Christianity in the United States of America
We began the story of Christianity from the East, from the Levant, Palestine and Syria, then moved with it towards Constantinople in Asia Minor, and then branched out in two different directions: an Orthodox trend that took us towards the lands of the Slavic people in the East, and a Catholic trend led first by Rome, and from there it spread to all parts of Europe. Then the path of the story became bifurcated again with the emergence of a third direction that will take us this time to new and completely distant lands beyond the Atlantic Ocean, to America, and there the immigrant churches will play a role in establishing a new empire, of a modern and different style, which is the United States of America.
The Spaniards were the first to carry the banner of Christianity to this new land, where they founded the settlement of St. Augustine in Florida in 1565, raising the banner of Catholicism. Over time, Protestants turned their eyes to America, seeking refuge from religious persecution in Europe and forced beliefs imposed by state Christian churches such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.
Protestant immigration came in waves when these immigrants sought a place where they could practice their religious rituals freely, away from the control of the Church of England. Then, with the passage of time, the number of Protestants in the English colonies increased, while the number of Catholics and Anglicans decreased, so that, with the outbreak of the American Revolution between 1765 and 1783, Protestantism became the dominant religion in the thirteen colonies.
These “ancestors” - at least according to the official narrative - sought to establish a new system that would guarantee the separation of church and state, and allow everyone the freedom to practice their religious rituals without fear of persecution. This dream was embodied in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was approved on December 15, 1791, which stipulated that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”
The first Mass and the first Thanksgiving
Shortly before the Protestant Reformation (1517), Catholicism first arrived in the areas that now make up the United States, at the hands of Spanish conquistadors and settlers in present-day Florida (1513) and the Southwest. The first Mass (which is the most important and famous Christian liturgical prayer) held in the present-day United States was Catholic, and was celebrated in Pensacola, Florida, through which the Spanish continued to spread Roman Catholicism through their mission system. These religious missions extended to Georgia and the Carolinas, along with military counterparts also established by Spain in what are now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
In the late 16th century, Protestant England was engaged in a religious war with Catholic Spain, and, seeking to weaken Spain's economic and military power, English sailors such as Francis Drake and Humphry Gilbert harassed Spanish ships. The latter proposed to colonize North America on the same Spanish model, to create a profitable English empire, as a base for ships and also to attack the Spanish. In 1584, the first English colony was actually established in North America, but the colonists were not prepared for life in the New World, and they and their colony quickly disappeared by 1590.
As for the arrival of Protestantism to the United States, it was with the English settlers in the early seventeenth century. They established the first “viable” English colony in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The most important and famous colony is the Plymouth Colony on the Massachusetts coast, named after the city of Plymouth in England. From which the "Pilgrims", a group of separatist Protestants, set out on the ship "Mayflower" to establish the colony in 1620, linking it to the "Promised Land" in the Bible, as they were hopeful of building a better future in America.
The Pilgrims faced great difficulties when they first arrived, and many died of hunger and disease, until the indigenous people helped them learn how to farm and survive in a new environment. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims reaped their first bountiful harvest in the new land, and as a token of thanks, Governor William Bradford invited the natives to a three-day celebratory feast. This feast included turkey, corn, pumpkin, and other fruits and vegetables. This celebration is still repeated annually under the name “Thanksgiving” and it is a national holiday in the United States and Canada, and people celebrate it to express their gratitude for the blessings they have received during the year.
American Protestantism is originally a dissent from the Church of England
In a previous article, I talked about the strange way in which the Church of England was founded and how it did not become completely Protestant, nor did it remain Catholic, of course. Rather, it created a middle state that preserved many Catholic traditions, opening the door wide to many internal conflicts over religious belief and practices. It led to the split of some sects from this church, over the course of several centuries. Each of these dissident sects played a role in establishing British colonies in America and in establishing the first thirteen states.
In the sixteenth century, the Puritans emerged who opposed some of the practices of the Church of England, and considered them too close to the Catholic Church. They demanded radical reforms, including the simplification of religious rituals and the removal of decoration from churches.
American: The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with the participation of 400 settlers. Within two years, about two thousand additional settlers arrived. Later, as many as 20,000 Puritans migrated from England to America to gain freedom of worship. Most of them settled in New England, filled with the hope that the new land would serve as an “emancipated nation,” creating a deep, socially cohesive, and politically innovative religious culture that still exists in the modern United States. .
A drawing of pilgrims arriving in America, where they founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
However, on a different level, the name of the Puritans is linked to another story in American history known as the “Salem Witch Trials”, which were conducted by the Puritans in a series of hearings and trials that took place in the village of Salem (now Danvers) in the American state of Massachusetts between the year 1692. And 1693. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, thirty of them were convicted, twenty were executed, most of them women, and it is said that at least five other accused died in prison. These trials were a traumatic event in American history. They demonstrated the dangers of fear, hysteria, and fanaticism, led to a review of criminal justice laws in Massachusetts, and inspired many literary and artistic works.
In the seventeenth century (1652), the Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) appeared at the hands of George Fox. They believed that worship should be simple and sincere, and they rejected many rites and rituals that they considered formal and artificial. They also believed that the "inner light" or "Holy Spirit" existed in every person, allowing everyone to communicate directly with God without the need for priests. Quakers have also historically been distinguished by their intelligence and scientific excellence, and for being simple, egalitarian, non-violent, and opposed to slavery.
Accordingly, the Quakers were subjected to severe persecution in England after they were considered deviants from Anglicanism, so many of them sought refuge in New Jersey, which was then part of New Netherland (New Netherlands), and found there a more welcoming and tolerant environment for their beliefs. In 1681, Quaker leader William Penn obtained a charter for the Province of Pennsylvania from King Charles II. This charter allowed the Quakers to establish their own colony where they could live freely and practice their religion without fear of persecution. By 1685, about 8,000 Quakers had arrived in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
As for the leadership of the aforementioned group of Pilgrims, it was a religious grouping of Brownists - named after their leader, Robert Brown - or Separatists, because they embraced many of the same Calvinist religious beliefs as the Puritans, but unlike the Puritans (who wanted to purify the Church of England), the Pilgrims emphasized the necessity of separation. Their subjects are from the English State Church. The Brownists faced severe persecution by the Church of England, which led to many of them emigrating to the Netherlands, which enjoyed a higher level of religious tolerance, but after several years of living in exile, they decided to establish a new settlement in the New World and arranged with investors to finance them. Indeed, they founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620, and the “Pilgrims’ Story” became a major topic in the history and culture of the United States.
Runner imported from Europe
Anti-Catholicism was a common phenomenon in the British colonies of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. These anti-Catholic sentiments arose from several factors, the most important of which is the historical conflict between Protestants and Catholics. In addition to the constant fear of the Pope’s authority, and his quest - in the opinion of non-Catholics - to control the world. In addition to this is the rivalry between the two Catholic powers, Spain and France, in Europe, and their efforts to control North America.
Anti-Catholicism in the British colonies was manifested through discriminatory laws enacted in many colonies that prevented Catholics from holding public office or practicing their religion freely, and many of whom were subjected to persecution, including violence and arrest. These actions continued until the American Revolution, which separated religion from the state, allowing Catholics to practice their religious rituals more freely, which contributed to their increasing immigration to the United States from European countries and their increasing numbers in the country, in addition, of course, to the wider spread of concepts of tolerance towards other religions. However, a Catholic president of the United States was not elected until 1960 (John Kennedy), and this did not happen again until 2020 (Joe Biden).
Great awakenings
During the eighteenth century, the British colonies in North America experienced rapid population growth and major economic and social changes that led many people to feel anxious and lost. Some events in Europe, such as the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, also contributed to this growing feeling of fear. People searched for their psychological comfort in religion, but most of the Protestant churches at that time focused on doctrine and theology, and neglected personal piety, which prompted many people to search for a deeper and more meaningful religious experience, and this led to the emergence of pioneering missionaries who rejected the form of worship. They appeared to be sterile formal methods, they encouraged people to have a strong emotional religiosity, and their sermons and sermons were characterized by passion and emphasis on the importance of personal salvation.
After Martin Luther and John Calvin had preached the doctrine of predestination and the close reading of the Bible, the new evangelicals spread a message of personal and experiential faith that transcended the teachings of Scripture and welcomed all those excluded by traditional Protestantism: women, youth, and all those at the bottom of the social spectrum.
The Enlightenment and the Age of Rational Thought gave fuel to the Great Awakening (1730-1743), both of which preached the individual (but disagreed about God's purpose). Although this awakening caused a division between those who followed the evangelical message (the New Enlightenment) and those who rejected it, it In general, it led to a significant increase in the number of members in Protestant churches, and to the spread of new sects such as Methodism and Baptistism, at the expense of older sects. The Awakening also contributed to social reforms and played an important role in the American Revolution against the British Crown and in shaping democratic concepts in the United States. American.
The second great awakening began at the end of the eighteenth century and continued until approximately the middle of the following century. This movement was characterized by what is known as “revival meetings,” which are large meetings in which passionate preaching and enthusiastic speeches are delivered, which contributed to the conversion of many people to the Protestant sects. New Protestant sects such as Seventh-day Adventism, the Restoration or Stone-Campbell movement, and groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism also emerged during the Second Great Awakening.
!Modern sects... dialectical
In 1820, a teenager from the American state of Vermont, named Joseph Smith, claimed that an angel named Moroni visited him in a spiritual vision, and showed him golden plates containing a “holy book” for an ancient people who lived in North America. Then in 1823, Smith claimed to have translated the texts on the Golden Tablets into English. This book was published under the title “The Book of Mormon” in 1830, and it is still considered - along with the Old and New Testaments - a sacred book for the followers of Smith’s church, which he founded in the same year under the name “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
A drawing showing Joseph Smith calling Native Americans to his religion
Smith is considered one of the most controversial figures in America, and opinions about him range from his followers who see him as a prophet and founder of a new religion chosen by God to restore the true church of Jesus Christ, to his deniers who see him as a mere fraud, charlatan, and charlatan. Therefore, in addition to their practice of polygamy in the past, Mormons faced great persecution early in their history, and were forced to move to new places several times. Their church and its practices are still the subject of many films, series, and documentaries.
Some believe that Mormons live in simple, isolated communities in which they reject all forms of modern technology, thus confusing them with the Amish, who belong to a Christian sect that broke away from the Mennonites, the radical Protestant group emanating from the movement of Swiss Protestant theologians known as Anabaptists during the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. . They are named after Menno Simons (1496-1561), who played a major role in uniting and organizing many communities radicalized and persecuted for their religious views.
While the presence of the Amish is limited to the United States and Canada only, and their number does not exceed 300 thousand people, the number of Mormons exceeds 16 million distributed in different regions of the world.
Another controversial group is the Jehovah's Witnesses, the sect founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1870. He relied on his own interpretation of the Bible, and began publishing his ideas through the magazine "The Watchtower." Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their evangelism, knocking on doors from house to house, and distributing their literature.
The Witnesses believe that the use of God's name "Jehovah" is vital to proper worship and believe that the "end of times" is near. They reject the Trinity, the idea of inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire as unbiblical doctrines. They also do not celebrate Christmas, Easter, and other holidays and rituals that they consider to have pagan origins that conflict with Christianity. They also see human society as morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most of them limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses, and refuse military service and blood transfusions for any reason, even if it is life-saving. Because of their differences in faith and practice, and because of their isolation and some mystery surrounding them, they have often been linked to a global conspiracy aimed at world control. Egypt's Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, are a banned sect, and Gamal Abdel Nasser described them as a tool of the Israeli Mossad to infiltrate Egyptian society. During the era of the Soviet Union, its intelligence services pursued members of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” as spies and a source of danger, and they are still being subjected to repression until now under Putin. This is not surprising, as they reject the traditional values of religion, the state, and military action, and therefore any politician will feel that they are a potential and influential danger and threat.
Orthodoxy in the United States
Although it may seem small and unbalanced in American society, Orthodoxy is the third largest Christian family in the United States, after Catholicism and Protestantism, and there are an estimated 8 million Orthodox Christians who belong to many different churches. Orthodox Christianity first arrived in the United States in the 18th century with Russian immigrants. In the 19th century, more Orthodox immigrated from Greece and other countries in Eastern Europe. In the early twentieth century, a large number of Orthodox emigrated from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. The largest Orthodox church in the United States is the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Founded in 1794, it is an autonomous church in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
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The United States has not witnessed large-scale religious wars between Christians, as American history is devoid of any wars that were based on sectarian or sectarian grounds. Since the founding of the state, its fathers intended to strengthen the principle of respect for religious freedom in belief and practice. They benefited from the experience of religious wars in Europe, which Many of them lived through it, and they also benefited from the ideas of the Enlightenment, which aimed to promote rationalization, separate religion from the state, and spread the values of tolerance and acceptance.
Christianity - in the past and present - played an important role in American life, and to this day it remains the largest religion in the country, with about 61% of Americans identifying themselves as Christians. However, Christianity in the United States faces some challenges, such as declining religiosity and increasing secularism. But it will remain an important force in American life.
In 1822, in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, one of its founding fathers, and the owner of a special version of the Bible known by his name, predicted that a more enlightened religion would replace Christianity, rejecting the divinity of Jesus and belief in miracles. Today, more than 200 years later, Jefferson's prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Rather, it was followed by a series of the aforementioned “awakenings,” including the Second Great Awakening, which swept the country and reaffirmed Christianity as a dominant force in American life. Christianity in the United States has shown high flexibility and a distinctive ability to adapt, innovate, and keep pace with the times, without abandoning its original teachings and spiritual traditions. Despite the enormous diversity in American society, whether between the different religions (heavenly and non-heavenly) or between the Christian sects themselves, Christianity in general remains a factor. Important in shaping American society.
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