Religion in America

Religious practice officially commenced in North America in 1620, when a group of Separatists alighted in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Although Jamestown Virginia, established ten years earlier, equaled the first English site in North America, the Separatist's settlement comprised the first religious element. Believing that the Anglican church was corrupted beyond redemption, the Separatists had isolated themselves from it and then fled to Holland to escape the ensuing persecution. Unfortunately, the Separatists soon became unsatisfied with Holland's low moral standards. They wished for a completely fresh start and so they started anew in a new world.

To the Separatists, Christianity was an integral part of life. They created a society based solely on the Bible with laws that strictly followed Biblical principles. This religious fervor led them to smother any signs of religious dissent. Although this harsh view may shock modern-day anything-goes Americans it is a legitimate and understandable view when one remembers the Separatists previous experiences. The reason that the Separatists left England was so that they could create a perfectly unified church. This was the reason why they could not allow dissenters.

The Separatist's strict policies created the need for dissenters to leave the Plymouth community and start their own communities. They also required that people of other denominations start their own communities. Some such people were the Quakers, and Catholics.

The Quakers were a religious sect whose unpopular beliefs caused them to persecuted virtually everywhere they went. After settled into America they realized the importance of religious freedom and tolerance. This caused the leader of the Puritans, William Penn, ...

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...kening in that it was highly emotional. In the New England area the revival was very solemn, somber and decorous. The Second Great Awakening was the defining moment in African-American religious history as it converted over forty thousand African-Americans. However the Second Great Awakening also spawned some questionable denominations, some which are recognized today by evangelical christians as cults. These include the Mormons, or Church of the Latter-Day Saints. During this time churches were also organized into democratic societies with a common purse and they distributed money to missionaries in order to promote the gospel. Churches still believed that piety was necessary for a good government and that a good government was necessary for piety. The most important fact to not about this whole time period is that all people had an inherently christian worldview.