What role did religion play in creating the colonies in the New World?
Historically, religion has continued to characterize the human society by influencing its growth and structure by facilitating change. The notion of religious freedom has significantly influenced the American history. It is the essence by which the Europeans discovered America and their religious practices which predisposed how they interacted with the natives, the foreign land and their achievement of having America as their colony. European immigrants moved to the United States to flee religious subjugation that were imposed controversial to their beliefs. Such stances were strongly advocated especially by the Roman Catholic Church which was state associated and failure to be submissive led to persecutions. The Europeans needed freedom to choose the religion they personally wanted. Religious oppression in the American colonists was evident. In Europe, the Roman Catholic was so extreme that people felt a need to put an end to it. In such efforts, the Church of England was established which later broke up into other dominations even in America and continued to fragment. Spread into other colonies continued which formed a network that enhanced population growth in America where religious freedom could be enjoyed abundantly. The Quakers and Puritans moved from their Europe and England homelands respectively as a result of religious intolerance. They settled in American states and this created new colonists such as the Dutch and English. Maryland was subdued by the Roman Catholics who could not withstand the religious turmoil that was in Europe (Tindall & David 30).
The Native Americans were sophisticated and worshipped the Great Spirit. Mayans for example engaged in rituals and sacrifices to appease their gods. They believed in animism where the Great Spirit was prevalent in all things and therefore, all things were socially related. This was dissimilar to the European way of thinking that put man in the forefront. Religious wars that cropped up in Europe were advantageous since they ultimately changed these Native Americans. Christianity thrived under these conditions establishing over nine hundred denominations and attracting a considerable number of Americans. The U.S became the first country in the western world to be established by Protestants unlike others that were based on the practices of the Roman Catholics. This clearly shows the ability for the U.S to independently express their original and a clear insolence of tradition. This created a religious evolution that facilitated cropping up of utopian values, religious fanaticism giving way to other religions such as Islam, puritans, Buddhism among others. This however did not fully resolve the issue of freedom since some groups like the puritans dominated and enforced its practices and those who couldn’t conform would be charged, penalized or even sent to prison. This did not continue for long before other religious organizations overruled them and the Great Awakening changed all this.
Religion was integral to politics, which initiated creation of various laws. These include; the 1940s Cambridge Platform, the 1690s Salem Witchcraft Trials, the 1949 Act Concerning Religion, Massachusetts Proposals, Adopting Act of 1729 and the 1730s Great Awakening which enhanced the notion of religious freedom and a more advanced level of thinking. It is through the First constitutional Amendment that this was legally recognized (Tindall & David 38). The civil strife facilitated establishment of an entity which could draw a clear partition between the states and religion in the United States to meet the desires of its people. They also had to guarantee every individual to exercise their own faith without worries of harassment. The issue of detaching religion from state triggered debates where critics feared it would curb religious developments in America.
The great awakening was a product of enlightenment, which fragmented the Puritanism to achieve individual spirituality. Emotions characterized the time where the parties became extremists to form a rational thought that came to be referred to as Deism where God could be analyzed through nature. One of its followers was Jefferson who took advantage of the current religious instability to benefit the society since he disliked Christian orthodoxy. His stand on religious freedom was based on merits of enlightenment that allowed human conscience to rule and thus a higher degree of reason. The period before Great Awakening was characterized by national churches in subdued by the Europeans (Tindall & David 47). This was to change when the immigrants underwent revivalism that changed the religious direction and achieved a common identity. The period injected new ideologies in the American society that formed a foundation of the American Revolution. This was due to a higher degree of reason which became offended by the traditional thoughts. If religion was not present in the American society, this revivalism might not have been achieved and therefore, American Revolution would not have occurred. The English Puritanism indirectly benefitted America by helping to reveal an intellectual vision which acted as a primer where Revolution would be established.
In conclusion, religion played a crucial role in colonization of America and became an epicenter where cultural values would be founded. It is through the practice that a new world was founded and since then it has continued to thrive in the United States. It housed the many foreigners who sought religious freedom and benefited from the nation. In return, America got its tactics, which led to its Revolution and paved ways for other locals and foreigners to achieve financial benefits while contributing to economic growth.
Work Cited:
Tindall, George B. and David, Emory S. America: A Narrative History. 8th Ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 2009. Print.
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