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The Religion of Colonial Life

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Religion of Colonial Life
The aspect of religion in colonial life started out a little rocky in the beginning. The Protestants from England were unhappy with their corrupt religion, and wanted to start fresh in the New World called America. The reason it was corrupt is because they had no separation of church and state, and they wanted to be free to choose their own religion. However, when they got to the New World, things actually didn’t change that much. The citizens still didn’t really have the freedom to choose their religion. Inhabitants of Virginia were forced to attend the Church of Anglican, and pay taxes to keep it going. In 1698 a freedom to worship bill was put into place stating that people could worship whatever religion they wanted, but major limitations were put in place. The limitations were that the civil authority got to choose what groups got to practice this freedom. Later advocates for religious freedom argued that religious freedom should be defined as a natural right rather than as a right afforded by a civil government. Later on though, the Bill of Rights was created and the first amendment was basically freedom in religion in the United States of America. All the religions that had gained popularity and followings during this period were Catholic, Methodists, Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites, Judaism, and Baptists.
The first religion talked about is one that it still very popular and followed in today’s world, Catholic. The first Catholic colony started in 1634. It was founded in the providence of Maryland by Cecil Calvert. The church has a very uncommon level of religious following in the face of the Puritans. Many people actually tolerated this religion being around. The Roman Catholic Church worships seven sacraments throughout their members’ lives, whereas more recent Christian denominations usually celebrate only two. The Catholic Church also does something that Christian churches do not do, this is confession. Confession is when the person of Catholic religion goes to their church to confess their sins to god.
The next religion is Methodists. The Methodist religion was brought to America in 1771. The man who founded Methodism, John Wesley, started sending preachers to America to spread the word of Methodism. The recruiters were very successful in America. They found many people who did not follow a religion because they lived too far away from any churches. They appealed to other people from America because of the hostility they had towards the Church of England, so they played off that. Wesley allowed the people to break off from the Church of England, and start their own denomination.
Now we will begin talking about the Quakers. The Quake religion was brought to America in 1656. It was brought over by Ann Austin and Mary Fisher. They brought their religion over to Massachusetts; they came over to America for missionary work. The Religious Society of Friends, which is another name for the Quakers, was opposed to central church authority. They sought to advocate sexual equality for females in America. Shortly after arriving to Massachusetts, who had very liberal teachings to share, were arrested. After the 5 years they spent in prison, they were back to Barbados. Quaker was very against slavery, tried preaching anti slavery movements.
The next religion is Lutherans. Lutherans made their way into America in 1630’s, so very early on compared to some other religions. The Lutherans settled along the Delaware River and called it “New Sweden”. They called it this because this is where they originated from. Another small group had settled in “New Amsterdam” in what is now New York. These were the first Lutherans to come over, but most of the others did not come around till 1840 to 1890 after the Civil War. They came from all over, Germany, Sweden, Finland and, Denmark. Lutherans had quite a struggle getting things in order in America. Because there was no church and state, the government did not pay for the church and they had to pay taxes on it. Other than that they had to peacefully be alongside many other religions such as, Christians, Presbyterians, Quakers, Baptists, and Anglicans. They also had to learn to live without the leader of a prince to guide them. But eventually they figured things out, considering it is still an up and running religion still today.
Another very popular religion back then was Judaism. Judaism has been around since the peak of colonial time. Until around 1830’s, Jewish community in South Carolina was the largest in North America. Mainly in the 1800s many Jews left their nations to go to America. They opened up shops, and go very involved in the New York banking process. By 1776, only around 2,000 Jews lived in America. Most of these Jews were Sephardic Jews. They actually played a key role in the struggle for independence in America. Still today Judaism is one of the most practiced religions around.
Lastly we will talk about Baptists. Baptists came to American around the early 16 hundreds. They settled in Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The reason they stayed at those places is because that’s where they could have religious freedom at. The first Baptist church in America was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, under leadership of Roger Williams and Ezekiel Holliman. In this particular church they held to Calvinistic beliefs regarding the work of Christ and salvation. Because of all this, religious freedom was written into the Charter of Rhode Island.
The purpose of this essay was to talk about an aspect of colonial life, and religion was a huge part of their lives back then. Many religions struggled, and had hard times, but most pushed through. Some of the religions talked about today are still thriving and have some of the largest following in the world today.

Sources:
• "The Roman Catholic Church." The Roman Catholic Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
• "Timeline: Faith in America." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
• "Library." Lutheran Origins, Lutheran History, Lutheran Beliefs. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
• "Library." Beginnings. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2015

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