Religion and American History
According to Winthrop, United States is a Canaan (promised land) for the people according to God's will so as to a life regarded as moral (Winthrop, 1996). By following God's laws and rejecting the Europe's morally flawed ways, United States would as well be referred to as a city upon a hill. To realize this dream, obedience and unity were required so as not to risk the wrath of god. Winthrop greatly emphasized the need for justice and charity on behalf of the poor from the rich. By putting compassion into exercise, the society would prosper. Adjacent to the settlement; Puritan settlements, which were headed by Winthrop, several other colonists held different views on religion and state matters. Regardless of these groups' ideas on politics, none of their works had such an impact as the speech by Winthrop on generations regarding its rhetoric devices (Winthrop, 1996).
More than 375 years after Winthrop presented his speech, the statement "a city upon a hill," was used to refer to what the united States should live to be has since been used in American political rhetoric. With the civil religion construction after the Declaration of Independence in the late 18th century, the major shift to the analysis of United States as a shining example to the globe came. The founding fathers put together their ideas of American exceptionalism into a civil religion by making use of the ideas and metaphors of being a moral example that faced threats from God (Christian God), the founding fathers encountered a more significant balancing act. They had a task to come up with a system that balanced and checked many religious and political concerns. The founding fathers ensured that there was no one denomination that had a favored hand by coming up with the concept of separation of state and church. Civil religion came in place so as to incorporate all the other denominations (Winthrop, 1966). All the denominations were covered under it since it had no specific rites. By this, political common ground was reached that had limitation to the direct influence of God
[...] (2002). The Declaration of Independence. New York: Scholastic Reference. Hamilton, A., Madison, J., Jay, J., & Goldman, L. (2008). The Federalist papers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cousins, N. (1958). In God we trust: The religious beliefs and ideas of the American founding fathers. New York: Harper. [...]
[...] To realize this dream, obedience and unity were required so as not to risk the wrath of god. Winthrop greatly emphasized the need for justice and charity on behalf of the poor from the rich. By putting compassion into exercise, the society would prosper. Adjacent to the settlement; Puritan settlements, which were headed by Winthrop, several other colonists held different views on religion and state matters. Regardless of these groups' ideas on politics, none of their works had such an impact as the speech by Winthrop on generations regarding its rhetoric devices (Winthrop, 1996). [...]
[...] Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Brown, W., & Ling, A. (1991). Imagining America: Stories from the promised land. New York: Persea Books. Gaustad, E. S. (1966). A religious history of America. New York: Harper & Row. United States., Jefferson, T., & Fink, S. [...]
[...] Between 1730s and 1740s, a great religious revival swept the American colonies and saw the beginning of the Great awakening. The movement challenged the colonial establishment and clerical elite by lying focus on the sinfulness of everyone and salvation through emotional and personal conversion. The Great awakening resulted to a revolutionary movement in various ways. It forced the facilitators to mobilize, organize, petition and enable them with political experience and encourage the believers to observe and follow their beliefs. The oldest Christian Churches included the Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. [...]
[...] The Southern colonies had also mixed religions with Anglican having the most followers. Original settlers were Catholics in Maryland. People lived in plantations that were far from each other hence religion did not have such a big impact as seen in the New England colonies. Many countries faced religious persecutions and people were in search of religious freedom at that time. The colonists wanted to realize the chance to worship and practice religion freely and have a chance to decide on the religion they wished to be part of. [...]
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