Ten Little Known Points About American Religious History
Before y'all start tearing me a new one about the whole "separation of Church and State" deal, and about the Founding Fathers being deists, here's a few little historical tidbits that pretty much shore up my contention that, even with the separation, the United States is a Protestant country:
1. Yes, the Founding Fathers were (most of them anyway) deists. But, they still had a sense of faith and would not have thought of a country guided by principles other than the ones they'd grown up with--most of those being from a form of protestantism. (there have been several articles and scholarly books written on this one)
2. One of the reasons for the separation of Church and State was so that the various denominations of Protestantism wouldn't kill each other. When we were the 13 colonies, Quakers were hung, branded, and run out of New England, and the High Church Episcopaleans tried to make an economic bulwark against other groups in places like Virginia.
3. However, Separation of Church and State didn't stop the Mormons from being run out of every place in they went to until they hit Utah. They were massively persecuted. John Smith, their founder, was murdered by an angry mob.
4. This also didn't stop persecution of Catholics. The only Catholic colony, originally, was Maryland which was supposed to be a safe haven for Cavaliers. However, it was given over to Protestant governments because of economic mismanagement and the Catholics were given special permission to continue doing business there.
5. Full-blown Catholic persecution commenced in the late 18th century with the first wave of Irish immigrants. It continued through the 19th century and into the early 20th. Remember "Irish need not apply."
6. Columbus Day was founded so that the violence against Italian immigrants (primarily Catholic) would cease.
7. The KKK was huge on Catholic hatred. Burning crosses and running folks out of town was not uncommon. The majority of KKK members, when it was in full disgusting glory in the 1920's, were Methodists (although they've changed their ways since then) and many were prominent business leaders and politicians.
8. For many generations, it was best if you were some sort of protestant if you wanted to get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Occasionally, exceptions were made for Jews, but they weren't fond of Catholics until much, much later. If John Kerry were born in the 19th century, he probably never could have got into Yale.
9. F.D.R. once said that Jews and Catholics were living in America "under sufferage" and had to mind their p.'s and q's on many things. Basically, as long as Catholics and Jews outwardly acted protestant, everything was o.k. (Michael Benchsloss's book on this one)
10. If the religious denomination of our leaders wasn't such a big deal (as the Church and State doctrine leads us to think), then why was J.F.K's Catholicism (and before him, Al Smith's in the 1920's) such a Big Deal? Al Smith's Catholisim was part of what lost him the 1928 election, and Kennedy had to make statments that his allegiance was to the United States and not to Rome.
So, there you have it. I could go on, but it's late and I'm not about to whip out every history book I own for a blog entry. Maybe a full-blown article but not a blog entry.
Religion and Politics
1. Yes, the Founding Fathers were (most of them anyway) deists. But, they still had a sense of faith and would not have thought of a country guided by principles other than the ones they'd grown up with--most of those being from a form of protestantism. (there have been several articles and scholarly books written on this one)
2. One of the reasons for the separation of Church and State was so that the various denominations of Protestantism wouldn't kill each other. When we were the 13 colonies, Quakers were hung, branded, and run out of New England, and the High Church Episcopaleans tried to make an economic bulwark against other groups in places like Virginia.
3. However, Separation of Church and State didn't stop the Mormons from being run out of every place in they went to until they hit Utah. They were massively persecuted. John Smith, their founder, was murdered by an angry mob.
4. This also didn't stop persecution of Catholics. The only Catholic colony, originally, was Maryland which was supposed to be a safe haven for Cavaliers. However, it was given over to Protestant governments because of economic mismanagement and the Catholics were given special permission to continue doing business there.
5. Full-blown Catholic persecution commenced in the late 18th century with the first wave of Irish immigrants. It continued through the 19th century and into the early 20th. Remember "Irish need not apply."
6. Columbus Day was founded so that the violence against Italian immigrants (primarily Catholic) would cease.
7. The KKK was huge on Catholic hatred. Burning crosses and running folks out of town was not uncommon. The majority of KKK members, when it was in full disgusting glory in the 1920's, were Methodists (although they've changed their ways since then) and many were prominent business leaders and politicians.
8. For many generations, it was best if you were some sort of protestant if you wanted to get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Occasionally, exceptions were made for Jews, but they weren't fond of Catholics until much, much later. If John Kerry were born in the 19th century, he probably never could have got into Yale.
9. F.D.R. once said that Jews and Catholics were living in America "under sufferage" and had to mind their p.'s and q's on many things. Basically, as long as Catholics and Jews outwardly acted protestant, everything was o.k. (Michael Benchsloss's book on this one)
10. If the religious denomination of our leaders wasn't such a big deal (as the Church and State doctrine leads us to think), then why was J.F.K's Catholicism (and before him, Al Smith's in the 1920's) such a Big Deal? Al Smith's Catholisim was part of what lost him the 1928 election, and Kennedy had to make statments that his allegiance was to the United States and not to Rome.
So, there you have it. I could go on, but it's late and I'm not about to whip out every history book I own for a blog entry. Maybe a full-blown article but not a blog entry.
Religion and Politics
posted by Tish Grier at 2:50 AM
1 Comments:
That's it exactly, Ed. The Founding Fathers could not imagine a totally secular nation. That would have seemed "godless" and withouth purpose to even those forefathers who were deists.
Their thinking was more of a "to each his own" and that everyone was entitled to his or her own personal belief system.
It's this thinking that paved the way for the various flavors of Christianity that have come to occupy the American landscape--including the Seventh Day Adventists, the LDS, the Jehova's Witnesses, the Church of Christ-Scientist, and a whole slew of others that are not part of the European religious landscape.
I've been thinking of another 10 things that the average american has no idea about...it's interesting stuff
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