History Of Religion In The United States
The religious history of the United States before the colonial period was dominated by Native American religions. These religions exhibit much diversity and are often characterized by animism or panentheism. While there are many different Native American religious practices, most address the following areas of supernatural concern: an omnipresent, invisible universal force, pertaining to the "three 'life crises' of birth, puberty, and death", spirits, visions, the shaman and communal ceremony.
After European settlement, religious history began more than a century before the British colonies became the United States of America in 1776. Some of the original settlers were men and women of deep religious convictions. The religious intensity of the original settlers diminished to some extent over time but new waves of 18th-century immigrants brought their own religious fervor across the Atlantic. In addition, the nation's first major religious revival in the middle of the 18th century injected new vigor into American religion.
Wave after wave of ethnic groups from Europe (as well as other parts of the globe) brought along their traditional churches—some, especially the English and the German Americans brought along multiple Protestant denominations, as well as Catholicism. Several colonies had an "established" church, which meant that local tax money went to the established denomination. In general, the colonial governments were little involved in religion, and many denominations and sects flourished. Freedom of religion became a basic American principle, and numerous new movements emerged, many of which became established denominations in their own right. The heavy influx of immigration in the 19th and 20th century reinvigorated religion; in many cases, the immigrants became much more religious than they had been in the old country in order to assert their new complex identity. As Europe secularized in the 20th century, the Americans largely resisted the trend, so that by the 21st century it had become perhaps the most religious of all major nations, with religiously based moral issues (such as abortion) occupying a major role in American politics.
Read more about History Of Religion In The United States: North America As A Religious Refuge: 17th Century, Eighteenth Century, American Revolution, Great Awakenings, Emergence of African American Churches, Church of Christ, Scientist, Restorationism, Benevolent Societies, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Denominations and Sects Founded in The U.S.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, history of, history, religion, united and/or states:
“... it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the United States would have enfranchised its women en masse; and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the history of this period is written, [William Jennings] Bryan will stand out as one of the most remarkable men of his generation and one of the biggest political men of our country.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The Federated Republic of Europe—the United States of Europe—that is what must be. National autonomy no longer suffices. Economic evolution demands the abolition of national frontiers. If Europe is to remain split into national groups, then Imperialism will recommence its work. Only a Federated Republic of Europe can give peace to the world.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)