. These differences are important to understand in order to truly appreciate our

Most colonies had established churches, congregationalism was the official state church for Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Before the Great Awakening, colonial Americans had no expectation that there should be any separation from church and state. The Great Awakening got the British of North America ready for a completely different ideology and society. The Church of England lost members, most of them were normal people who owned a little property to no property. By the 1840s, the church by the name of Methodist Episcopal was the largest branch in the country.

In the year 1776, the American Colonies drafted the Declaration of Independence. This document symbolized freedom from Great Britain. According to Essentials of American Government Roots and Reform,” Englishmen and other Europeans left home seeking to enhance their fortunes. With them came a host of laborers who hoped to find their own opportunities for riches [in the American colonies]” (O’Connor, Sabato, and Yanus 6). As the colonies grew in size and stability, an influx of Englishmen came to America for a variety of incentives. Two of these incentives would include: recognition for accomplished goals and religious freedom. The desire of religious freedom led to the development of many colonies, faiths, and laws. In the

American Protestants had fought to hard, and with great struggles to go back to the way the religion of the past. From Jeremiah Moore Baptist preaching style, to the circuit riders and all their travels, trying to spread the new word, would mean they would have to go back to the Catholic ways.

Religious intolerance has a been a plague on our society throughout time. In the 1700’s my ancestor, a French Huguenot named Leonard Varnado, sailed to America to escape execution for his beliefs. He was not the only one, many people from France, England and Scotland traveled to America in pursuit of religious freedom. America was founded by the people who left their lives, homes, and possessions behind to practice what they believed freely. Today many Americans still face the same persecution that their ancestors sought to escape all those years ago. In 2015 Supreme Court gave same-sex couples their long deserved right to marry, but many people still protest it due to it being against their own religious belief system. In fact, Senator and

With both groups being constantly told that they could not worship what they believed in and worship in the way that they wanted to influenced many to look for a place to practice their religion outside of the kingdom. There was no significant democracy in America, let it be politically or socially. Politically democracy was absent do to the fact that the colonies were ruled by King James I. Early America was a place filled with many opportunities and was a place where many could start fresh. To Many early colonists America was place where they could seek the religious refuge that they had long been searching for.

Jews, Deists, and Catholics were the most dominant faiths. Although Catholics were the main faith practiced, others were undecided. Many people who came to America as search of freedom who were Jewish realized its okay to convert and adapt. Catholics were very welcoming and open. Many Catholics who which were being introduced to Christianity which allowed any faith to join and showed care. This was a very new thing religion and people began to love the

American history, itself starts off with religion and faith. Many people forget that America was founded on the basis of people trying to flee religious persecution in England. So,

Throughout the year Christians have strived to do the will of God. From to converting people into Christians to making a society pleasing to God. Christians in America have been present since the colonial times. In the late 19th century, they were still thriving in the United States. In the early 20th century they were still involved in the broader American culture, committed to shaping public policy and welcome in political life. But as time continued, evangelicals started to create their own subculture, no longer involving themselves in politics and the rest of the American culture. By mid to late 20th century, evangelicals saw that the nation was becoming further way from God and it was affecting them. They sought to partly reinsert themselves in the American culture and politics and found they were not as welcome as before. Even though they are not welcome, Christians must try to do the will of God by turn peoples eyes back to Him in everyday life and politics.

The seventeenth century in the history of American theology is highly relevant because of its large diversity. There were so many schools of thought that it made the identification of a single unified theme in all those individual movements almost impossible . The theological beliefs maintained and propagated among the different cultural groups in America, namely the Indians in New Mexico, the Anglo-American residing in New England, the Spanish and the French communities living in different parts of America, etc. all followed different religious beliefs1. The only commonality that all of these diverse theological groups had was, perhaps, the propagation their own beliefs and their persuasion of others to conform to those beliefs as well.

In today's America, religious diversity of any major religious tradition has become one of the strongest challenges to understanding itself and where it fits in America today. Leading too two provoking interdependent questions. One: How does a religious tradition see itself in the light of others? And two, how does it see other religious tradition in the light of its own teachings? So far in the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) over the span of the course we have seen in many examples of them being often accused of a predominantly intolerant and exclusivist attitude to all the other religions out there. Contrary to the stigma, the eastern religions in particularly Buddhism, enjoy the reputation of being naturally tolerant,

When the separatists made the trip overseas to the new world, they embarked on the dangerous journey in sight of a place to raise their children under a government that allowed them to have more of a say in the religious aspects of their children's lifes. The move to the colonies allowed the parents to better oversee the child's religious education, but this plan for a new land of religious freedom and concentration on God would eventually become overlooked. The colonists became disinterested in a relationship with God, attending church services, and even upholding moral standards. While being a church member was crucial to a citizens role in the town, the adults eventually saw little meaning in these requirements (Tracy, 2). “In the early days of New England, none but church members could hold any office, or vote at elections.” (1) The Puritans laid a discouraging amount of weight on a colonists to be a part of the church. “Exclusion from the Lord's table, -that is, excommunication,-was attended with the loss of certain civil rights, and, in most countries, followed by the infliction of

The article “America as a Religious Refuge” states “men and women, who in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe.” This means that when these people were discriminated against and looked down upon for their beliefs, they fled to America because they didn’t want to change their ideas and conform to Europe’s societal expectations. In Europe during the seventeenth century, the Protestants and Catholics believed that everyone

Many people converted to Protestantism as Catholicism was become much too controlling of people and individuals did not have as much freedom as they rightfully should have had. To add to this – King Henry VIII forced the Anglican Church upon English men which some obviously did not want to obtain. After this both Catholics and Protestants were rejected by their fellow Englishmen, fined, or even in extreme cases sent to jail. It seemed as if in this moment of time no religion could bond together the English people. All of these factors accumulated and religious warfare was prospering, blood was being spilled every day, so a considerable amount of people looked towards the North American colonies (to migrate there.) So the country was a religious, economic and political disaster, and many saw great promise in the New World, and believed they could create the perfect